1. AOE 青江 BaudenelleMicha 2010

3. The old Kibi region is situated in today’s Okayama Perfecture. The Yoshii-, the Asahi- and the Takahashi river are the mainreason of the location. These rivers carried rich sand iron. Around these 3 rivers one finds the Bizen and the BitchuAoeSchools in the Heian period. Yoshii  Osafune School Asahi  Fukuoka Ichimonji School Takahashi  Aoe School Geographical considerations

7. Historical considerations Historical considerations The Aoe started in the late Heian period. Some sources name Yasutsugu as the founder. There are no swords left by Yasutsugu, so his son Moritsugu is mostly considered the founder. Unlike theBizen School, which wasprosperous until the end of the Muromachi period, the Aoe School ended at the late Nambokucho or early Muromachi period (depends on the source). Unlike the Bizen School, which created sub-schools, the Aoe School did not. Among the Bizen sub-Schools are the Ichimonji, Osafune, and Hatakeda among others.The Aoe School wasvery conservative and did not form into cliques. The names of smiths were handed down for generations (mostly including the ‘tsugu’-kanji) and the workmanship did not change a lot. … …

8. … The workmanship of the Aoe School is very high quality and has been admired since its start. Among the 12 smiths invited to work with Emperor Gotoba (Goban Kaji) 3 werefromthe Bitchu Aoe School. Sadatsugu, Tsunetsugu and Tsuguie, the three sons ofMunetsugu, all belonged to the Ko-Aoe School. At the beginning there’s little difference between the ko-Bizen School and the Aoe School. One can distinguish 3 periods of manufacture:  Ko-AOE (earlyperiod)  Chu-AOE (midperiod)  Sue-AOE (lateperiod) There are many disagreements concerning these divisions. Regardless which theory one follows, the quality of Aoe blades is consistently good. Most difficulty arises from the fact the Aoe School is very conservative and so marking differences is not easy.

9. Ko-AOE Late Heian – mid-Kamakura

10. Ko– AOE School SUGATA Standard length for that time Fine form with relatively wide kasane High shinogi Koshi-sori Fumbari Ko-kissaki

11. Ko–AOE School JIHADA Ko-itame with ko-mokume, Ji-nie with fine chikei Sumigane Jifu utsuri O-hada (less in later period) CHIRIMEN HADA

12. Chirimenhada

13. Ko– AOE School HAMON Midare on suguha basis ashi and yo kumo-no-iwato muchnie kinsuji, sunagashi ha-hada is visible

14. Ko– AOE School BOSHI Suguha, midare Pointed maru Kaeri Occasionally Ichimonji boshi or yakizume Ichimonjiboshi

15. Ko– AOE School NAKAGO Little sori Mostly o-sujikai yasurime sometimes kiri mei - 2 kanji katana mei (specific for Aoe School)

16. Chu-AOE Mid-Kamakura – early Nambokucho

17. Chu– AOE School SUGATA Tachi, tanto, ko-wakizashi, nagamaki and naginata Broad sugata High shinogi Less koshi-sori, more torii-sori Fumbari disappears Elongated kissaki (but not yet o-kissaki)

18. Chu–AOE School JIHADA more variations Ko-itame with ko-mokume, Ji-nie with fine chikei Less sumigane Jifu and shirake utsuri are less frequent O-hada is very rare CHIRIMEN HADA

19. Chu– AOE School HAMON Midare on suguha basis Saka-ashi and saka-choji Kinsuji, sunagashi Ko-nie Ha-hada is still visible

20. Chu– AOE School BOSHI Suguha, midare Pointedmaru Kaeri In this period the Aoe-boshi develops AOE boshi

21. Sue-AOE Mid-Nambokucho – early Muromachi

22. Sue– AOE School SUGATA O-tachi, tanto ko-wakizashi, nagamaki and naginata Broadform High shinogi Torii-sori O-kissaki

23. Sue–AOE School JIHADA Ko-itame with ko-mokume, Sumigane is getting scarce Sometimes little shirake utsuri Harder jigane CHIRIMEN HADA

24. Sue– AOE School HAMON Midare on suguha basis Saka-choji Kinsuji, sunagashi Nioi-guchi became tighter and brighter Nioi base, this is very specific for Sue-Aoe, other Schools made more Nie (Soshu influence) except for the Aoe School

25. Sue– AOE School BOSHI Suguha, midare Pointedmaru Kaeri getting longer NAKAGO Little information (due to suriage)

27. Inspiredby: *Nihonto bijutsu numbers 4, 25,30 and 31 *BitchuAoe school, Fred Weissberg *Connoisseurs book of Japanese Swords, Nagayama *Nihonto Kozo part II *Swords of the Bizen tradition, Benson & Brockbank