Tachi (inscribed Masatsune)

A Ko-Bizen Blade at the Shrine of Kumano

The tang carries one name, Masatsune, a swordsmith of the Ko-Bizen, or old Bizen, group that flourished in Bizen province from the late Heian into the early Kamakura period. Together with the smith Tomonari, Masatsune is named as one of the twin pillars of this earliest Bizen school. The blade is kept at Kumano Hayatama Taisha in Shingū, Wakayama Prefecture, one of the three grand shrines of Kumano and part of a World Heritage site.

Ko-Bizen work is known for a tightly forged steel of fine wood-grain pattern and a quiet temper line, a small irregular hamon crossed with small clove shapes that reads almost as a straight line at a glance. Masatsune in particular is praised for steel that is closely knit and beautifully ordered, and his blades typically carry no carved groove. The Agency for Cultural Affairs record for this sword leaves its measurements blank, so its exact dimensions are not stated in the national database.

Why It Matters

Several smiths signed the name Masatsune across the centuries, and old sword texts speak of seven Masatsune in all. The Ko-Bizen masters of this name left more signed works than most early smiths, and a good number are designated national treasures or important cultural properties. This blade was designated an Important Cultural Property in 1913, with an itomaki no tachi mounting listed as an attached property.

It is worth being precise about its status, because the same shrine is famous for a different and even higher distinction. Kumano Hayatama Taisha holds a celebrated group of more than a thousand ancient shrine treasures, the kojinpō, offered around 1390 by the imperial court, retired emperors, and the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. That entire group was designated a National Treasure. The Masatsune tachi is a separate object with its own Important Cultural Property designation, not part of the National Treasure group, and this distinction matters when reading about the shrine's holdings.

What to Look For

Kumano Hayatama Taisha keeps its collection in a treasure hall on the grounds, the Shinpōkan, which admits visitors for a small charge. Displays rotate, so the chance to see any single object varies with the season and the current exhibition.

If the Masatsune blade is shown, study the steel before the edge. Ko-Bizen work asks for slow looking: the grain is fine and the temper restrained, and the beauty lies in evenness and clarity rather than drama. Set against the shrine's flamboyant National Treasure mountings and lacquerwork, the sword offers a contrasting kind of refinement.

The shrine itself rewards the journey to Shingū. Its vivid vermilion halls stand near the mouth of the Kumano River, and a giant nagi tree on the grounds, held to be many centuries old, is revered as a sacred tree. The site forms part of the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range. From JR Shingū station the shrine is a walk of about fifteen minutes.