Prevalence of Koto schools

[Northman]

Apologies if this topic has been covered elsewhere, however I did a quick search and did not find what I’m after.

 

I’m wondering if anyone has any sources that discuss the prevalence of the various Koto schools. Essentially, which schools produced the most swords, and consequently which school’s pieces are most widely available now?

 

In the simplest terms, is Bizen-den the most prevalent, and Mino-den the most scarce? Believe I’ve read that Yamato-den produced a great deal of swords as well.

 

I’m sure that there is a comprehensive source out there, but I’ve not found it yet!

[Blazeaglory]

Actually I see quite a bit of Mino or Mino influence

[Northman]

In fairness, so do I. I’ve heard, however, that out of the 5 major Koto schools, Mino was the last to be established. By how much, I’m not sure though - so maybe it’s a moot point...

[Blazeaglory]

In fairness, so do I. I’ve heard, however, that out of the 5 major Koto schools, Mino was the last to be established. By how much, I’m not sure though - so maybe it’s a moot point...

 

Yeah true. And I would think the pre flood schools would have less swords available but I am curious as well to see which schools actually produced the most swords. Or when there were the most schools active over a certain number of centuries, the schools with the highest average of swords produced in comparison to each other or something like that

[Northman]

^ Exactly the types of things I’m wondering as well.

[Ken-Hawaii]

Bizen made the most blades, by far - an estimated 63%.

 

Mino blades are next - an estimated 31%.

 

The rest - Soshu, Yamato, & Yamashiro - are about 2% each.

[Northman]

Bizen made the most blades, by far - an estimated 63%.

 

Mino blades are next - an estimated 31%.

 

The rest - Soshu, Yamato, & Yamashiro - are about 2% each.

Wow - Mino = late to the party, but highly productive?  Or perhaps, not all that late to the party anyway.

 

Can't recall where I read it, but hear that there was a while when the Yamato smiths were pumping out blades, many of which were never signed.  Maybe there wasn't a lot of truth to that claim.

[16k]

The thing is Bizen and Mino produced most of the blades during the Muromachi period, hence the prevalence.

[paulb]

Yamato pumpinng out blades is a bit of an exaggeration. They produced a lot of weapons for the temples standing armies and many of these were destroyed, I guess through use.

Mino and partcularly Seki were responsible for an early form of mass production making bundle swords for the various armies as was Bizen prior to the flood. In addition Mino  smiths travelled around the country teaching and some say effectively franchising their technology to rural smiths. Thus their style spread despite their relatively late start.

 

Soshu virtually disappeared when the Bakafu relocated to Kyoto from Kamakura. Yamashiro were supplying a diminishing and increasingly impoverished aristocratic client base. and Nobunaga destroyed much of the temple's power and their standing armies eliminating Yamato customer base. Thus you are left with Bizen and Mino.

[Northman]

Thanks for this concise overview. Very helpful and interesting.

[Ken-Hawaii]

There would have been a lot more Bizen blades, except for https://markussesko.com/2013/03/12/the-great-flood-of-the-yoshii-river/

[Northman]

There would have been a lot more Bizen blades, except for https://markussesko.com/2013/03/12/the-great-flood-of-the-yoshii-river/

 

Thanks Ken.  I actually came across this article recently.  Fantastic read.  I'm impressed with the precision involved in this research, though I shouldn't be surprised based on who wrote the damn thing 

[Jussi Ekholm]

Here are some statistics about surviving swords that are pre 1450, of course the data is bit skewed and compeletely missing late Muromachi... The sample size is c.9000 swords now. I am not that skilled with maths and it is not in my interests but here are some numbers that should be correct to my data. All of the numbers are rounded up.

