Sengoku Seki was an industry: smiths organized under their tutelary Kasuga shrine, arming the war bands of central Japan. Magoroku Kanemoto’s sanbonsugi and the finest Kanesada work prove quality survived inside mass production.
This is a wakizashi made by Ujishige and Kanesada from the Muromachi period. The blade has a length of 53.8cm and features a choji-midare hamon with pointed and mixed edges. It comes with koshirae and shirasaya, making it suitable for appreciation, iai, and test cutting.
NihontoWatchmei · Muromachi · nagasa 53.8cm · sori 0.9cm
Mino-den · Owari · around 1596-1615
1 piece on the market now
Where Ujitsune stands among comparable artisans: across all of nihontō, and within tradition, era, and period. The tiers (Foremost · Leading · Major · Notable) weigh official designations from the NBTHK and Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs, together with historical honors of lasting repute such as the Sansaku and Meibutsu-chō.
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Mino-den · Owari
22 pieces on the market now
Rooted in Owari province at the boundary between the kotō and shintō eras, the Ujifusa line carried Mino-den forging into the late Momoyama and early Edo decades, working under the Tokugawa establishment of Owari at Nagoya. The setsumei here cover several hands of the group. Wakasa no Kami Ujifusa and Hida no Kami Ujifusa stand as the reference points against which the others are read. Echigo no Kami Fujiwara Ujitsune, recorded in the Meikan and the Mino-tō Taikan as the second son of Wakasa no Kami Ujifusa, first signed Ujishige, received the Echigo no Kami title in Genna 6 (1620), and died at Nagoya in Meireki 2 (1656). Ujisada, who took the court title Izumo no Kami and signed Sakon Shōshō and Sakon Gonshōshō, is transmitted as a son of the first-generation Ujifusa and younger brother of the second-generation Wakasa no Kami Ujifusa; one of his tantō carries a date of Tenshō 5 (1577). The shared hand begins in the kitae: a dense itame mixed with mokume and nagare-hada, carrying ji-nie and, in the fuller work, fine chikei. The temper draws on the Mino-den vocabulary, a notare mixed with gunome, ko-gunome in tsure, large gunome, and pointed togari-leaning forms, the notare often taking angular turns (kado-gakari).
Ko-ashi and yō enter; nie attaches, at times slightly coarse and unevenly applied, with kinsuji and sunagashi in the lower body and tobiyaki and muneyaki scattered through, so that some blades verge on hitatsura and minayaki. The nioiguchi can incline toward shizumi. The bōshi is tempered deeply and far down (yakisage) with hakikake, the point sometimes drawn into a sanpin-style sharpness on one face and an ō-maru on the other. Ujitsune's signed katana reads as a near-textbook gathering of these traits; Ujisada's tantō tightens the nioiguchi (shimarigokoro) toward his master's manner. For kantei, the angular notare, the patchy nie, the shizumi-inclined nioiguchi, and the sanpin-pointed bōshi with long yakisage mark the Wakasa no Kami group; the larger work adds broad mihaba, ō-kissaki, and thick kasane. Carving belongs to the record: a "grass" kurikara and gomabashi with rendai appear on Ujisada's tantō. The Ujitsune katana, by a smith the setsumei call a scant producer, is named his representative work, holding coherence across a great nagasa. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Ujifusa氏房 | 1596-1615 | 16 |
| Ujifusa氏房 | 1571-1592 | 9 |
| Ujifusa氏房 | 1624-1644 | 0 |
| Ujitsune氏恒 | 1596-1615 | 1 |
| Ujisada氏貞 | 1558-1592 | 7 |
Mino in the Muromachi period
Sengoku Seki was an industry: smiths organized under their tutelary Kasuga shrine, arming the war bands of central Japan. Magoroku Kanemoto’s sanbonsugi and the finest Kanesada work prove quality survived inside mass production.
We could not find an authenticity certificate on the seller’s listing. Japanese swords and fittings are normally papered by the NBTHK (or the NTHK). Without one, the attribution is the seller’s own assessment and has not been independently verified — treat it with caution and ask the dealer about certification before buying.
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