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.
NihontoWatchNihontoWatchThis blade is attributed to a work of the second generation Sagami no Kami Masatsune (二代相模守政常) during the Keicho era (1596-1615: the late Azuchi Momoyama – the early Edo period), according to NTHK’s appraisal. The 2nd-gen Masatsune was born as the son of the first-gen Masatsune, who was active during 1573-1592 (Azuchi Momoyama period) and one of the three famous representative swordsmiths in Owari province (today’s Aichi prefecture), also known as one of Owari Sansaku (尾張三作) or Owari Sanketsu (尾張三傑), which also includes Hidano Kami Ujifusa and Hoki no Kami Nobutaka. The first gen Masatsune, whose previous maker’s name was Kanetsune (兼常), was born as the second son of Suke Uemon Kanetsune in the third year of the Tenbun era (1534: Late Muromachi period). His father was also a renowned swordsmith in Mino province (Today’s Gifu prefecture). It is said that he learned sword-forging techniques from his father. And, in 1567, when he was 33 years old, he became an independent swordsmith and signed as Kanetsune (兼常), moving to Komaki village in Owari domain (Today’s Aichi prefecture). According to available records, he and his school forged 100 spear swords, which Tokugawa Ieyasu ordered for Komaki Nagakute Battle in 1584. Masatsune received an honorable official title of Sagami no Kami in 1592 and changed his maker’s name to Masatsune after Ikeda Terumasa (池田輝政), the head of the Kamaki domain, gave one of his letters to Kanetsune. It was common to let a swordsmith use one of the Kanjis in one lord’s first name as a token of great craftsmanship, such as Masatsune (政常). When Masatsune was 66 years old in 1600, Satsuma no Kami Matsudaira Tadayoshi, the 4th son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, became the head of the Kiyosu castle, the headquarter of Owari domain. And, Fukushima Masanori, one of the most famous Samurai who served Hideyoshi Toyotomi, ordered Masatsune to relocate from Komaki village to the castle town near the Kiyosu castle. And, Masatsune started to serve Tadayoshi as an Okakaekaji, exclusively forging blades for his master. In the same year, the head of the Owari domain changed to Tokugawa Yoshinao, 9th son of Tokugawa Ieyasu. In the 12th year of Keicho era (1607), his son took over his father’s name as the second gen Sagami no Kami Masatsune. The first and second Masatsune started serving Yoshinao. The first gen Masatsune once retired in the 12th year of the Keicho era (1607), but he returned to forge blades because his son, the second gen, died unexpectedly. He eventually adopted his heir from Omichi school in Mino province. the first-gen Masatsune lived until he was 85 years old. As Owari province (today’s Aichi prefecture) was active in martial arts during the early Edo period, there was much demand among high-class Samurai to order swords forged by Masatsune. *Please keep in mind that there is a couple of Kitae Kizu and black rusts on the blade. Authentication Paper NTHK, also known as NPO Nihon Touken Hozon Kai, is the oldest organization for sword authentication of Japanese swords in modern times. It was established in 1910 during the post-Samurai era. They authenticated the blade on July 21st in the 6th year of Reiwa (2024).
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Mino-den · Owari
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The line begins with a Mino man. The setsumei record that Sagami no Kami Masatsune (政常) was born at Nōdo in Mino Province, where he first signed Kanetsune (兼常) and is variously said to have been the son or a disciple of Kanetsune of Seki. In Eiroku 10 (1567) he established an independent branch line and moved to Komaki village, likely changing his name to Masatsune about that time; in the fifth month of Tenshō 19 (1591) he received the court title Sagami no Kami, and in Keichō 5 (1600) he followed Matsudaira Tadayoshi to Kiyosu in Owari, where he became a retained smith (kakae-kō) of the Owari Tokugawa house. Several records place him at Kiyosu alongside Hōki no Kami Nobutaka and Hida no Kami Ujifusa, the three later counted as the Owari Sansaku (Three Smiths of Owari). After taking the tonsure and retiring in Keichō 12 (1607), he passed the name to his son; when that second generation died suddenly two years later he resumed forging under the nyūdō signature Masatsune Nyūdō, and is said to have died in Genna 5 (1619) at the age of eighty-four. A separate second generation, Mino no Kami Fujiwara Masatsune, is recorded as the son of Daidō of Gifu, adopted into the line, who carried on its spear and naginata work. A Mino foundation worked toward suguha defines the shared hand. The forging is itame mixed with mokume, frequently flowing into masame toward the mune and shinogi-ji, with the grain standing somewhat (hada-dachi), abundant ji-nie, and chikei; a mizukage-like feature rising from the machi is noted on several tantō and wakizashi.
The temper that the setsumei call his specialty is a chū- to broad suguha in ko-nie-deki, the habuchi worked with hotsure, nijūba, kuichigai-ba, and uchi-noke, with ko-gunome and ko-ashi mixed in, fine kinsuji and sunagashi running through, and a bright nioiguchi. Beside this restrained mode runs a bolder midareba of gunome and ko-notare with togariba, sometimes hakogakari or saka-gakari, where the nie grows coarse and clustered and the nioiguchi turns shizumi (subdued); the notare-ba that the setsumei call the Owari-Seki specialty (尾張関得意の湾れ刃) appears in the wider blades. The bōshi tends to straight with ko-maru and hakikake in the suguha works, midare-komi with a rounded or long return in the midareba works. Carving is plain but crisp: suken, bonji, gomabashi, koshi-hi with soe-hi, and the rarely seen shin no Kurikara in openwork. Among extant works, the setsumei agree, hira-zukuri wakizashi and tantō are the most numerous and of high skill, yari and naginata are comparatively common with the spears often hira-sankaku sasaho form, while katana and shinogi-zukuri wakizashi are extremely few. For kantei this rarity gives weight to the long swords: the 67th Jūyō Kanetsune-signed katana, dated by its sakizori and large kissaki to about Eiroku, anchors the smith's early phase, and the 31st Jūyō Masatsune Nyūdō katana shows the flowing masame, shallow notare, and shizumi nioiguchi read as his own. Named pieces include the Sagami no Kami Masatsune Nyūdō wakizashi held by the Imperial Household Agency and the katana once with Tokugawa Iesato and the Reimeikai Foundation; one wakizashi survives in akikusa-mon koshirae with fittings by Mogarashi Sōten of Hikone. The setsumei note that in his bolder work Masatsune looked to the Sagami masters Sadamune and Nobukuni while keeping the togari and Sanbon-sugi traces of his Mino root, placing his line as the Owari channel through which the Mino-den passed into shintō. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Masatsune政常 | 1567-1619 | 19 |
| Masatsune政常 | 1661-1673 | 0 |
| Masatsune政常 | 1688-1704 | 0 |
| Kanetsune兼常 | 1573-1592 | 1 |
| Masatsune政常 | 1615-1673 | 2 |
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.
The NTHK’s principal certificate, issued for a blade of considerable quality. It confirms a genuine signature, or, for an unsigned (mumei) work, records the judges’ attribution to a smith or school. The paper carries a detailed worksheet with a numerical point score.
The NTHK (Nihon Tōken Hozon Kai, the Society for the Preservation of the Japanese Sword) is the oldest of Japan’s sword-appraisal bodies, founded in 1910, decades before the NBTHK. After the death of its long-serving head it divided into two successor societies, the NTHK and the NTHK-NPO, both of which continue to hold shinsa. NTHK blade certificates are known for a detailed worksheet that records a numerical point score alongside the judges’ written opinion (fitting papers carry the judges’ opinion without a point score), and the society is especially respected for its attribution of unsigned (mumei) work.
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