Japanese Wakizashi. Nobukuni Minamoto Yukikuni. Shin Shin To. Bunkyo Era 1863

Nobukuni Minamoto Yukikuni Wakizashi - NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Paper

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Signed: Nobukuni Minamoto Yukikuni . Nana Ju Go Sai Tsukuru Kore
(Nobukuni Minamoto Yukokuni 76 years old made this)

***Studied with the Shin Shin To Sword Master Suishinshi Masahide***

Shin Shin To : Edo Period - 文久三年Bunkyo Era 1863 AD

NBTHK TOKUBETSU HOZON CERTIFICATE # 1017065
A sword designated as Extraordinarily Worthy of Conservation by the Society for the Preservation of the Japan Art Sword.

For a sword to receive TOKUBETSU HOZON, the sword would have had to clear the seven HOZON criteria to such a fantastic degree to realize such importance.
When swords achieve such standing, their value increases substantially.

Fujishiro Ranking : Jo Saku (Superior Made)

Blade is polished

Nagasa (Length): 40.3 cm
Sori (Curvature) : 1 cm
Mekugi: 1
Width at hamachi: 2.5 cm
Kasane: 5.5 mm
Hamon: Suguha
Kissaki: Shobu Zukuri (菖蒲造り)

Horimono: The Mei side engraved with Asarum caulescens (葵, Aoi) a plant design in which each stems branches and has characteristic heart-shaped leaves.
The Aoi-Domoe / Mitsuba-Aoi-no Mon (葵巴/三つ葉葵の紋 ) is the family crest of the Tokugawa Shogunate family led by Tokugawa Ieyasu, a famous military commander of the Warring States period.
This plant pattern has also been used as the crest of the Kamo shrine in Kyoto prefecture.
The famous Shogunate Tokugawa family had their family crest with three leaves of Aoi, due to their relationship with the Kamo shrine.
The Aoi leaves have a habit of always facing the sun, and the word “Aoi” is taken as “Aogu (仰ぐ, looking up)” for the sun, people thought the Aoi pattern would bring good fortune.

The reverse with a "Bonji", a Sanskrit character and a Kurikara Ken.
Kurikara-Ken (倶利伽羅剣) is the sword that Fudo Myo-O (不動明王) holds with his right hand. It is believed the Kurikara-Ken can cut off the Sandoku, the three fundamental earthly desires: Ton (貪, greed), Jin (瞋, anger, grudge), Chi (癡, delusion, complaint). 

Kogatana: The mei - signature on the blade, is worn and hard to read. Judged as being:
" Musashi no Kami Fujiwara Korekazu ~ 武蔵守藤原是 " Kyōhō period (1716-1736). A branch with budding plum blossoms (梅, Ume).
It begins to bloom in winter while snow covers the tree, foretelling the arrival of spring.
A gracefully branching tree, because it blooms in winter it symbolizes the power of perseverance and vitality, as well as faithfulness, elegance and purity of heart.
A petal shape and scent that has inspired many poems.

Koshirae:
Tsuba:  Yotsu Mokku-shaped Tsuba that has an opening for the Kogatana ( kogatana hitsu ana ) Small birds - Plovers, flying, waves. rocks, grasses. The same theme as the design on the Fuchi Kashira .
Unsigned. Sekigane inserts. Edo Period

Fuchi & Kashira: Matching theme. Nami Chidori (波千鳥) design. Plovers over waves.This design represents happy marriage and family safety. People have treated it as a good omen design in Japan since the Nara period (648-781). Nami (波) waves, and Chidori (千鳥) plovers. Waves are compared to the world, meaning it describes the determination: overcoming difficulties with a partner even if there are small or big waves (difficulties/ troublesThe plover pattern is also used as a prayer for victory or achievement of a goal. Edo Period

Menuki: Shakudo - the Karashishi (唐獅子).
The Shishi (獅子) means a lion in Japanese, the Karashishi is a lion brought from the continent to Japan in the Toh period (唐, Tang dynasty, 618-907).
The Karashishi typically has curly hair for its head, neck, body, and tail. In Buddhism, it is regarded as a symbol of wisdom, the Monju Bosatu (文殊菩薩, Manjushri Bodhisattva) is often portrayed seated on a Karashishi. Edo Period

Saya:. Ribbed section ~ grain wood look. Edo Period

Shirasaya: Nobukuni Minamoto Yukikuni Nagasa 1 shaku 3 sun 2 bu 6 ri
(Length Measurement, 40.3 cm).
Reverse. Nana ju roku sai ~ 76 years old made this. (One year before he died at the age of 77).

A$11,450

This blade was produced in Chikuzen province, by Nobukuni Minamoto Yukikuni. 信国源行国.
Yukikuni was a member of the Chikuzen-Nobukuni School which had been thriving on Kyūshū since the beginning of the Edo period, of the first generation Yoshisada (吉貞, ?-1640), who counted himself as being the twelfth generation Nobukuni after the famous Nanbokuchō-era founder of the same name.