 

Yamashiro - 15% (out of which 58% signed)

Yamato - 8,5% (out of which 20% signed)

Sōshū - 5,5% (out of which 32% signed)

Mino - 4,5% (out of which 12% signed)

Bizen - 38,5% (out of which 62% signed)

Etchū - 3,5% (out of which 30% signed)

Bitchū - 5,5% (out of which 56% signed)

Bingo - 3% (out of which 32% signed)

Chikuzen - 4,5% (out of which 36% signed)

Others - 11,5%

 

Some explanation why this might be very different from statistics/calculations that span until the end of Muromachi period. As Paul explained some of the reasoning earlier you'll see Yamashiro being really high in this percentage but the tradition faded after early Muromachi (and my data collection ends there). For Yamato I have only the 5 main traditions within the Yamato province, not counting schools with obvious Yamato influnce to it. For Sōshū see Pauls explanation how it faded atfer this period. Mino hadn't really started to thrive this early, and that is why it is so minor in my data, also the great amount of mumei work compared to later Muromachi Mino stuff that often bears a signature. Bizen always huge by numbers compared to peers. Some others I inculded that I thought were significant, Bitchū is Aoe school in this case, faded out after early Muromachi. Etchū has basically Norishige/Gō/Uda and Uda continued as a production center in later Muromachi too. Bingo has early Mihara school and Hōkke, both which continued into later Muromachi too. Chikuzen has Sa school (and it's predecessors) and Kongōbyōe.

 

I thought adding in the % signed would be a fun one but here is a thing with that one. It will go lower as I keep adding more swords... As the reality is that signed top tier work from pre 1450 is rare, you are bound to find lot more and more mumei stuff. Also to be noted most of the stuff listed here is not for "the average" collector. As in the c. 9000 examples only c.1200 are below Jūyō level and lot of the stuff is basically unobtainable.

[Rivkin]

It almost feels like the numbers are Juyo-biased. I can imagine in this case the signature being such a major bump so that it alone propels pre-Muromachi Yamato to Juyo, but I do feel among among wider "all papered blades" segment the percentage of signed Yamato is well below 10. By the same token, very significant portion of Muromachi Mino is signed, but Juyo will be dominated by Shizu attributions, which are basically unsigned daito.

 

Kirill R.

[Peter Bleed]

Bizen made the most blades, by far - an estimated 63%.

 

Mino blades are next - an estimated 31%.

 

The rest - Soshu, Yamato, & Yamashiro - are about 2% each.

And the "rest" - especially the Yamato, Yamashiro groups - are OLDER than the Bizen/Mino groups. An extra century in pre-Muromachi times would have chewed thru lots of swords.

Peter

[Rivkin]

And the "rest" - especially the Yamato, Yamashiro groups - are OLDER than the Bizen/Mino groups. An extra century in pre-Muromachi times would have chewed thru lots of swords.

Peter

 

[?]

Yamato except for Senjuin 1300+

Yamashiro - very little in Munechika and Ayanokoji related production. A lot in 1280-1350 group.

By comparison ko-Bizen has a lot of swords.

 

Kirill R.

[Blazeaglory]

Very good info!

[Jussi Ekholm]

You are correct Kirill, I guess you could say the statistics above are top tier biased as many of them are above Jūyō. The data is skewed and that is the stuff in museums and top collections. Signed Aoe, Signed Rai, top tier Sōshū etc. this is not the stuff featured in average collections. That stat above should have about all of the Kokuhō, JūBu and JūBi swords included, so it is definately biased. I would love to have access to NBTHK databank about Hozon and Tokubetsu Hozon swords and databases similar to that but unfortunately it is quite difficult to find lots of data on swords below Jūyō as they are not too commonly published. So on Hozon & TH I have to rely on data that I can find from online sword shops. However you can find the Bunkazai etc. published on various books, featured in magazines, online info about them and so on.

[Northman]

Very interesting breakdown, Jussi. This is more in line with my initial expectations, though noting the caveats you’ve added, and the fact that the focus is prior to mid-Muronachi.

 

I’m guessing that the necessities of war leading into the Sengoku jidai was a key factor that caused certain schools to ramp-up production (I.e Mino)?