Taima Cho Aritoshi

Ron STL · November 16, 2022

This week I was happy to receive news that my mumei Yamato Taima daito attributed to Cho Aritoshi made Juyo. It will be awhile before I see the sword again, a good time to find more info on Cho Aritoshi. I've found the basic linage on data on him, but I hope to find out what pointed to him specifically. Mr. Tanobe wrote an extensive (covering entire shirasaya) prior to shinsa. This will eventually be translated to reveal this info (hopefully). Also the Juyo description will hold answer but that comes in the future. meanwhile, I wonder 1) how many Juyo Token have been attributed to Cho Aritoshi; 2) available, what was said about him on the Zufo description; 3) one past topic was from a member who had a TokuHo with sayagaki to Cho Aritoshi. Has that been translated? This is the fun part, to learn as much as possible about this wonderful sword. Thanks in advance.

Ron STL

Jussi Ekholm · November 16, 2022

Congratulations :thumbsup:

1) So far I believe there have been 39 swords by Aritoshi smiths or attributed as, in the 67 sessions. There are 4 signed tachi that have been awarded Jūyō status, and the one signed 長有俊 has been elevated to Tokubetsu Jūyō. I have found 2 other signed tachi by Aritoshi and one is dated to 1298, making the total of 6 signed tachi that I have been able to find so far. There is also gakumei katana signed 長有俊 that has made Jūyō.

I cannot really say which is 1st gen and which is 2nd gen (Chō Aritoshi) but I took a look on the mumei attributions at Jūyō and I noticed I had made errors in falsely combining these 2 smiths under one category in my index and I just sorted it out. It seems that following are for towards Chō Aritoshi. 1 signed tachi, 1 gakumei katana, 13 mumei swords with Chō Aritoshi attribution and 7 swords with den Chō Aritoshi attribution. So I believe in total there would be 22 Jūyo swords that are towards Chō Aritoshi and 17 that are attributed towards the 1st gen. Of course this is only by looking at the one line attribution and not digging into what is said about these particular swords in the text portion.

Curran · November 16, 2022

Good to hear from you Ron. I was going to answer, but Jussi hit it out of the ballpark while I was typing.

Thank you Jussi.

Very well done.

Ian B3HR2UH · November 16, 2022

Congratulatios Ron , fantastic news .

Ian Brooks

Ron STL · November 17, 2022

I'm so impressed by Jussi's tally of inforation, quite and undertaking it would seem. It puzzles me somewhat if there was one Cho Aritoshi or and Aritoshi followed by Cho. This sword was the late Arnold Frenels 8th sword he ever owned. I acquired it in trade for a wonderful Naginata by Horikawa Kunimichi naginata. Arnold had faith in this sword so Juyo status confirms his optimism. I enjoy keeping the "history" of recent background of swords like this and how they are recognized and given their proper recognition. Again, I hope perhaps there is a Zufu translation available or Tanobe sayagaki translated. We shall see... I have the NBThK listing (now outdated) of Juyo swords. Would this be listed under Yamato Taima swords? I may have some of these Zufu here that include Cho Aritoshi Juyo blade. Wish I could be fluent in Japanese...don't we all.

Ron STL

JAL · November 17, 2022

Hi Ron,

congratulations! I have a juyo (den) Cho Aritoshi that I really enjoy. See attached. My assumption also based on the settsu-mei has been that there were two generations Aritoshi with Cho Aritoshi being the second generarion. I have not finalized the translation in full but most of it is attached with help of a Japanese friend who is not a nihonto student so I need to edit some terminology still.

Description
It is said that Aritoshi was a swordmaker belonged to Yamato taima (or taema) school and he has two names: one is Aritoshi (有俊) consisting of two Chinese characters and another is Cho Aritoshi (長有俊) consisting of three Chinese characters. The former one can be seen produced in Einin 6 (1298). It is a common theory that mei of Cho Aritoshi (three Chinese characters) shows the second Aritoshi, the era is approx. Kenmu, shortened name of Chobei (no) jo Aritoshi.
This sword is that jigane is koitame with slightly nagare masa, thick jinie sticked to pieces, hamon is suguha, kochoji, kogunome, kui chigai ba & niju ba & yubashiri on habuchi, thick nie is brightly saeru, etc, significantly see Cho Ariyoshi’s feature on jiba (jihada and hamon) and kiwameno syuko sareru (it is proved as the past authentication.). As Cho Ariyoshi’s feature, habuchi is a highlight of niju ba. This sword has strong hanie with Cho Aritoshi’s kiwame, niju ba with thick and condensed nie can be frequently seen on habuchi, hamon is clearly skillful. It is an excellent piece of work

the sayagaki of Tanobe san does not mention it specifically:

