The Enju 延 寿 school was created by blacksmith Hiromura 弘村 at the end of the Kamakura period (around 1320).
This blacksmith was a native of Yamato 大和, Nara region, son of Senju’in Shigemura 千手院重村 and pupil of Shikkake Norihiro 尻掛則弘, founder of the Shikkake school. Hiromura moved to Yamashiro 山城, Kyoto region, and then studied with Rai Kuniyuki 来国行. It is said that he was even married to his daughter.
His father, Shigemura, appears to have been a blacksmith of the Ichinoseki Mukosa 一関舞草 school of Oshu, a blacksmith’s school located in present-day Iwate province and dating from before the Kamakura period. This is a group of blacksmiths from Ainou and Emishi. They are considered to be the precursors and origin of the Japanese sword. It is said that at the takeover of the Minamoto in the Kamakura period, and the defeat of the Oshu Fujiwara clan, some of these blacksmiths descended on the new capital (Kamakura) and others left far from the power, which was the case of Shigemura who left for the west, in Yamato (Nara).

Around the Gen-O era (1319-1321), Hiromura settled in the province of Higo (Today Kumamoto) in Kyushu at the invitation of the Kikuchi clan 菊池, where he then developed his own forging school as an Okakaekaji, the Enju school.
Blacksmiths who work only for a specific clan or domain are called «Okakaekaji». The archives show that at that time, and following the Mongol invasions of 1274 and 1281, blacksmiths were sent to Kyushu to establish forging sites there and to be able to arm the fighters on site to respond to possible future Mongol attacks.

Unfortunately, there are no remaining parts of the blacksmith Hiromura, which is why it is often attributed to his son Enju Taro Kunimura 延寿太郎国村. This one had as recognized students Kunitoki 国時, Kuniyoshi 国吉, Kuniyasu 国泰, and Kunisuke 国資.

The works of the Enju school date from the end of the Kamakura period, around 1320, to the end of the Muromachi period, around 1550. The lines of soakingof this school are very influenced by the work of the Rai school, we find Hamon Suguha, sometimes mixed in Hotsure or Ko-Midare. There are Niju-ba, Ashi, Kisuji and Inazuma, in the spirit of the blades of Rai Kunimitsu. In the second half of the Muromachi period, from about 1430, the Enju school adopted a style closer to the tradition of Soshu, with abundant Nie presence.

Just like the Jumyo 寿 命 blades, the Enju blades were highly valued blades, a sign of good omen, as the name Enju 延寿 stands for “Longevity”.