Reference Markus Sesko Quote :
" Checking the meikan, we learn that Yukikuni’s real name was Nobukuni Mataza (信国又左), that he had studied in Edo with the Master Swordsmith Suishinshi Masahide (水心子正秀, 1750-1825), and that he died in the first year of Keiō (慶応, 1865) at the age of 77, which calculates his year of birth as Tenmei eight (天明, 1788).
Knowing that the late Edo period Chikuzen-Nobukuni School was widely branched, I was checking for the maker’s family environment and realized that his name is also featured in the entry for Chikuzen-Nobukuni Shigekane (重包). Not the famous mid-Edo Shigekane from the same school who was one of the winners of shōgun Tokugawa Yoshimune’s (徳川吉宗, 1684-1751) sword making contest, but the later local Shigekane of the same name.
In Shigekane’s entry we read that he bore the first names Mataza (又左) and Matasuke (又助), that he was the son of Shimomura Shinpachi (下村信八) and got adopted (as a heir) by the 19th Nobukuni generation Yoshikiyo (吉清), that he studied with the Sword Master - Suishinshi Masahide during the Bunka era (文化, 1804-1818), and that in Tenpō seven (天保, 1836), he was employed by the Kuroda family (黒田), receiving three fuchi (an annual stipend for the support of three persons).
The Kuroda, were the daimyō of the Chikuzen Fukuoka fief (福岡藩) for which the Chikuzen-Nobukuni School worked.
In Ansei three (安政, 1856), the fief granted him permission to work independently and in Man’en one (万年, 1860), his payment was increased by one fuchi. The death register of the Ankoku-ji (安国寺) where he is buried lists his posthumous Buddhist name as Honrai Tanken (本来鍛剣).

Such names usually refer to the profession or to important stations in the life of the deceased, and this is totally true in this case because Honrai Tanken means lit. “swordsmith by nature” or “forging swords was innate to him.”
Interestingly, Shigekane is listed as having used numerous different names as a craftsman, namely Sadakuni (定国), Masayoshi (正義), Hisakuni (久国), and Yukikuni (行国), and as Shigekane is recorded as having died in the first year of Keiō as well, at the same age of 77, it appears that he and Yukikuni were indeed the same person.

That said, and on the basis of referenced dated works, I was able to chronologically trace these name changes as follows: His Shigekane mei is listed with an existing date of Bunka five (1808), the Masayoshi mei with Bunsei two (1819), the Sadakuni mei with Bunsei seven (1824), the Hisakuni mei with Tenpō eight (1837), Tenpō 13 (1842), Kaei four (1851), Kaei six (1853), and Ansei two (1855), and his Yukikuni mei with Ansei six (1859) and Bunkyū one (1861).

With this information, the following preliminary scenario comes to my mind. Nobukuni Mataza started his career by signing with the name Shigekane (重包), maybe in admiration of his famous local predecessor of the same name.
Then sometime between 1804 and 1808 he studied with the ShinShin To Sword Master Suishinshi Masahide, from whom he received the Masa character, changing his name to Masayoshi (正義).
Then, for reasons unknown and at some time in the early Bunsei era (1818-1830), he changed his name to Sadakuni (定国). The Tenpō seven (1836) employment by the fief resulted in the name change to Hisakuni (久国) and at the latest in Ansei six (1859), he had changed his name one more time, and that is to Yukikuni (行国).
The smith was already 71 years old at that time and so it suggests itself to link that last name change to a retirement.
However, the meikan list his Yukikuni name with an 1861 dated blade, so he was still making swords at the age of 73 (and four years before his death).
Well, we are already in daisaku-daimei territory here, but there was another incident that happened around this time, and that was the early death of his successor Sadakuni II (二代定国) on the 14th day of the eighth month of Ansei five (1858). Sadakuni II only lived to the age of 32. So maybe this stroke of fate triggered his name change to Yukikuni? However, Mataza had already signed with Hisakuni for more than twenty years at that time. That is, a possible stigma to the Sadakuni name due to the untimely death of his successor may be ruled out as the smith had not used this name for more than thirty years at that time."

The Foundation of the Nobukuni School
 The Nobukuni school was initially founded by the first generation Nobukuni in Kyoto. The school stayed there for a few generations. However, the 4th generation Nobukuni SADAMITSU had to evacuate Kyoto city because the battle between the south emperor court and the north emperor court became severe. As a result, Kyoto city was burnt(in the late 1300s). It was called the Nanbokucho war when the Japanese imperial court was separated into two.
Nobukuni SADAMITSU managed to escape and arrive at Usaha(Ohita prefecture)to serve the Ajimu clan. Nobukuni school prospered there from third to 11th generation. However, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of the three unifiers of Japan, destroyed the Ajimu clan during the late Azuchi Momoyama period (1582). And the 12th generation Nobukuni YOSHISADA moved to Chikuzen(Fukuoka prefecture), being invited by Kuroda Nagamasa, a famous feudal lord who served Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1602).
Since then, the Nobukuni school had been under the auspices of Kuroda clan for generations during the Edo period, and they exclusively forged for this clan.

This superb sword was first registered. Heisei 24 year - 2012.
An indication that it was kept as a family heirloom for @149 years before being formally registered in 2012.