Uesugi Tachi

The Uesugi Tachi is a sword forged by the Fukuoka Ichimonji school of Bizen Province during the Kamakura period (13th century). Its formal designation is "Guncho-mon Hyogo-gusari Tachi, blade signed 'Ichi' (Uesugi Tachi)," and the blade together with its hyogo-gusari mounting is designated as a single National Treasure. It is held by the Tokyo National Museum. The tang bears the single character "Ichi," the hallmark of the Fukuoka Ichimonji school.

The sword takes its name from the Uesugi clan, who dedicated it to Mishima Taisha shrine in Izu Province (present-day Shizuoka), where it was long transmitted as a votive tachi. Mishima Taisha is an ancient shrine venerated by Minamoto no Yoritomo, preserving the warrior tradition of dedicating swords. The blade was presented to the Meiji Emperor in 1887 and later entered the Tokyo National Museum.

Its greatest distinction is that the Kamakura-period mounting survives almost intact alongside the blade. The hyogo-gusari style uses chains for the suspension straps, marking it as a mounting of high rank; the scabbard is decorated in maki-e lacquer with scattered gold powder depicting flocks of flying birds — the source of the "guncho-mon" (flocking-birds design) name. Because functional mountings were almost always damaged or altered through use, a 13th-century mounting surviving in its original form is exceedingly rare and of singular value in craft history.

The blade shows the brilliant choji-midare characteristic of the Fukuoka Ichimonji school, broad-bodied in imposing middle-Kamakura form, with itame jihada and clear midare-utsuri. Combining a fine blade with a complete contemporary mounting, the Uesugi Tachi is esteemed as a National Treasure embodying the integrated arts of the swordsmith, metalworker, and lacquerer.