徳川吉宗

Tokugawa Yoshimune, the eighth Tokugawa shōgun, is best known for his Kyōhō Reforms, which revitalized the flagging finances of the Edo shogunate. Yet his contribution to Japanese sword culture was equally remarkable. In 1720, he commissioned the Hon'ami family — the supreme authority on sword appraisal since the Muromachi period — to compile the Kyōhō Meibutsuchō, a comprehensive catalogue documenting the history, provenance, and characteristics of all the most celebrated swords and spears in Japan. This document, which recorded the Five Great Swords and hundreds of other famous blades, became the most important reference work in the history of Japanese sword scholarship and remains indispensable to researchers today. Yoshimune's relationship with the Hon'ami family was particularly close; he personally studied sword appraisal under their guidance and was said to have developed a genuinely expert eye for blades. He also promoted the martial arts as part of his reforms, encouraging swordsmanship training and supporting the development of practice methods that laid the groundwork for modern kendō. Known as the 'Rice Shōgun' for his economic policies, Yoshimune deserves equal recognition as the 'Sword Shōgun' for his systematic preservation and documentation of Japan's greatest blades.