Edo was the sword’s age of connoisseurship: the Hon’ami appraisers, the shogunal register of famous blades of 1719, and a thriving literature turned the sword into an object of study even as it ceased to be drawn in war.
It has appeared, it has appeared! A masterpiece by the second generation Nanki Shigekuni has appeared. Since ancient times, when asking who the most skilled and capable swordsmith among the Shinto makers is, famous kantei experts place Nanki Shigekuni at the very top. Such is the skill of Nanki Shigekuni, the greatest of his era. This sword is a precious work by the second generation Nanki Shigekuni, from around the Meireki era of the early Edo period (circa 1665) (360 years ago), Monju Kinsuke, Shirouemon. Because he carved "Monju" into the mei, he is famous as Monju Shigekuni. Because Tokugawa Yorinobu, the tenth son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, became the lord of the Kishu Domain with 555,000 koku, he and his father Nanki Shigekuni became the domain's official okakae-kaji (retained smiths), serving as the personal smiths to the lord Tokugawa Yorinobu. This sword was originally a long blade of 2 shaku 5 sun, which a high-ranking samurai of the Kishu Domain (at the level of a karo elder) desperately wanted as his personal sashiryo; he had it shortened to a dimension suitable for nukiuchi (quick-draw) according to his own swordsmanship style. It displays a magnificent and robust sugata with a wide moto-mihaba and a distinct difference from the saki-mihaba. The jigane is a finely packed ko-itame hada with ji-nie and chikei, forged into a bright steel. The hamon, for which he has been called a master of midare-ba since ancient times, is a nioi-deki with abundant nie, featuring a grand o-gunome midare-ba mixed with hako-style gunome; the interior of the blade is filled with sunagashi and kinsuji, firing a magnificent, powerful, and spirited edge. The elegant koshirae, featuring a high-quality Edo-period saya with thin walls, adds further splendor to this sword. Works by the second generation Nanki Shigekuni are extremely rare and precious because he often performed daisaku (work on behalf of) for the first generation. Because the Nanki Shigekuni line held the high prestige of being Kishu Domain retainers, the lineage continued until the eleventh generation at the end of the Bakumatsu; however, as the world was at peace without war, works from the third generation onwards are rarely seen, making this blade by the second generation "Oite Kishu Monju Shigekuni" truly precious. As this has appeared in the world for the first time in an "u-bu" (raw/fresh) state, we are offering it at a special bargain price. Please do enjoy it.
NihontoWatchEdo · nagasa 68.8cm · sori 1.5cm
Yamato-den · Kii · around 1655-1673
Fujishiro Jo-jo saku · Tōken Taikan top 21%
2 pieces on the market now
Where Shigekuni 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.
Select a lens to see how it's measured.
Yamato-den · Yamato
19 pieces on the market now
The setsumei of the Monju (文珠) line all gather around a single figure: Shigekuni (重国), the smith better known by the appellation Nanki Shigekuni (南紀重国). The records describe him as originally of Yamato Province and a late offshoot of the Tegai group (Tegai-ha)[[c:1]], whose common name was Kurōsaburō. During the Keichō era (1596 to 1615) he entered the service of Tokugawa Ieyasu and forged at Sunpu, in present-day Shizuoka; then in Genna 5 (1619), when Ieyasu's tenth son Tokugawa Yorinobu was transferred to Kii Wakayama, Shigekuni accompanied him and settled at the foot of Mt. Meikō (also read Myōkō). The mei themselves carry the school name: one wakizashi is signed "Kishū Meikōzan Monju Kurōsaburō Shigekuni,"[[c:2]][[c:3]] fixing the Monju appellation to this Kii workshop. The corpus belongs almost wholly to the Momoyama and early Edo (shintō) period, with dated works ranging across Genna 7 and 8 (1621 to 1622). One Gyōbutsu entry raises the question of a smith named Kunimune, a close relative who remained at Sunpu, and a later setsumei speaks of a "second generation onward," so the records permit a Monju succession without resolving its members. A shared technical vocabulary runs through every blade, and the setsumei consistently divide Shigekuni's hand into two modes. The forging is a flowing itame-hada, mixed with mokume and inclined to masame and nagare, tending to stand (hada-dachi), with thick ji-nie and frequent chikei over a bright, clear steel.
In the Sōshū-den mode the temper is a midareba of ko-notare mixed with gunome, angular and yahazu-like elements, deep nioi, strong nie that breaks down into nie-kuzure, and conspicuous kinsuji and sunagashi; the records read this manner as a private study of the high Sagami masters, naming Gō Yoshihiro above all, with Masamune and Sadamune also invoked. In the Yamato-den mode the temper is a suguha, at times shallow notare, carrying hotsure, kuichigai-ba, and nijūba along the habuchi, which the setsumei tie directly to the Tegai inheritance and the manner of Kanenaga. The bōshi across both modes turns yakizume or ko-maru with vigorous hakikake; hira-zukuri and shōbu-zukuri wakizashi show pronounced sakizori, often carved with bonji, suken, and naginata-hi. The records present these as two facets of one hand rather than competing lineages. For kantei, the setsumei name several recurring markers: the bright, clear quality of both ji and ha held up as Shigekuni's hallmark, the pronounced sakizori of his hira- and shōbu-zukuri wakizashi, kinsuji that coil into a whirlpool configuration within the temper, and the large original mekugi-ana met among Kii-domain works. One Sōshū-den katana is judged close in character to Batetsu (馬徹) and treated as a likely model for that smith, raising its documentary weight; another work's "Monju-style" midare is said to anticipate the hadori tendencies of the second generation. The blades carry firm provenance: a wakizashi made to the command of Matsudaira Shima no Kami Shigenari, a piece commissioned by the domain elder Kageyama Tosa-no-kami Munenobu, and a sword inscribed for Yorinobu's retainer Tsuzuki Tōichi, alongside a katana held in the Imperial collection. The setsumei note that nearly all of Shigekuni's Sōshū-den blades survive suriage, so the ubu examples gathered here are repeatedly singled out as research material. Across the records the Monju name stands as the Kii continuation of a Yamato root, carried into the shintō age in the service of the Kii Tokugawa house. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Shigekuni重國 | 1596-1630 | 59 |
| Shigekuni重國 | 1655-1673 | 3 |
| Kanetsugu包次 | 1596-1615 | 0 |
| Kanekura包藏 | 1624-1644 | 0 |
| Kaneari包有 | 1681-1684 | 0 |
The Edo period (1615 to 1868)
Edo was the sword’s age of connoisseurship: the Hon’ami appraisers, the shogunal register of famous blades of 1719, and a thriving literature turned the sword into an object of study even as it ceased to be drawn in war.
Certifies a genuine blade worth preserving: a signature confirmed correct, or, if unsigned, an era, province, and school that the NBTHK can reliably identify.
The NBTHK (Nihon Bijutsu Tōken Hozon Kyōkai, the Society for the Preservation of Japanese Art Swords) is a public-interest incorporated foundation founded in 1948 and supervised by Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs (Bunkachō); it is based at the Japanese Sword Museum in Tokyo. Its expert panels physically examine each submitted work (shinsa) and issue a certificate (kanteishō) ranking it by artistic and historical merit. NBTHK papers are the most widely recognized standard of authentication for Japanese swords and fittings.
NBTHK official siteFor returns due to customer circumstances, the cost is the customer's responsibility. For returns due to our mis-shipment or a defective item, we bear the cost.
¥1,100,000
