長運斎綱俊

Chōunsai Tsunatoshi

Description

## Chōunsai Tsunatoshi and the Bizen Revival in the Shinshintō Era Chōunsai Tsunatoshi was one of the leading masters of the Shinshintō period, active in Edo during the first half of the nineteenth century, and is celebrated above all as the smith who most successfully revived the chōji-midare hamon. The Shinshintō era was defined by a conscious "return to the old" — after the Shintō period had developed its own distinctive styles, smiths in the early nineteenth century turned their attention to the masterpieces of the Kamakura, Nanbokuchō, and Muromachi periods as ideals to emulate. Tsunatoshi trained in the lineage of Suishinshi Masahide, the central advocate of the "kotō revival" philosophy, and became one of the disciples most dedicated to practically realizing that philosophy. Among Masahide's senior students, Tsunatoshi distinguished himself by tackling head-on the most technically demanding challenge: the restoration of Bizen-den chōji-midare. ## Technical Restoration of Chōji-Midare Bizen-den chōji-midare, perfected by Nagamitsu, Kagemitsu, and Kanemitsu of the Osafune school, requires mastery of iron sand selection, precise temperature control, and intricate quenching technique. By the Edo period the original methods had been lost and no Shintō smith had managed a complete restoration. In the Shinshintō era, Tsunatoshi joined Suishinshi Masahide, Minamoto Kiyomaro, and Taikei Naotane in confronting this challenge. Tsunatoshi's chōji-midare, modeled on Kamakura-period works by Nagamitsu and Kagemitsu, achieves high fidelity in the nie formation, ashi extension, and yō shaping. While not identical to the originals, it captures the vitality — the sense of living movement — of the chōji hamon within a Shinshintō context, standing out clearly among his contemporaries. His jigane, also oriented toward itame, shows evidence of striving for the moist quality of classic Bizen steel. ## The Gō "Chōunsai" The art name "Chōunsai" — "Studio of the Long Cloud" — reflects Tsunatoshi's intellectual and cultural cultivation. Late Edo period smiths typically possessed broad educations in Confucian studies, kokugaku, and Chinese poetry, and Tsunatoshi was a representative scholar-smith. His practice of systematically studying, analyzing, and applying lessons from ancient blades to his own work makes him a prototype of the modern "research-oriented swordsmith." ## Students and Influence Tsunatoshi trained many disciples, and his techniques and philosophy influenced swordmaking broadly through the late Edo and into the Meiji era. His role in transmitting chōji-midare technique was particularly significant, and his influence can be traced into the swordsmiths of the Meiji and Taishō periods. The revival of Bizen-den through chōji-midare remained a central theme of Japanese sword aesthetics from the Bakumatsu through the Meiji period, and Tsunatoshi stands as a pioneer of that movement. ## Tsunatoshi and DATEKATANA DATEKATANA presents Chōunsai Tsunatoshi to convey the intellectual enterprise of the Shinshintō smith — studying, analyzing, and creatively applying the lessons of the great old blades. Tsunatoshi's chōji-midare is not mere imitation but a new creation born from the dialogue between research and practice, a product of the conversation between classical tradition and the living present.

Famous Works

• 刀（重要刀剣多数）
• 太刀写し（個人蔵）