Tachi Sword (signed Yoshifusa)

The Most Brilliant Temper Line of Yoshifusa

The Tachi Sword (signed Yoshifusa) (太刀〈銘吉房〉) is a Kamakura-period tachi by Yoshifusa of the Fukuoka Ichimonji school, held by the Hayashibara Museum of Art in Marunouchi, Kita Ward, Okayama City, which in 1955 was designated a National Treasure.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records one blade owned by the Hayashibara Museum of Art, first designated under the old system in 1933.

The museum gives its length as 71.1 centimetres with a curvature of 2.7 centimetres, and describes its steel and edge as exceptionally sound.

The Blade

According to the museum, it is ridged with a roof-shaped back, curved near the hilt and towards the tip, with a medium point. The steel is a wood grain mixed with burl, with irregular reflections. The temper line is a brilliant, deep clove pattern full of legs and leaves, with small irregularities and small crystals near the base.

The point pattern is tight on both faces, turning back in small curves. The tang is almost unaltered, with one peg hole, a chestnut-shaped end rising to the edge and sloping file marks.

What to Look For

The museum explains that the Fukuoka Ichimonji school was famed for splendid temper lines, with Yoshifusa, Norifusa and Sukezane its leading smiths; of Yoshifusa's many signed works, this one has an especially brilliant and varied temper line.

Two appraisal certificates accompany it: one by Hon'ami Koon in 1656 valuing it at 15 gold pieces, and one by Hon'ami Kochu in 1711 at 70. It was handed down in the Matsudaira family of Saijo in Iyo, a branch of the Kii Tokugawa, famed for its swords.

Visiting the Tachi Sword (signed Yoshifusa)

The sword is held by the Hayashibara Museum of Art and is not always on display; check the museum's schedule.