平戸城

Lien avec les sabres

The Matsuura clan's sword culture combined the finest of Hizen-sword tradition — one of Edo Japan's premier swordsmiths regions — with the unique influence of international trade. Domain smiths in Hirado worked within the Hizen school tradition (associated with master smiths like Tadayoshi and Masahiro) renowned for beautiful grain and orderly hamon. Uniquely, Hirado castle town is associated with experiments using imported Southern Barbarian iron (nanban-tetsu) from Dutch and Portuguese trade, yielding blades of distinctive quality. The twelfth lord Matsuura Seizan was himself a skilled swordsman whose writings (Kasshi Yawa) contain invaluable sword lore. The Matsuura Historical Museum holds Matsuura clan swords and rare nanban-style sword fittings combining Western goldsmithing and Japanese lacquer techniques.