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.
Here it is, it has arrived! Kanemichi was the father of the four Mishina brothers—Iga no Kami Kinmichi, Izumi no Kami Rai Kinmichi, Tanba no Kami Yoshimichi, and Etchu no Kami Masatoshi—and used the shomei of Kanemichi. In Eiroku 12 (1569) (456 years ago), he presented a sword of his own making to Emperor Ogimachi, and for this achievement, he was granted the character "Dai" (Great), signing thereafter as Dai-Kanemichi. Between Eiroku 12 and the beginning of the Tensho era, he received the title of Mutsu no Kami and subsequently changed his name to Daido. In Bunroku 2 (1593) (432 years ago), on the occasion of the Nijo Kanpaku's journey to the capital, he went to Kyoto accompanied by his four sons, starting with Kinmichi. This sunnobi tanto exhibits a grand and healthy平造 (hirazukuri) shape with a wide motohaba and wide sakihaba. The jigane is a finely packed itame-hada, elegantly displaying a faint utsuri from the moto, and the horimono consists of masterfully carved bo-hi. The hamon is a nioi-deki gunome-midare mixed with sakagunome, fired as a spirited and bright blade of excellent workmanship. Dai-Kanemichi claimed to be the 9th generation descendant of Shizu Saburo Kaneuji. He is particularly famous as a superb master smith among the Sue-Seki group, and there is even a famous gassaku (collaboration) between Dai-Kanemichi and Horikawa Kunihiro. The koshirae is an aikuchi-koshirae with a kuro-ishimeji nuri saya and fittings made of suaka-ji, which adds further splendor to this Kanemichi tanto. On this occasion, an elderly collector has entrusted this to us, saying they have grown old and wish for it to be passed on to a younger generation at a low price; therefore, we are offering it at a special bargain price. Please enjoy this extremely precious Kanemichi tanto.
Certificate reading — 銘 兼道
NihontoWatchMuromachi · nagasa 30.5cm · sori 0.2cm
Mino-den · Mino · around 1532-1570
1 piece on the market now
Where Kanemichi 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.
Years he was demonstrably active, proven by signed-and-dated blades
Mino-den · Mino
160 pieces on the market now
Seki (関), in Mino Province, grew from two roots set down in the Nanbokuchō period and rose to become the great center of mass sword production in the late medieval age. The published sources trace the wellspring of Mino swordmaking to Kinju (whose name the commentary also reads Kaneshige), counted since antiquity among the Masamune Jittetsu, the ten disciples of Sōshū Masamune, and to Kaneuji of the Shizu line; the Kokon Meizukushi records Kinju as a native of Tsuruga in Echizen who "crossed over to Seki and resided there," carrying the Sōshū-den manner east. Beneath that Sagami inheritance lay a Yamato foundation, legible in the Tegai descent of the Seki Zensada line through Kaneyoshi, so that the Mino-den the Seki workshops forged stands as a fusion of Yamato grain and Sōshū activity in nie. From this Nanbokuchō founding the name multiplied across the Muromachi period into Sue-Seki, the last and largest body of the tradition; its representative masters at the close of the old-sword age were Magoroku Kanemoto, famed for the sanbonsugi, and Izumi no Kami Kanesada, the smith called Nosada, while the Kanefusa, Ujifusa and Daidō hands worked beside them and the move of Wakasa no Kami Ujifusa to Kiyosu carried the Mino body to the threshold of Owari shintō. A common Mino vocabulary binds the Seki body, however widely its members range. The forging is an itame that stands and runs to masame, often mixed with mokume and nagare, over which rises the cool whitish shirake-utsuri of Mino steel rather than the bright midare-utsuri of Bizen; this pale, standing jigane is the constant tell the judges read first, present alike on Kinju's Nanbokuchō katana, Kaneyoshi's Ōei tachi and Nosada's late-Muromachi blades. Over it the smiths temper gunome into which the pointed togariba of Mino enters, with ko-nie clinging to a tight nioiguchi, ashi and yō, and sunagashi streaming through; the bōshi answers in midare-komi turning to a pointed or jizō-cast ko-maru swept with hakikake. From this shared grammar the individual hands diverge.
