It has arrived! The author of this wakizashi, Kazusa no Kami Kaneshige, became a retained smith for the famous Sengoku Daimyo Todo Takatora—the master castle builder who served Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu, and constructed over 20 castles including Kyoto Jurakudai, Fushimi Castle, Uwajima Castle, Iyo Ozu Castle, Imabari Castle, Edo Castle, Nijo Castle, Wakayama Castle, and Osaka Castle—upon the recommendation of his close friend, the master swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. While it was said since ancient times that he was the teacher of Nagasone Kotetsu Nyudo Okisato, it is now believed that the father, Izumi no Kami Kaneshige, was Kotetsu's teacher, and the son, this Kazusa no Kami Kaneshige, was a close senior disciple who worked alongside Kotetsu to refine their craft. Kazusa no Kami Kaneshige is also particularly famous as a loyal and cultured swordsmith who later changed his name to Kazusa no Suke Kaneshige out of deference to his lord, Todo Takatora, who also held the title of Kazusa no Kami. This wakizashi exhibits a grand sugata with a wide moto-mihaba and a slight tapering toward the saki-mihaba, featuring sori and a slightly extended kissaki. The jigane is a finely packed ko-itame hada mixed with masame hada, and the horimono consists of a skillfully executed bo-hi with maru-dome. The hamon, much like Kotetsu’s, is in nioi-deki with ko-nie, featuring a continuous gunome-ba forming a juzu-ba pattern with thick ashi entering the ha; it is bright and exceptionally well-made, appearing exactly like a masterpiece wakizashi by Nagasone Kotetsu Nyudo Okisato. As you can see, the Edo-period koshirae is a lavish, matching soganagu-issaku set of a quality that cannot be replicated today, adding further splendor as the sashi-ryo of a "super" high-ranking samurai. On this occasion, an elderly connoisseur who cherished this masterpiece by Kazusa no Kami Kaneshige for many years—believing it to be even better made than a Kotetsu—has entrusted it to us, saying, "I have grown old, so please pass it on to the next generation at a low price." Therefore, we are offering it at a special bargain price, one-third of what it was originally purchased for. Please enjoy this masterpiece wakizashi by Kazusa no Kami Kaneshige, the likes of which are rarely seen.
Certificate reading — 銘 上総守兼重
NihontoWatchEdo · nagasa 54.6cm · sori 1.2cm
Shinto · Musashi
8 pieces on the market now
Edo was the base of the Kaneshige line, whose first master, Izumi no Kami Fujiwara Kaneshige, emerged among the city's swordsmiths after the shodai Yasutsugu and Hankei. The setsumei follow the account in the Kokon Kajibikō that he began as an arrowhead smith (yanone-kaji) in Echizen, then moved to Edo and turned to forging blades; his earliest dated work is a naginata inscribed Kan'ei 2 (1625), with dated pieces running into the Meireki era. A second smith signing Kazusa no Suke (and at times Kazusa no Kami) Fujiwara Kaneshige, whose common name is given as Tsuji Sukeemon, is treated as the son or pupil of the first and the second generation, born in Kan'ei 3 (1626) and most active in the Kanbun and Enpō years. The two were long held to be one man, the story being that, retained by the Tōdō house under Izumi no Kami, he changed his title to avoid sharing his lord's court designation; signed and age-dated works by Tsuji Kazusa no Suke alongside Yasutsugu and Shimosaka Ichinojō have since shown them to be separate individuals. The second generation also worked Ise pieces inscribed "made at Anotsu in Seshū," and recent comparison of the signatures has raised the possibility of substitute signing by Sukekurō Kanetsune. Recognition of the hand rests on a small set of recurring traits. The jihada is a tight ko-itame, sometimes standing or flowing toward masame, with fine ji-nie densely applied and chikei entering.
