Hōki Yasutsuna

Hōki Yasutsunaor, also called Ōhara Yasutsunaor, was a swordsmith active in Hōki Province (present-day central-western Tottori Prefecture) during the mid to late Heian period. He is identified with the person recorded in the Taiheiki as "In Miminoka-gun in Hōki Province there was an excellent smith called Ōhara Gorō-dayū Yasutsunaor," and tradition holds that he was a resident of Ōhara in Hōki Province. Although old sword texts contain traditions attributing him to activity during the Daidō and Kōnin eras (early ninth century), his surviving works exist in the perfected form of curved swords. Today the prevailing view places him as contemporary with Sanjō Munechika and Bizen Tomonari in the late Heian period, and these three men are counted among the most ancient master makers representing the foundational era of Japanese sword-making. He is one of few makers whose signed tachi survive to the present day, and is positioned as a founder of the curved Japanese blade and as the ancestor of old Hōki-mono (Hōki school swords).

His style is characterized by elegant tachi proportions featuring high waist curve and sturdy presence, employing the small kissaki in classically refined construction. The jigane displays prominent itame grain with strong jigane-nie and notable jiba marks. The hamon displays small-irregular patterns interspersed with small-gunome and small-midare, with deep nioi and well-formed nie showing kinsuji and sunagashi, with distinctive character at the hamon boundary. The body of work embodying classically refined and powerful variation in jigane and blade was transmitted to later Hōki smiths.

His masterpiece is the famous blade "Dōji-giri Yasutsunaor," counted among the Tenka Goken (Five Swords Under Heaven), designated a National Treasure and housed in the Tokyo National Museum. It is known as a fine example that succinctly demonstrates Yasutsunaor's style, with grand tachi proportions featuring high waist curve, small-irregular hamon patterns rich in variation, and jigane with flowing itame grain interspersed with jiba. Its name derives from the legend that Minamoto no Raikō slew the demon Shuten-dōji of Ōeyama in Tanba Province with this tachi, but this tale is a later creation; the earliest reliable record traces back to the Monogatari Mokuroku (Tale Catalogue) of 1420 (Ōei 27). Its provenance shows it was owned by the Ashikaga shogunal house during the Muromachi period, with a record of the Asakura clan presenting it to Shōgun Ashikaga Yoshiharu in 1538 (Tenbun 7). Subsequently, it is said to have been given by Toyotomi Hideyoshi through Tokugawa Ieyasu and Hidetada to Matsudaira Tadanao, daimyō of Echizen Province, and passed down through the Tsuyama Matsudaira house, but the early history is sparse in primary sources and belongs to tradition. The anecdote about the grand feat of test-cutting by severing six stacked condemned criminals is likewise one of these legends.

Yasutsunaor is evaluated as a master smith standing at the starting point of Japanese sword history, among the oldest makers whose signed works survive. His works have been held in the highest regard since ancient times, and Dōji-giri Yasutsunaor was designated a National Treasure in 1951 (Shōwa 26) and came into the possession of the Tokyo National Museum in 1968 (Shōwa 43). As the ancestor of old Hōki-mono and one of the founders of the Japanese blade, he occupies an unshakeable position in sword history.