NihontoWatchA masterpiece by the 27th generation Kanemoto, a direct descendant of Magoroku Kanemoto, superbly hardening the family's traditional sanbonsugi. The tsuka was newly made using new kanagu, and the saya is finished with tanzaku-same in a hirumaki style and polished out. Modern sword 27 generation Kanemoto. He is a deirect descendants of Magoroku Kanemoto. This sword has Hamon of wonderful Sanhonsugi. Also, Tsuka was newly made and Saya is wrapped is shark skin. "style" Shinogi-zukuri, iori-mune, wide mihaba and standard kasane, torii-sori with a chu-kissaki that feels slightly extended. The nakago is ubu with takanoha-yasuri, and the nakago-jiri is ha-agari kurijiri. "carving" The carvings consist of kata-chiri bo-hi on both sides with maru-dome at the habaki-moto. "jigane" Well-kneaded mokume-hada is tight, with fine ji-nie. "hamon" The hamon is togari-gunome, commonly called sanbonsugi, with frequent sunagashi within the ha, and thick gunome-ashi extending toward the ha-saki. The boshi is midare-komi, returning in komaru. "detailed" The 27th generation Kanemoto, real name Kaneko Tatsuichiro, was born on Taisho 13, January 26, and crafted swords in Seki City. He first studied under his father, the 26th generation Kanemoto, Kaneko Shinichiro, and later entered the Seki City Nihonto Tanren Juku in Showa 12 to study under the swordsmith Watanabe Kanenaga. He succeeded to the name of the 27th generation Kanemoto in Showa 19, and after the war, he exhibited in new sword exhibitions and won numerous awards. Additionally, he built a Nihonto Tanren Dojo in Showa 49, devoted effort to training successors, received the Seki City Industrial Merit Award in Showa 55, became the chairman of the Seki Toshokai in Heisei 1, and was designated a Gifu Prefecture Important Intangible Cultural Property in Heisei 9. He passed away on Heisei 20, January 24, at the age of 83. This work was made when Kanemoto was 59 years old, a product of his mature period, superbly hardening his specialty, the sanbonsugi. While in his later years he made light swords for iai, this work was likely made as an art sword due to its grand construction. "Koshirae" habaki: Single-fold solid silver Shonai habaki. tsuba: Iron ground with katsumushi sukashi. fuchikashira: Solid silver with a design of katsumushi. menuki: Solid silver with a design of katsumushi. tsuka: The tsuka has an o-tsubu and is wrapped in black-dyed same. The tsuka-ito is black cowhide grain leather in moro-hime-maki. saya: Hirumaki same-gawa togidashi saya. "condition of blade" Polishing: There are hike, but otherwise it is in good condition. It will become wonderful if re-nugui is performed. Flaws: There are no flaws that would constitute a defect.
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As written by the shop
Machine translation from the shop's Japanese · may contain errors ·
Mino-den · Mino · around 1926-1989
1 piece on the market now
Mino-den · Mino
22 pieces on the market now
Kanemoto (兼元) worked at Akasaka in Mino Province, and the line takes its place among the smiths of the late Muromachi period whom the NBTHK registers under the Mino-den tradition centered on Seki. The setsumei place the family within the Sue-Seki (Sue-Mino) milieu, naming Kanemoto alongside Kanesada as the two leading figures of the province in this era; one tantō note instead pairs the name with Kaneshiba, and another with Izumi no Kami Kaneshige, marking the company the line kept. The name passed through successive generations, and the records repeatedly state that distinguishing each generation has not been definitively settled. Dated long signatures reading "Nōshū Akasaka-jū Kanemoto" survive from the Meiō, Bunki, Daiei, Kyōroku, and Eishō eras, while two-character signatures bear no date. The first generation is documented through pieces dated Meiō 6, 8, 9, and 10, all giving the Akasaka residence; the most accomplished hand, and the one the world singles out under the sobriquet "Magoroku Kanemoto," is the second generation. The shared vocabulary of the line is the sanbonsugi (three-cedar) gunome, a sequence of linked pointed crests that rise and fall in groups. The ground is Mino-den through and through: itame-hada mixed with mokume and flowing masame, tending toward standing grain (hada-dachi), with fine ji-nie, chikei, and a whitish shirake-utsuri that the setsumei call out again and again. The temper mixes togariba (pointed elements) and gunome, is nioi-dominant with ko-nie, and runs sunagashi, kinsuji, and occasional tobiyaki; the bōshi is typically midare-komi turning in ko-maru, often described as Jizō-like with hakikake or a falling kaeri. The chief means of separating the second generation from the later line is regularity: as the generations descend, the pointed crests grow sharply angular and standardized, whereas Magoroku's sanbonsugi is deliberately uneven, the gunome heads rounded in places, and the pattern shifts freely into nihonsugi, yonsugi, and gosugi groupings of two, four, and five. The records describe this as a gyōsō (cursive, free) manner.
The first generation, by contrast, does not emphasize sanbonsugi at all, favoring gunome mixed with gunome-chōji and at times yubashiri and tobiyaki; both generations also made suguha, and one tantō is an uncommon Rai-utsushi in elegant straight temper that evokes Kaneyuki. For kantei, the line is read through the standing Mino grain, the shirake-utsuri, and above all the irregular sanbonsugi, with the leaning bōshi a noted point: the records observe that the honka model and these blades share a bōshi that falls over. Named and documented works recur across the register. A naginata dated Kyōroku 1 (1528) carries the full Akasaka signature and is valued as documentary source material, dated two-character pieces being scarce. A katana bearing a kinzōgan inscription on the reverse is known as "Sasatsuyu Kanemoto" and is recorded in the hands of Makishima Kenmotsu Akishige, of the same clan as Furuta Kosukezaemon. The "Aoki Kanemoto," a second-generation work, is said to be the sword with which Aoki Ichishige, a retainer of Tokugawa Ieyasu, killed Magara Masataka of the Asakura side at the Battle of Anegawa in Genki 1 (1570). A further katana carries a Genna 1 (1615) kinzōgan cutting-test inscription by Nakagawa Saheita reading "two bodies," and one suguha katana descended in the Echizen Matsudaira family. Two katana signed Kanemoto are recorded in Honma's inventory of the Imperial collection. Across these works the line is registered as the cutting-edged representative of Sue-Seki, its hand recognized wherever the three-cedar temper runs uneven over standing Mino steel. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Kanemoto兼元 | 1521-1528 | 30 |
| Kanemoto兼元 | 1532-1555 | 0 |
| Kanemoto兼元 | 1573-1592 | 0 |
| Kanemoto兼元 | 1592-1596 | 0 |
| Kanemoto兼元 | 1818-1830 | 0 |
Shōwa to the present: destruction and revival
The twentieth century nearly killed the craft twice: wartime distortion, then the occupation ban. The NBTHK’s founding in 1948 and licensed forging from 1953 rebuilt the sword as an art, crowned by Living National Treasures and the mukansa rank.
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