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” as a shared element in smiths’ names. It is generally divided into Ko-Aoe, covering the late Heian period to the mid-Kamakura period; Chū-Aoe, covering the mid-Kamakura period to the early Nanbokuchō period; and Sue-Aoe, the period centered on the Enbun era in the mid-Nanbokuchō period. 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 a single blade bearing the date of the fifth month of Gentoku 2 (1330), at the end of the Kamakura period, and is held by the Tokyo National Museum. It was presented by the Mōri family to Emperor Meiji in the Meiji era. Among Aoe school works whose date of manufacture is known, it bears an early date, and it is also regarded as valuable for retaining its form at the time it was made.

Chū-Aoe works often bear inscriptions cutting the date of manufacture, the place of manufacture, or an official title. This tachi also cuts the official title “Uemon-no-jō” and the surname “Taira” in its signature, making it 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; its form is slender with a high curvature. The tang is unaltered (ubu), and the two-character signature “Yoshitsugu” is cut on the haki-ura side.

Style

The Gentoku-dated tachi shows finely raised itame-hada, displaying the crepe-like chirimen-hada steel characteristic of the Aoe school, with utsuri rising across the surface 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 raised ji-nie, a suguha hamon mixed with notare and accompanied by ko-nie, and a boshi returning in a small round.

It is said that Chū-Aoe work as a whole came to show well-ordered ko-itame steel mixed with sumihada, and hamon that, while based on suguha, include ones with tight nioiguchi and ones firing showy saka-chōji. Yoshitsugu’s works also clearly show the characteristics of the Aoe school of this period.

Significance

Because signed tachi recording the year, place of residence, and official title have been handed down as Important Cultural Properties, Yoshitsugu is positioned as a smith who left benchmark works for understanding the period and style of Chū-Aoe.