Bizen ware

Swords made in Bizen Province (southeastern Okayama Prefecture). Bizen produced the most swordsmiths and left behind many famous swords over the 600 years from the late Heian period to the end of the Muromachi period. Swordsmiths flourished in this province because of the large amount of iron produced in the Chugoku mountains, mainly in Mimasaka Province (northern Okayama Prefecture).

The distribution of blacksmiths in the Heian period is unclear, but they are collectively called Kobizenmono, with representative craftsmen such as Tomonari, Masatsune, and Kanehira. In the Kamakura period, they were distributed in Fukuoka, Yoshioka, Osafune, Hatakeda, Ukai, Wake, Nitta, Yoshii, Iwato, Haji, and Higashi. Among them, the Fukuoka Ichimonji school, which flourished in the early Kamakura period under the founder Norimune, developed a style of gorgeous choji-ha blades in the mid-Kamakura period, and included many master craftsmen such as Yoshifusa, Sukezane, and Norifusa.

The Osafune school, which arose in the middle of the period with Mitsutada as its founder, was followed by Nagamitsu, Kagemitsu, and Kanemitsu, and went on to produce many swordsmiths from the Nanboku-cho period through to the Muromachi period. The Osafune school is the one that has left the most works, with those from the early Muromachi period being called Oei Bizen and those from the late period being called Sue Bizen, with Morimitsu and Yasumitsu being representative of the former, and Katsumitsu, Sukesada, and Kiyomitsu being representative of the latter. However, there was not just one swordsmith who bore the name Sukesada, but several dozen of swordsmiths of the same era, some of whom revealed their personal names, such as Yozaemon-no-jo Sukesada and Genbei-no-jo Sukesada, but most were inscribed simply as "Bishu-ju Nagafune Sukesada," and these were mass-produced swords known as "kazuuchi-mono" or "tabagatana." There were also successors to the Sukesada name in the Edo period, which continued into the end of the Edo period.

[Nobuo Ogasawara]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

備前国（岡山県南東部）で制作された刀剣。備前は平安後期から室町末期までの600年余の間にもっとも多くの刀工を生み、名刀を多数残している。この国に刀鍛冶(かじ)の隆盛をみたのは、美作(みまさか)国（岡山県北部）を中心とする中国山中で多くの鉄が産出されたためである。

　平安時代の鍛冶の分布は明らかでなく、一括して古備前物(こびぜんもの)とよび、代表工には友成(ともなり)、正恒(まさつね)、包平(かねひら)などがいる。鎌倉時代には福岡、吉岡、長船(おさふね)、畠田(はたけだ)、宇甘(うかい)、和気(わけ)、新田(にった)、吉井、岩戸、土師(はじ)、日笠(ひがさ)などに分布している。なかでも鎌倉初期に則宗(のりむね)を祖として栄えた福岡一文字派は、中期に至ると華やかな丁子(ちょうじ)刃の作風を展開し、なかに吉房、助真、則房など多くの名工がいる。

　中期に光忠(みつただ)を祖としておこった長船派は以降、長光(ながみつ)、景光(かげみつ)、兼光(かねみつ)と続き、さらに南北朝期から室町期へと多くの刀工を生んでいる。この長船派はもっとも多くの作品を残しており、室町初期のものを応永(おうえい)備前、末期のものを末(すえ)備前といい、前者では盛光(もりみつ)、康光(やすみつ)、後者では勝光(かつみつ)、祐定(すけさだ)、清光(きよみつ)らを代表工としている。しかし、祐定を名のる刀工は1人ではなく、同時代に数十名おり、なかには与三左衛門尉(じょう)祐定、源兵衛尉祐定というように個人名を明らかにした者もあるが、多くは「備州住(じゅう)長船祐定」とのみ銘しており、これらは数打(かずうち)物、束刀(たばがたな)とよばれる大量生産品である。江戸時代にも祐定の名跡を継いだ者がいて幕末に及んでいる。

［小笠原信夫］

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