Gassan Sadakazu I

Gassan Sadaichi was born in Tenshō 7 (1836) in Inukami District, Ōmi Province (present-day Shiga Prefecture), and was a swordsmith who flourished from the late Edo period through the Taishō era. His family name was Tsukamoto and his personal name was Yagojirō; he took the sobriquet Unryūshi. The Gassan school originated as an ancient lineage of smiths based at the sacred peak Mount Gassan in Dewa Province, and from the Kamakura period onward it was renowned throughout the land as an eminent house known for its distinctive jihada and practical utility. A smith of this lineage, Gassan Sadakichi, relocated to Ōsaka in the late Edo period, and at age seven Sadaichi became his adopted son and entered the path of sword-forging. From his teens he demonstrated exceptional skill, and after his adoptive father's death he settled in Ōsaka, led the school, and revived the Gassan line as the first Gassan Sadaichi.

When the Meiji 9 (1876) Sword Prohibition Edict forced many smiths to abandon their profession, Sadaichi devoted his entire life to sword-forging, thus preserving and transmitting the art of Japanese sword-forging during this period of decline. His achievements received high recognition, and in Meiji 39 (1906) he was appointed an Imperial Craftsman, the highest honor for a swordsmith of that era, becoming an official swordsmith of the Imperial Household Ministry. From that time onward, beginning with a military sword for Emperor Meiji, who was renowned as a devoted collector, he undertook numerous swords for members of the imperial family and persons of distinction, and in Taishō 1 (1912) he created a tachi for dedication to the Ise Grand Shrine, thus leaving his works among the sacred treasures of the imperial court and shrines.

His artistic approach encompassed a broad technical mastery enabling him to freely execute the traditions of Yamato, Yamashiro, Bizen, and Sōshū schools, but he was especially renowned for the ayasugi-jihada (cedar-bark grain) forging transmitted through the Gassan family lineage. This forging method displays large undulating patterns in the jigane resembling cedar bark and is the distinctive technique of his school, also called gassan-jihada. Furthermore, Sadaichi was recognized as a master of blade carving, and he perfected the "gassan-bori" (Gassan carving) style, which depicted Fudō Myōō, dragons, kurikara, Sanskrit letters, and sacred banners with rich density and refined precision. His carving work, standing alongside his forging as the dual excellence of Sadaichi's achievement, possessed refined elegance of distinguished character together with the clarity of the jigane and hamon.

In the hardship that followed the Sword Prohibition Edict, Sadaichi preserved the tradition of Japanese sword-making, and his accomplishments—which established him as one of the greatest master smiths of the modern era in sword-collecting circles—became the solid foundation of the Gassan school. His techniques of forging and blade carving were inherited by his son Gassan Sadakatsu and further by his grandson, the second Gassan Sadaichi (who was later designated a Holder of Important Intangible Cultural Property, equivalent to the status of Living National Treasure), and the Gassan school thus continued in unbroken succession through the modern and contemporary periods.