Hello, world. Welcome to Samurai Museum Shop. Thank you for finding our website. In this post, we would like to introduce one of the prominent Japanese swordsmiths. We hope you will enjoy reading this post.
Chikuzen Jyu Minamoto Nobukuni Yoshisada is also known as 信国助左衛門吉貞 (Nobukuni Sukezaemon Yoshisada) and was active in sword-forging during the late Azuchi Momoyama-the early Edo Period (Late 16th-Early 17th century ).
Chikuzen is the name of the province located in Fukuoka prefecture today. Jyu means living. Minamoto Nobukuni is the name of his school, and Yoshisada is his maker’s name. Those who belonged to Nobukuni School in Chikuzen province were called Tsukushi Nobukuni, one of the most prospered sword forging schools in Kyushu island during the Edo period.
The Nobukuni school was initially founded by the first generation Nobukuni in Kyoto. The school stayed there for a few generations. However, the 4th generation Nobukuni SADAMITSU had to evacuate Kyoto city because the battle between the south emperor court and the north emperor court became severe. And as a result, Kyoto city was burnt(the late 1300’s). We called it the Nanbokucho war when the Japanese imperial court was separated into two.
Nobukuni SADAMITSU managed to escape and arrive at Usaha(Ohita prefecture)to serve the Ajimu clan. Nobukuni school prospered there from third to 11th generation. However, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of the three unifiers of Japan, destroyed the Ajimu clan during the late Azuchi Momoyama period (1582). And, the 12th generation Nobukuni YOSHISADA moved to Chikuzen(Fukuoka prefecture), being invited by Kuroda Nagamasa, a famous feudal lord who served Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1602). Since then, Nobukuni school had been under the auspices of Kuroda clan for generations during the Edo period, and they exclusively forged for this clan.
It is said that the swordsmith name Yoshisada lasted two generations. And, the first-gen Yoshisada is the one that moved from Usaha to Chikuzen to found Chikuzen Nobukuni School. His first son Yoshimasa and second son Yoshitsugu also exclusively forged swords for the Kuroda clan.
We hope you enjoyed reading this post. If you are interested in checking his work, we happen to acquire an antique Katana signed by him. More information is available by clicking the image below.
