Sagami products

The name given to Japanese swords made in Sagami Province (Kanagawa Prefecture). During the Kamakura and Nanboku-cho periods (13th-14th centuries), Kamakura was the center, while Odawara was the center in the late Muromachi period (16th century). There are several theories about the founder of this style, including one that says it began during the Kencho era (1249-56) when Kunitsuna of the Awataguchi school in Kyoto was summoned by Hojo Tokiyori and sent to Kamakura, and another that Saburo Kunimune and Ichimonji Sukezane emigrated from Bizen Province (Okayama Prefecture). However, since there are works by Shintogo Kunimitsu dating from 1293 and other years, it seems appropriate to place Kunimitsu as the founder. The style of the Sagami tradition was perfected by his disciple Goro Nyudo Masamune, whose blades are characterized by the beauty of the surface of the blade forged from a combination of hard and soft iron, and the thick, curved blade pattern. Kunimitsu was skilled in making straight blades with sharp, small niches, but his disciple Yukimitsu inherited his style, and Masamune forged large, irregular blades with intense niches, creating a unique aesthetic expression. During the Nanboku-cho period, Masamune's son Sadamune, followed by Hiromitsu and Akihiro, emerged. Sadamune was gentler than Masamune, and there were many blades with a rough texture, but there were no signatures. Hiromitsu and Akihiro changed the style, and there are signatures and periodical works, including hitatsura blades with many flying marks.

Swords made in Sagami Province at the end of the Muromachi period are known as "Later Sagami Swords," and swords made by the clan of Yasukuni and Yasuharu, who later forged swords in Odawara, the castle town of the Hojo clan, are known as "Odawara Sagami Swords" to distinguish them from the rest.

[Nobuo Ogasawara]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

相模(さがみ)国（神奈川県）でつくられた日本刀の呼称。鎌倉・南北朝時代（13～14世紀）には鎌倉が、室町後期（16世紀）には小田原が中心地となった。開祖には諸説あり、建長(けんちょう)年間（1249～56）京の粟田口(あわたぐち)派の国綱が北条時頼(ときより)に召され、鎌倉へ下向(げこう)したのに始まるとするもの、また備前(びぜん)国（岡山県）から三郎国宗(くにむね)や一文字助真(すけざね)が移住したという説もあるが、新藤五国光(しんとうごくにみつ)に永仁(えいにん)元年（1293）ほかの紀年作があるところから、開祖を国光に置くのが妥当であろう。その弟子五郎入道正宗(まさむね)によって相州伝の作風は完成されたが、それは硬軟の鉄を組み合わせて鍛えた地肌の美しさと、沸(にえ)の厚くついた湾(のた)れ調の刃文に特色をみる。国光は鋭い小沸(こにえ)出来の直刃(すぐは)を得意としたが、弟子の行光はその作風を受け継ぎ、さらに正宗は沸の激しい大乱刃(みだれば)を焼き、独特の美的表現を創始した。南北朝時代には正宗の子貞宗(さだむね)、ついで広光、秋広が輩出した。貞宗は正宗より穏和で、互(ぐ)の目(め)乱刃が多いが在銘品がない。広光・秋広は趣(おもむき)を変え、飛焼(とびやき)の多い皆焼(ひたつら)刃をはじめ在銘品・紀年作もある。

　室町末期の相州物は「末(すえ)相州物」とよばれ、またのちに北条氏の城下町小田原の地で鍛刀した康国、康春一門のものなどを「小田原相州」とよんで区別している。

［小笠原信夫］

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