The first generation divides into two modes: a notare base carrying linked gunome and entering ashi, and a wide suguha bearing shallow notare in which the nioi is deep, the nie thick, and the nioiguchi bright and saeru, with kinsuji and sunagashi. The second generation concentrates on juzu-ba, a suguha-toned temper of linked gunome with aligned heads; the setsumei single out a fixed one-two rhythm, in which a single gunome is followed by two, as a principal point of appreciation, together with thick ashi, deep nioi, abundant nie, and fine kinsuji and sunagashi. Across both hands the sugata is the standard width with marked taper, shallow sori, and a compact chū-kissaki of the Kanbun shintō period, the bōshi mostly sugu with ko-maru and hakikake, and the long signature cut in a reishō clerical script with sujikai keshō-tending file marks read as an early form of the later decorative finish. The setsumei repeatedly place Kaneshige beside Nagasone Kotetsu, rendered also as Tōru, Batetsu, and Matetsu in these records, and beside the Hōjōji group of the same Edo circle; one notes the tradition that the second generation was Kotetsu's teacher, and a wakizashi with a Yamano cutting-test inscription dated Manji 4 (1661) carries a fully realized juzu-ba held to precede Kotetsu's own. Cutting-test inscriptions are a frequent feature of the line: gold-inlaid setsudan-mei by Yamano Ka'emon no Jō Nagahisa appear often, with Yamano Kanjūrō named as Ka'emon's earlier form before the Shōhō era, alongside mitsudō and stacked-body tests by Shibasaki Denzaemon Masatsugu and Maejima Hachirō Tomotsugu. The dated and provenanced blades in the NBTHK register, signed Izumi no Kami, Kazusa no Suke, and Kazusa no Kami, document a coherent two-generation Edo workshop whose juzu-ba and bright nie secured its standing among the leading shinto smiths of Musashi. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Kaneshige兼重 | 1661-1673 | 21 |
| Kaneshige兼重 | 1624-1661 | 7 |
Edo: the shogun’s market
Edo held Japan’s largest sword-wearing population, gathered by the alternate attendance system. The shogunal smith Yasutsugu was granted the Aoi crest for his tangs; many of Kotetsu’s blades carry gold-inlaid cutting attestations. Proof mattered here.
A Hozon-certified blade judged to show notably superior workmanship and a better state of preservation. The bar is higher: re-tempered blades and most unsigned Muromachi/Edo works are excluded.
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
It has arrived! The author of this wakizashi, Kazusa no Kami Kaneshige, became a retained smith for the famous Sengoku Daimyo Todo Takatora—the master castle builder who served Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu, and constructed over 20 castles including Kyoto Jurakudai, Fushimi Castle, Uwajima Castle, Iyo Ozu Castle, Imabari Castle, Edo Castle, Nijo Castle, Wakayama Castle, and Osaka Castle—upon the recommendation of his close friend, the master swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. While it was said since ancient times that he was the teacher of Nagasone Kotetsu Nyudo Okisato, it is now believed that the father, Izumi no Kami Kaneshige, was Kotetsu's teacher, and the son, this Kazusa no Kami Kaneshige, was a close senior disciple who worked alongside Kotetsu to refine their craft. Kazusa no Kami Kaneshige is also particularly famous as a loyal and cultured swordsmith who later changed his name to Kazusa no Suke Kaneshige out of deference to his lord, Todo Takatora, who also held the title of Kazusa no Kami. This wakizashi exhibits a grand sugata with a wide moto-mihaba and a slight tapering toward the saki-mihaba, featuring sori and a slightly extended kissaki. The jigane is a finely packed ko-itame hada mixed with masame hada, and the horimono consists of a skillfully executed bo-hi with maru-dome. The hamon, much like Kotetsu’s, is in nioi-deki with ko-nie, featuring a continuous gunome-ba forming a juzu-ba pattern with thick ashi entering the ha; it is bright and exceptionally well-made, appearing exactly like a masterpiece wakizashi by Nagasone Kotetsu Nyudo Okisato. As you can see, the Edo-period koshirae is a lavish, matching soganagu-issaku set of a quality that cannot be replicated today, adding further splendor as the sashi-ryo of a "super" high-ranking samurai. On this occasion, an elderly connoisseur who cherished this masterpiece by Kazusa no Kami Kaneshige for many years—believing it to be even better made than a Kotetsu—has entrusted it to us, saying, "I have grown old, so please pass it on to the next generation at a low price." Therefore, we are offering it at a special bargain price, one-third of what it was originally purchased for. Please enjoy this masterpiece wakizashi by Kazusa no Kami Kaneshige, the likes of which are rarely seen.