Kanemoto fixed the regular three-cedar sanbonsugi of pointed teeth; Kanefusa devised the rounded-head, constricted-waist "Kanefusa midare"; Kinju and the early founders held a calmer, rounder gunome away from the restless Shizu line, their work laid with thicker ji-nie and dry, standing grain. The late masters carried the manner to a higher finish: Nosada wove togariba among rounder forms for a broader temper than Kanemoto's one-sided file, and turned at times to a slender Rai-styled suguha with a hidden gunome; Kaneyoshi held instead to a cool ito-suguha, the disciplined Yamato face of late Seki, lightly broken with ko-gunome. A collector seeks Seki because it is the connoisseur's ground for reading Mino-den across a vast body of signed and attributed work. The kantei runs through the jigane first: the standing, masame-leaning itame and the whitish shirake separate a Seki blade from Bizen and Yamashiro, after which the pointed togariba, the dry nie, and the pointed or jizō bōshi confirm the province; the discriminations the judges draw, Kinju held apart from Shizu by his rounder gunome, Nosada parted from Kanemoto by his breadth, give the eye its anchors. Within the school the standing of the best members is settled: Magoroku Kanemoto for the sanbonsugi, Nosada whom the swordbooks call simply "an excellent master" and the most accomplished of the several Kanesada hands, and the early Kinju as a rare and precious founding name, his record running through the Jūyō tier with the signed pieces few and the long blades attributed den. Signature works carry real provenance: a Kinju tantō presented to the Tokugawa shogunal house in 1679, a Nosada katana borne by a chief retainer of the Kii Tokugawa and a tachi forged for the father of Takeda Shingen, a Kaneyoshi tachi transmitted in the Chikuzen Kuroda family. Beyond connoisseurship, Seki's blades earned a battlefield reputation for cutting; the full hiraniku and stout build of the Sue-Seki katana, made to sever, set the wazamono standing that made Mino the working sword of its age. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Kinju金重 | 1340-1346 | 45 |
| Kaneyuki金行 | 1350-1352 | 10 |
| Kanenori兼法 | 1579-1615 | 7 |
| Kanekore兼之 | 1504-1555 | 7 |
| Nagasada永貞 | 1862-1866 | 5 |
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.
This work carries older NBTHK “Kichō”-era papers, which the NBTHK no longer issues and now regards as unreliable. To confirm the attribution, submission to an official Japanese examination body (such as the NBTHK or NTHK) for modern certification could be considered.
For 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.
Price on request
Here it is, it has arrived! Kanemichi was the father of the four Mishina brothers—Iga no Kami Kinmichi, Izumi no Kami Rai Kinmichi, Tanba no Kami Yoshimichi, and Etchu no Kami Masatoshi—and used the shomei of Kanemichi. In Eiroku 12 (1569) (456 years ago), he presented a sword of his own making to Emperor Ogimachi, and for this achievement, he was granted the character "Dai" (Great), signing thereafter as Dai-Kanemichi. Between Eiroku 12 and the beginning of the Tensho era, he received the title of Mutsu no Kami and subsequently changed his name to Daido. In Bunroku 2 (1593) (432 years ago), on the occasion of the Nijo Kanpaku's journey to the capital, he went to Kyoto accompanied by his four sons, starting with Kinmichi. This sunnobi tanto exhibits a grand and healthy平造 (hirazukuri) shape with a wide motohaba and wide sakihaba. The jigane is a finely packed itame-hada, elegantly displaying a faint utsuri from the moto, and the horimono consists of masterfully carved bo-hi. The hamon is a nioi-deki gunome-midare mixed with sakagunome, fired as a spirited and bright blade of excellent workmanship. Dai-Kanemichi claimed to be the 9th generation descendant of Shizu Saburo Kaneuji. He is particularly famous as a superb master smith among the Sue-Seki group, and there is even a famous gassaku (collaboration) between Dai-Kanemichi and Horikawa Kunihiro. The koshirae is an aikuchi-koshirae with a kuro-ishimeji nuri saya and fittings made of suaka-ji, which adds further splendor to this Kanemichi tanto. On this occasion, an elderly collector has entrusted this to us, saying they have grown old and wish for it to be passed on to a younger generation at a low price; therefore, we are offering it at a special bargain price. Please enjoy this extremely precious Kanemichi tanto.
Certificate reading — 銘 兼道
NihontoWatchMuromachi · nagasa 30.5cm · sori 0.2cm
Mino-den · Mino · around 1532-1570
1 piece on the market now
Where Kanemichi 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.
