A Yoshihira Tachi (吉平)

Yoshihira (吉平) was one of the outstanding smiths of the Fukuoka-Ichimonji school at the height of its powers in the mid-Kamakura period. Traditional genealogies place him as the grandson of Muneyoshi (宗吉) and the son of Yoshiie (吉家), positioning him squarely within the school’s golden generation. His output is varied – he worked both in a refined, smaller-element chôji and, at his most ambitious, in a large midareba comparable to the celebrated Yoshifusa (吉房). What unites his work is the quality of the steel and the vivid life of the hamon: full of nie, rich in activity, and unmistakably Ichimonji in character.

This tachi presents a magnificent Kamakura sugata: long nagasa, deep koshizori that bends gently toward the tip, wide mihaba with noticeable taper, and a composed chû-kissaki. The ji-gane is a rather standing-out itame mixed with mokume and nagare, with plentiful ji-nie, much chikei, and a vivid midare-utsuri running through the steel. The hamon is a nie-laden mix of larger and smaller chôji, prominently featuring kawazu no ko-chôji and fukuro-chôji, with abundant kinsuji and sunagashi throughout and a wide, clear nioiguchi. The nakago is suriage but retains its original niji-mei – two thick, boldly chiseled characters (吉平) that Tanobe Michihiro singled out as characteristic of this smith’s manner of signing.

Tanobe Michihiro’s sayagaki, written in February 2020, draws a direct comparison to the Yoshihira tachi formerly in the collection of the Bizen Ikeda family – a blade designated jûyô-bijutsuhin – describing this piece as sharing its qualities and calling it a “highly tasteful masterwork.” The tachi was fitted with a newly crafted gold ganseki habaki. It holds NBTHK Jûyô Tôken certification from the 62nd session (2016), certificate no. 13954.