National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

The Okayama-based Bizen school and its main Osafune branch dominated Japanese smithing from the eighth to sixteenth centuries. The blades of the Osafune smith Yoshikage exhibit influence from the Sōshū school as well, exemplified by the visible steel grains (nie). This tachi captures Yoshikage’s characteristic style along with the era’s preferences for blades with both strength and splendor.