Years he was demonstrably active, proven by signed-and-dated blades
Mino-den · Mino
160 pieces on the market now
Seki (関), in Mino Province, grew from two roots set down in the Nanbokuchō period and rose to become the great center of mass sword production in the late medieval age. The published sources trace the wellspring of Mino swordmaking to Kinju (whose name the commentary also reads Kaneshige), counted since antiquity among the Masamune Jittetsu, the ten disciples of Sōshū Masamune, and to Kaneuji of the Shizu line; the Kokon Meizukushi records Kinju as a native of Tsuruga in Echizen who "crossed over to Seki and resided there," carrying the Sōshū-den manner east. Beneath that Sagami inheritance lay a Yamato foundation, legible in the Tegai descent of the Seki Zensada line through Kaneyoshi, so that the Mino-den the Seki workshops forged stands as a fusion of Yamato grain and Sōshū activity in nie. From this Nanbokuchō founding the name multiplied across the Muromachi period into Sue-Seki, the last and largest body of the tradition; its representative masters at the close of the old-sword age were Magoroku Kanemoto, famed for the sanbonsugi, and Izumi no Kami Kanesada, the smith called Nosada, while the Kanefusa, Ujifusa and Daidō hands worked beside them and the move of Wakasa no Kami Ujifusa to Kiyosu carried the Mino body to the threshold of Owari shintō. A common Mino vocabulary binds the Seki body, however widely its members range. The forging is an itame that stands and runs to masame, often mixed with mokume and nagare, over which rises the cool whitish shirake-utsuri of Mino steel rather than the bright midare-utsuri of Bizen; this pale, standing jigane is the constant tell the judges read first, present alike on Kinju's Nanbokuchō katana, Kaneyoshi's Ōei tachi and Nosada's late-Muromachi blades. Over it the smiths temper gunome into which the pointed togariba of Mino enters, with ko-nie clinging to a tight nioiguchi, ashi and yō, and sunagashi streaming through; the bōshi answers in midare-komi turning to a pointed or jizō-cast ko-maru swept with hakikake. From this shared grammar the individual hands diverge.
Kanemoto fixed the regular three-cedar sanbonsugi of pointed teeth; Kanefusa devised the rounded-head, constricted-waist "Kanefusa midare"; Kinju and the early founders held a calmer, rounder gunome away from the restless Shizu line, their work laid with thicker ji-nie and dry, standing grain. The late masters carried the manner to a higher finish: Nosada wove togariba among rounder forms for a broader temper than Kanemoto's one-sided file, and turned at times to a slender Rai-styled suguha with a hidden gunome; Kaneyoshi held instead to a cool ito-suguha, the disciplined Yamato face of late Seki, lightly broken with ko-gunome. A collector seeks Seki because it is the connoisseur's ground for reading Mino-den across a vast body of signed and attributed work. The kantei runs through the jigane first: the standing, masame-leaning itame and the whitish shirake separate a Seki blade from Bizen and Yamashiro, after which the pointed togariba, the dry nie, and the pointed or jizō bōshi confirm the province; the discriminations the judges draw, Kinju held apart from Shizu by his rounder gunome, Nosada parted from Kanemoto by his breadth, give the eye its anchors. Within the school the standing of the best members is settled: Magoroku Kanemoto for the sanbonsugi, Nosada whom the swordbooks call simply "an excellent master" and the most accomplished of the several Kanesada hands, and the early Kinju as a rare and precious founding name, his record running through the Jūyō tier with the signed pieces few and the long blades attributed den. Signature works carry real provenance: a Kinju tantō presented to the Tokugawa shogunal house in 1679, a Nosada katana borne by a chief retainer of the Kii Tokugawa and a tachi forged for the father of Takeda Shingen, a Kaneyoshi tachi transmitted in the Chikuzen Kuroda family. Beyond connoisseurship, Seki's blades earned a battlefield reputation for cutting; the full hiraniku and stout build of the Sue-Seki katana, made to sever, set the wazamono standing that made Mino the working sword of its age. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Kinju金重 | 1340-1346 | 45 |
| Kaneyuki金行 | 1350-1352 | 10 |
| Kanenori兼法 | 1579-1615 | 7 |
| Kanekore兼之 | 1504-1555 | 7 |
| Nagasada永貞 | 1862-1866 | 5 |
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.
This work carries older NBTHK “Kichō”-era papers, which the NBTHK no longer issues and now regards as unreliable. To confirm the attribution, submission to an official Japanese examination body (such as the NBTHK or NTHK) for modern certification could be considered.
For 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.
Price on request
