A Sword Known Chiefly by Its Signature
Near the base of the tang, cut in fine, narrow strokes, are two characters: 久国, read Hisakuni. They identify the maker of a curved tachi blade just over 78 centimetres long, forged in the Kamakura period (1185–1333) and registered today as an Important Cultural Property of Japan. The signature is the firmest fact we have. The blade itself is no longer where the public record can reach it.
The Hisakuni named here is almost certainly the swordsmith of the Awataguchi school in Kyoto, the most celebrated of several smiths to use that name. He was the second son of Awataguchi Kuniie, the figure regarded as the school's founder, and one of six smith brothers later grouped together as the Awataguchi Roppon, the "six of Awataguchi." His given name was Hayashi Tojiro, and he is said to have received the court rank of Osumi-gon-no-kami, an honour rarely granted to a craftsman and, by tradition, the first such title given to a swordsmith.
Hisakuni's reputation rests partly on a particular commission. In the early thirteenth century the retired emperor Go-Toba summoned leading smiths from the sword-making provinces of Bizen, Bitchu, and Yamashiro to forge for him in monthly rotation, a body known as the goban kaji, the smiths in attendance. Hisakuni was among them, and was placed in the senior instructing rank. For a swordsmith, working under direct imperial patronage marked the summit of the profession.
Why the Blade Was Designated
Signed works by Awataguchi Hisakuni are scarce. Of the pieces that survive and carry his name, one is a National Treasure and three, including this one, hold the rank of Important Cultural Property. That rarity is part of the reason the sword was singled out for protection.
The protection came in two stages, reflecting a change in Japanese law. The blade was first listed in 1934 under the old National Treasures Preservation Law of the prewar period. When that framework was replaced by the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties, the sword was carried over and formally registered as an Important Cultural Property on 29 August 1950, the date on which a large number of former National Treasures were reclassified. Both dates appear in official records, and they describe the same object passing through two successive systems rather than two separate designations.
What earns a sword this standing is rarely its sharpness. The Edo-period connoisseur's manual Kaiho Kenjaku, compiled in 1830, placed Hisakuni among the very highest grade of old-sword makers for artistic quality, even while noting that genuine examples were already so scarce that the cutting tests applied to many old blades had never been carried out on his work. The value lies in the steel and the temper line, the qualities a trained eye reads on the surface.
Reading the Blade
The official description records a blade in shinogi-zukuri form, the standard ridged cross-section, with an iori-mune, a low gabled back. Its length is 78.4 centimetres and its curvature, the sori, measures 1.6 centimetres. The proportions and the gentle curve are consistent with Kamakura work.
The detail that points most clearly to the Awataguchi workshop is the surface of the steel. The record describes a fine nashiji-hada, a grain compared to the speckled skin of a pear, dense with bright ji-nie, the tiny crystalline particles that catch the light, with patches of coarser nie scattered across it and a crisp, clear steel colour. This refined, luminous steel is the trait by which the school is known.
Along the cutting edge runs the hamon, the hardened temper pattern. Here it mixes ko-midare, a small irregular outline, with ko-notare, a shallow wave, the line deep in nie and broken by ashi, short reaches of hardening that drop toward the edge. At the point, the boshi takes a jizo shape on one face and a shallower wave on the other, turning back in a small round and showing hakikake, a swept, broom-like finish. The tang has been shortened, leaving two peg holes and file marks cut on a slant. These are the things a viewer would lean in to study, if the blade could be seen.
Where to See Hisakuni's Work Today
This particular sword cannot be visited. Its whereabouts are not currently on record, and it appears on the Agency for Cultural Affairs' published list of nationally designated properties whose location is unknown. The agency keeps such items on the register and invites anyone with information to come forward. For now, the blade exists for the public only as documentation.
Travellers who want to stand in front of Hisakuni's craft have a better option close at hand. The Tokyo National Museum in Ueno holds the National Treasure tachi signed Hisakuni, owned by the state. It retains its original full-length tang, an unaltered survival that makes it the finest reference point for the smith's hand. It is not on permanent view, but it rotates into the museum's galleries and into major exhibitions every few years, so checking the current schedule before a visit is worthwhile.
The name also lingers in the city in an unexpected place. In Roppongi, a short walk from Roppometro Itchome Station, stands Hisakuni Shrine, whose name comes from a Hisakuni sword said to have been donated by the warrior-poet Ota Dokan, builder of Edo Castle, in the fifteenth century. That blade is a separate work, held privately as a shrine treasure and not shown to the public, but the quiet precinct keeps the swordsmith's name alive in everyday Tokyo. For broader context, the Tokyo National Museum and the Kyoto National Museum both display other Awataguchi-school swords by Hisakuni's relatives, including the famed Toshiro Yoshimitsu, allowing a visitor to place his work within the family that defined Kyoto's sword tradition.
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Q&A
- Can I see this sword in a museum?
- No. This blade's current location is not on record, and it is listed by the Agency for Cultural Affairs among designated properties whose whereabouts are unknown. To see Hisakuni's work, visit the Tokyo National Museum, which holds his National Treasure tachi and shows it periodically.
- Who was Hisakuni?
- A Kamakura-period swordsmith of the Awataguchi school in Kyoto, working in the early thirteenth century. He is recorded as one of the goban kaji, the smiths summoned by the retired emperor Go-Toba to forge in monthly rotation, and is said to have held a senior instructing rank among them.
- Why are there two designation dates?
- The blade was first listed in 1934 under the prewar National Treasures Preservation Law, then carried over and registered as an Important Cultural Property on 29 August 1950 under the postwar Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties. The two dates mark the same object moving between two legal systems.
- What is special about an Awataguchi blade?
- The school is prized for its steel: a fine, dense grain likened to pear skin, rich in bright crystalline particles called nie. On this sword the record notes exactly that refined nashiji surface, the trait connoisseurs use to recognise the workshop.
- Is the shrine in Roppongi connected to this blade?
- Not directly. Hisakuni Shrine takes its name from a different Hisakuni sword, said to have been donated by Ota Dokan in the fifteenth century and kept as a private shrine treasure. It is a thematic link rather than the same object, but it shows how far the smith's name travelled.
Basic Information
| Name | Tachi, signed Hisakuni (Tachi, mei Hisakuni) |
|---|---|
| Category | Craft (sword), one blade |
| Smith | Hisakuni; attributed to the Awataguchi school, Yamashiro Province (Kyoto) |
| Period | Kamakura period (1185–1333) |
| Designation | Important Cultural Property; first listed 1934, registered as ICP on 29 August 1950 |
| Dimensions | Blade length 78.4 cm; curvature (sori) 1.6 cm |
| Construction | Shinogi-zukuri, iori-mune; nashiji-hada steel; ko-midare and ko-notare hamon with deep nie; shortened tang |
| Owner | Private individual (Tokyo) |
| Public access | Not viewable; whereabouts currently unrecorded and listed on the national register of missing designated properties |
| See instead | National Treasure tachi signed Hisakuni, Tokyo National Museum (periodic display) |
References
- Database of National Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs): Tachi, signed Hisakuni
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/201/6046
- Cultural Heritage Online: Tachi, signed Hisakuni (this blade)
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/198243
- Agency for Cultural Affairs: Register of missing designated cultural properties (this blade)
- https://www.bunka.go.jp/seisaku/bunkazai/torimodosou/kunishitei/49.html
- Cultural Heritage Online: National Treasure tachi signed Hisakuni (Tokyo National Museum)
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/149881
- Touken World: The goban kaji of Retired Emperor Go-Toba
- https://www.touken-world.jp/tips/23400/
Last verified: 2026.06.14