Page 269 - JAPAN THE SHAPING OFDAIMYO CULTURE 1185-1868

170

of the li daimyo: cat. 168 for a daughter of qualities of Yukihira's style, has an elegant
li Naosuke, and cat. 169 for li Naoshige, a arched shape. The surface texture of the
son of the second-generation li daimyo, blade is of a type described by sword con-
Naotaka. Cat. 168 takes the form of hara- noisseurs as itame, or wood grain. The
maki (cats. 150,151,152), and reflects the temper line along the edge of the blade is
Edo-period practice of making copies of almost completely straight. Engraved on
earlier armor, though the copies often sac- the front side of the blade is a shuji repre-
rificed authenticity to decorative elabora- senting the fierce-looking but benevolent
tion. On cat. 169 can be seen the tachibana Buddhist guardian deity Fudô Myôô as
mon, the li family crest, depicting the fruit well as a depiction of the Kurikara dragon,
and leaves of the mandarin orange on a a symbol of Fudó, coiled around a sword
stem enclosed in a circle; this or a more and about to swallow it from the tip. On
simplified version was often used by the li the reverse side of the blade is the shuji for
clan on their personal belongings, such as Bishamonten, another Buddhist guardian
saddles, clothing, and sword mountings deity, especially adopted by warriors, as
(cat. 191). Small-scale sets of armor typi- well as a Buddhist image that can be taken
cally were made for younger members of for either Bishamonten or Fudô Myôô. On
warrior families. They served as visual re- the tang is inscribed, Made by Yukihira of
minders of the social status of the child Bungo province.
and were worn at important occasions, Long a celebrated work, this tachi
such as the coming of age ceremony. blade was given by the daimyo and literary
, In all, fourteen successive generations figure Hosokawa Yûsai (also known as Fu-
of the li family held the position of daimyo jitaka, 1534-1610) to Karasumaru Mitsuhiro
of Hikone until it was abolished shortly af- (1579-1630), to whom he also transmitted a
ter the Meiji Restoration in 1868. AMW highly valued secret teaching passed orally
from teacher to select disciple, on the
tenth-century poetic anthology Kokinshù.
170 Tachi blade The accompanying leather mounting
Yukihira (fl. early i3th century) dates from that time. HY
steel
blade length 79.9 (31 */z) 171 Katana blade
Kamakura period, i3th century
Mitsutada (fl. 13th century)
Eisei Bunko, Toyko steel
National Treasure blade length 68.5 (27)
The swordsmith Yukihira of Bungo Prov- Kamakura period, 13th century
ince (most of present-day Oita Prefecture) Eisei Bunko, Tokyo
is said to have been a disciple of Teishû, a National Treasure
late Heian-period monk and sword maker
at Hikosan, a mountain center of Bud- Originally a long tachi measuring over 90
l
dhism. Yukihira's known works include a centimeters (c. 35 /z inches), this blade was
s
so
tachi dated to 1205, ^ * understood that made into a katana in the Momoyama pe-
riod. Unlike the tachi, which
was slung
he was active in the Kamakura period.
The tachi is a type of sword slung from the from the waist with the edge down, the ka~
waist with the edge facing down. This tana was worn edge up, thrust through the
slender example, representing the finest belt. The tang of this blade holds two gold-

256