Aoe Yoshitsugu

Lineage and School

Aoe Yoshitsugu was a swordsmith of the Aoe school, active in Bitchū Province (western present-day Okayama Prefecture) during the Kamakura period. The Aoe school arose in the Kamakura period and left works through the Nanbokuchō period; one of its defining traits is the use of the character "tsugu" (次) as a shared element in smiths' names. The school is conventionally divided into Ko-Aoe (late Heian to mid-Kamakura), Chū-Aoe (mid-Kamakura to early Nanbokuchō), and Sue-Aoe (late Nanbokuchō onward). Yoshitsugu is counted among the representative smiths of Chū-Aoe.

Representative Works

The Important Cultural Property "Tachi signed Bitchū no Kuni Aoe jū Uemon-no-jō Taira Yoshitsugu saku, Gentoku ni-nen go-gatsu hi" is dated to the fifth month of Gentoku 2 (1330) and is held by the Tokyo National Museum. It was presented by the Mōri family to Emperor Meiji in the Meiji era. Among Aoe works whose date of manufacture is known, it is one of the earliest, and it is further valued for retaining its original shape.

Chū-Aoe works frequently bear inscriptions giving the date, place of manufacture, or an official title, and this tachi — signed with the title "Uemon-no-jō" and the surname "Taira" — is a typical example.

The Kyushu National Museum also holds a "Tachi signed Yoshitsugu." It has a kuwagata-style construction, iori-mune, and a chū-kissaki, with a slender, deeply curved shape; the tang is unaltered (ubu) and bears the two-character signature "Yoshitsugu" on the haki-ura side.

Style

The Gentoku-dated tachi shows finely raised itame-hada forming the chirimen-hada (crepe-like) steel characteristic of the Aoe school, with utsuri rising throughout and dan-utsuri in places. The hamon is a ko-chōji with little variation in height, and the nioiguchi is somewhat tight. The Kyushu National Museum blade shows itame-hada with ji-nie, a suguha hamon mixed with notare and ko-nie, and a boshi turning back in a small round.

Chū-Aoe work in general is described as having well-ordered ko-itame steel mixed with sumihada, and hamon that, while based on suguha, increasingly include tight nioiguchi or showy saka-chōji; Yoshitsugu's blades exemplify the character of the Aoe school in this period.

Significance

Because a signed tachi recording its date, place, and official title survives as an Important Cultural Property, Yoshitsugu is regarded as a smith who left benchmark works for understanding the dating and style of Chū-Aoe.