Certificate reading — 銘 上総守兼重
NihontoWatchEdo · nagasa 54.6cm · sori 1.2cm
Shinto · Musashi
8 pieces on the market now
Edo was the base of the Kaneshige line, whose first master, Izumi no Kami Fujiwara Kaneshige, emerged among the city's swordsmiths after the shodai Yasutsugu and Hankei. The setsumei follow the account in the Kokon Kajibikō that he began as an arrowhead smith (yanone-kaji) in Echizen, then moved to Edo and turned to forging blades; his earliest dated work is a naginata inscribed Kan'ei 2 (1625), with dated pieces running into the Meireki era. A second smith signing Kazusa no Suke (and at times Kazusa no Kami) Fujiwara Kaneshige, whose common name is given as Tsuji Sukeemon, is treated as the son or pupil of the first and the second generation, born in Kan'ei 3 (1626) and most active in the Kanbun and Enpō years. The two were long held to be one man, the story being that, retained by the Tōdō house under Izumi no Kami, he changed his title to avoid sharing his lord's court designation; signed and age-dated works by Tsuji Kazusa no Suke alongside Yasutsugu and Shimosaka Ichinojō have since shown them to be separate individuals. The second generation also worked Ise pieces inscribed "made at Anotsu in Seshū," and recent comparison of the signatures has raised the possibility of substitute signing by Sukekurō Kanetsune. Recognition of the hand rests on a small set of recurring traits. The jihada is a tight ko-itame, sometimes standing or flowing toward masame, with fine ji-nie densely applied and chikei entering.
The first generation divides into two modes: a notare base carrying linked gunome and entering ashi, and a wide suguha bearing shallow notare in which the nioi is deep, the nie thick, and the nioiguchi bright and saeru, with kinsuji and sunagashi. The second generation concentrates on juzu-ba, a suguha-toned temper of linked gunome with aligned heads; the setsumei single out a fixed one-two rhythm, in which a single gunome is followed by two, as a principal point of appreciation, together with thick ashi, deep nioi, abundant nie, and fine kinsuji and sunagashi. Across both hands the sugata is the standard width with marked taper, shallow sori, and a compact chū-kissaki of the Kanbun shintō period, the bōshi mostly sugu with ko-maru and hakikake, and the long signature cut in a reishō clerical script with sujikai keshō-tending file marks read as an early form of the later decorative finish. The setsumei repeatedly place Kaneshige beside Nagasone Kotetsu, rendered also as Tōru, Batetsu, and Matetsu in these records, and beside the Hōjōji group of the same Edo circle; one notes the tradition that the second generation was Kotetsu's teacher, and a wakizashi with a Yamano cutting-test inscription dated Manji 4 (1661) carries a fully realized juzu-ba held to precede Kotetsu's own. Cutting-test inscriptions are a frequent feature of the line: gold-inlaid setsudan-mei by Yamano Ka'emon no Jō Nagahisa appear often, with Yamano Kanjūrō named as Ka'emon's earlier form before the Shōhō era, alongside mitsudō and stacked-body tests by Shibasaki Denzaemon Masatsugu and Maejima Hachirō Tomotsugu. The dated and provenanced blades in the NBTHK register, signed Izumi no Kami, Kazusa no Suke, and Kazusa no Kami, document a coherent two-generation Edo workshop whose juzu-ba and bright nie secured its standing among the leading shinto smiths of Musashi. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Kaneshige兼重 | 1661-1673 | 21 |
| Kaneshige兼重 | 1624-1661 | 7 |
Edo: the shogun’s market
Edo held Japan’s largest sword-wearing population, gathered by the alternate attendance system. The shogunal smith Yasutsugu was granted the Aoi crest for his tangs; many of Kotetsu’s blades carry gold-inlaid cutting attestations. Proof mattered here.
A Hozon-certified blade judged to show notably superior workmanship and a better state of preservation. The bar is higher: re-tempered blades and most unsigned Muromachi/Edo works are excluded.
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
