Awataguchi Yoshimitsu

Awataaguchi Yoshimitsu was a swordsmith who flourished in Awataaguchi, Kyoto in Yamashiro Province during the mid-Kamakura period, and was commonly known as Tōjirō. He belonged to the Awataaguchi school, a prestigious house representative of the Yamashiro tradition, and is transmitted as either the son or disciple of Kuniyoshi, an accomplished master of that school.

The Awataaguchi school had the six sons of Kunii, the progenitor of sword-smiths (Kunitomo, Kunihisa, Kuniyasu, Kunikiyo, Ariekuni, and Kunitsugi) as its substantial founders. It was a dazzling constellation of master smiths, including those who served as official imperial smiths to the Retired Emperor Gotoba. Yoshimitsu was the figure that crowned the conclusion of this illustrious lineage.

Though he left no dated signed works, his exact dates of birth and death remain unknown. However, based on the school style, he is thought to have been active around the mid-thirteenth century.

Yoshimitsu is known as a master of the tantō and ken, and the majority of his extant works are tantō. His jigane consists of exquisitely compact small itame grain, and from the thick jinie it is called "nashiji jigane" [pear-skin grain]. His hamon is based on an elegant suguha, with fine nie well-developed throughout the blade, displaying subtle patterns with a deep and bright nioi-guchi. The tantō he forged with a stout and dignified silhouette of considerable ridge thickness and an elegant edge is often regarded as the perfected form of the tantō and the highest standard of all ages.

Among his representative works are numerous celebrated pieces collectively called "Tōjirō mono." Among tantō, the "Atsutōjirō" [Thick Tōjirō], a National Treasure at the Tokyo National Museum, takes its name from the thickness of the ridge, and the "Gotō Tōjirō," a National Treasure at the Tokugawa Art Museum, which passed to Tokugawa Mitsutomo, form a matched pair. Others include the Shinano Tōjirō and Hakata Tōjirō (both Important Cultural Properties), and the Hirano Tōjirō, an imperial treasured object. On the other hand, the "Ichigoichie," a rare tachi by Yoshimitsu, is renowned and is now an imperial treasured object (preserved in the imperial treasury). It was subjected to the flames of the Ōsaka siege and became burned. During restoration, the original signature was cut away and a plaque signature was inlaid in its place. The "Namazu-o Tōjirō" (Tokugawa Art Museum), likewise burned during the fall of Ōsaka castle and reworked from a naginata, and the "Honekui Tōjirō" (Important Cultural Property, Toyokuni Shrine collection, on deposit at the Kyoto National Museum) were both re-edged after being burned and have come down to the present day.

In later ages, Yoshimitsu came to be counted as one of the "Tenka Sansaku" [Three Greatest Masters under Heaven], which Toyotomi Hideyoshi treasured with special esteem, alongside Masamune and Gō Yoshihiro. In the Kyōhō Meibutsuchō, compiled by the Honami family at the order of Tokugawa Yoshimune, Yoshimitsu's works are recorded in exceptionally large numbers as celebrated pieces, transmitting to the present his eminent valuation. His rank is considered the highest, and his reputation as a master of the tantō remains unshaken.