Hosho Sadamune

Hōshō Sadamune — De facto founder of the Hōshō school, one of the five Yamato schools

Hōshō Sadamune was a swordsmith who worked in Takaichi District of Yamato Province in the late Kamakura period, and he is regarded as the de facto founder of the Hōshō school, one of the five Yamato schools. The founder of the Hōshō school is said to be "Kunimitsu," but since almost no extant works by Kunimitsu survive, Sadamune and Sadayoshi, whose extant works can be confirmed, are treated as the de facto establishers of the school. Sadamune is a son of Kunimitsu.

The name of the Hōshō school is said to derive from the family name. Rather than Kōfuku-ji, the school was based in Takaichi District of Yamato Province, and it continued to be active until the Nanboku-chō period.

Masame-hada — The style of Hōshō Sadamune

The greatest characteristic of Hōshō Sadamune lies in its jigane with masame-hada. The masame-hada of the Hōshō school is regarded as the archetype of masame-hada in the Yamato tradition. Masame-hada tendencies are found throughout the Yamato tradition as a whole, but the masame of the Hōshō school is particularly precise and uniform, and it has become the most important indicator in authentication.

Hamon is based on "chū-suguha," with "uchinoke" and hotsure entering, and nijū-ba and kuichigai-ba are seen. There are also examples in which ko-gunome-midare and ko-midare are mixed in.

Bōshi takes a structure of yakizume and hakikake.

Sugata combines a shallow curvature typical of the late Kamakura period with a medium mihaba, thick kasane and a high shinogi in its construction, uniting practicality and dignity.

Signed works are few, and tachi are rare; signed works survive mainly as tantō.

Masterpieces representing the Hōshō school — National Treasure "Kuwayama Hōshō" and Important Cultural Property "Ō-Hōshō"

Tantō "Meibutsu Kuwayama Hōshō" (National Treasure, privately owned) is a meibutsu recorded in the Kyōhō Meibutsuchō. It has been identified as a work by Sadayoshi, a brother of Sadamune, by the inscription "Takaichi-gun-jū Kingo Fuji Sadayoshi," and it bears a gō derived from its owner, Kuwayama Iga-no-kami Motoharu. It was designated a National Treasure in 1955.

Tantō, gō "Ō-Hōshō" (Important Cultural Property) has likewise been confirmed as a work by Sadayoshi from its inscription "[?] Takaichi-gun-jū Fujiwara Sadayoshi, an auspicious day in the 2nd month of Bunpō 1 (1317)" (a work of Bunpō 1, equivalent to 1317). It was transmitted in the Maeda family of Kaga Domain and is now held by the Tokyo National Museum.

Signed works by Sadamune himself are extremely rare, which makes it difficult to identify individual representative works. However, these two works by his brother Sadayoshi, as masterpieces showing the archetypal style of the Hōshō school, convey to the present day the school style that Sadamune embodied.

Evaluation and the historical significance of the Hōshō school

The Hōshō school is known as the school that most purely preserved masame-kitae within the Yamato tradition, and Sadamune is a master smith who embodied the technical core of that school. The works of the school's lineage possess an individuality, through their distinctive jigane and suguha-type hamon, that allows them to be readily distinguished not only from the other five Yamato schools but also from other traditions.

The fact that works by Sadayoshi, a member of the same lineage, have been designated as National Treasure and Important Cultural Property shows that the technical achievements of the Hōshō school are highly valued even in later ages.