Sayagaki Tanobe Sensei
62th juyo token
The Wasyu Cho Aritoshi. This sword is Osuriage Mumei. This sword smith was Taima school’s student, he was a sword smith in the Kenmu era. Hamon is Suguha and chogunome with deep and thick Nie. Also, Hamon has many Niju- ba and Yubashiri. This sword has a lot of characteristics of Aritoshi and is excellent.
Nagasa 2 shaku 2 sun 2 bu

Year of the Rooster 2017

enjoy your new acquisition!

best regards

John

62th Juyo Token.docx

Brian · November 17, 2022

Wonderful info by Jussi as always. Need to find a way to officially designate you as forum researcher Jussi

Gakusee · November 17, 2022

Congratulations! Great outcome.

Jussi Ekholm · November 17, 2022

I corrected as I had mistyped the year of dated tachi, it is 1298. This particular tachi is probably the only dated one in existence by Aritoshi as it is pretty much always mentioned when Aritoshi is mentioned (unfortunately I do not yet know the provenance of it or current whereabouts). I do believe it is often mentioned that Aritoshi has been listed being around Bunei (1264 - 1275) in Meikan but the one dated tachi remaining is much later than that. The second generation Chō Aritoshi is always listed as working c. Kenmu (1334-1336). Of course usually my source is NBTHK and for Jūyō they often just repeat the historical info on lineage etc. unless something new has been discovered over the years.

However due to rarity of signed pieces by Aritoshi & Chō Aritoshi there will be bit of a problem. How much definitive stuff can you say about the work style if there are 5 signed pieces by Aritoshi and 2 by Chō Aritoshi remaining? I know Darcy wrote excellent stuff regarding how we should approach attributions. This is bit going to the subject of recent Shinsa decisions topic but it is sometimes very difficult to grasp the Jūyō passing.

For example in Jūyō 31 session there was 1 den Aritoshi and 3 den Chō Aritoshi passing + 1 signed Tomoyuki ken, 1 mumei Taima and 3 mumei den Taima attributions. So that is 9 Taima blades in one session 8 of them mumei. In total there were 22 Yamato blades (From the 5 schools) passing and that Tomoyuki ken was the only signed one. There are some session that have high concentration on some stuff and then there can be long time with very little concentration. I know Darcy and few other computer guys have made extremely nice diagrams about passing numbers etc. I looked at the passed Yamato blades from session 60 to 67. Least passes were in 67 - 7, 60 - 9 and most in 64 - 19 and 63 - 18. On average in those 8 last sessions 12,75 Yamato blades passed. And as 7 of those recent sessions have featured signed Yamato swords passing (in 60 there werent any signed ones), as you have mumei Yamato sword passing Jūyō I would think it is very good quality blade. That is just my assumption as I am not able to see the items, and if Tanobe wrote long sayagaki it must be a good one :thumbsup: . Will be nice to see the full list from NBTHK soon, even though we can't see the actual items that passed.

Ron STL · November 17, 2022

The research information tallied so clearly is fascinating, Jussi. This file is something I not only have such complete access to, but would never have the diligence and patience to so clearly explain it. Also the Juyo Token information that John has share is also great material that gives me more understanding of what to expect in a sword by Cho Aritoshi. Reading the translation you have provided I can understand just what wonderful hataraki to expect in his work. My initial record sheet for the sword does reveal many of this strong activity mention. I always write down what I see in hamon and jigane of a sword even if it can not at the time connected to a specific maker. All part of the learning process.

Interestingly enough, when Arnold bought the sword it has an old NBTHK Tokubetsu Keicho origami to "sue Shikkake" which Arnold never had much faith in. Then in during a 2014 Tampa show I submitted it to an NTHK (NPO) shinsa. That brought a "den Tagai Kanenaga" call. Shinsa boil down to opinions, but I'm never satisfied until Tanobe has a chance to give his opinion. Attached is the Cho Aritoshi sayagaki by Tanobe. I am not sure what the first two kanji read before the name but I don't this it relates to "den." Again, thank everyone.

Ron STL