Archived Nihonto.ca (Yuhindo.com): Mino Kanesada (Nosada)

Mino Kanesada (Nosada)

Kanesada is the representative swordsmith of the Mino tradition. He along with his fellow Mino standout Kanemoto Magaroku worked in the late koto period. Both are very well thought of and considered to be important smiths.

While this tradition was founded by extremely good smiths in Shizu and Kinju, theirs was only the seed of the Mino style. It was the work of their students and the generations leading up to Kanesada and Kanemoto that developed what was given by the teachers into a unique tradition.

Kanesada is known by the nickname “Nosada” because in the middle of his career he changed his signature style. Originally, he signed in the style of his father 兼定 then turned to writing the “sada” character in grass script so that it resembles the character “no”, 之.

There are numerous interesting legends surrounding this smith. The first is that he lived for 111 years, so had a very long and impressive span of work. His father worked in the Bunmei era (1469), and Kanesada has dated work from around 1500 going for several decades. According to Fujishiro, he died in Tenmon 5 (1536), and he also indicates that this may indeed be fact.

The relationship between Kanemoto and Kanesada is interesting as well. There are only 14 smiths that are rated Saijo O-wazamono, which is the rating of supreme sharpness, and these two smiths are in that club. Furthermore, both are rated as Saijo saku by Fujishiro for supreme skill of manufacture in their school and time period. Kanemoto was younger than Kanesada, but given Kanesada’s longevitiy they shared a common work period. Legend has it that these two smiths took on a relationship of adopted brotherhood. I have read that this is considered to be more important than a birth brother, because who you are born with is given up to fate, while someone you choose as your brother is of course by your own volition. This makes the act of adopting someone as a brother a symbol of an extremely close relationship. Kanemoto is famous for his sanbonsugi, and there are at least an extremely small number of Kanesada that exist showing this style of work which may provide substance to this close relationship of the two smiths, though they lived in different areas.

Kanemoto hails from Akasaka, which is the birthplace of Nosada and the place where his father worked. At some point, Nosada made Seki his home and this is now known as his reference location.

Nosada showed a great deal of skill in working with various traditions. His father worked in Yamashiro style as well as Mino, and Kanesada has work in Yamashiro, Soshu and Mino styles. Nosada is rated at 800 man yen in the Toko Taikan, putting him on a level with Kinju.

Tokubetsu Hozon Kanesada

This wakizashi is the one that started it all for me as a collector. My first purchase was a Shinto katana with nice koshirae by a Kanbun period smith, and I wanted a wakizashi to accompany it. That was to be the end of my collection.

When this one arrived, I knew right away that it was something special and mysteriously better than the katana I had, though the katana was very nice. There was an extra charm that I found in the jigane and overall make of this blade. In hindsight, I was staring at the much spoken about koto/shinto divide. I happen to be a fan of koto works, as I find this charm in them that I don’t often see in shinto blades, though of course there are many shinto pieces that I adore. But this piece showed me what the really good stuff is like, and I have been collecting high quality and interesting items ever since.

This wakizashi is done in Yamashiro style, featuring a flowing itame hada with what appears at first glance to be a suguba hamon. The jigane is sprinkled with fine ji nie, and the Mino flavor can be found in its white tone, but overall this piece speaks with a kind of class that steps away from the practical and pragmatic Mino style.

In the right light and at the right angle, activities come clearly out in the hamon, showing kinsuji in places, with fine yo and ashi that cluster together appearing to be choji in places… something that would make one think of Hizen work to come. The mune is maru, rounded, which is not seen very often. This piece has admirable sori still, so was probably an uchigatana typical to this period that was shortened at or near the time of the manufacture of the koshirae for wear as a wakizashi.

The mei is folded back in two-character old style format. When I received this piece it was sold to me as the Shodai Kanesada, and I never felt good about this attribution. The previous owners had relied on the mention of Bunmei era in the papers to determine it was the Shodai, as this was his time period of manufacture.

When I researched the mei, it looked to me to be a very strong match with the early mei of Nosada, and a poor match with the Shodai Kanesada. This composite picture that follows shows the comparison:

Tanobe sensei when I wrote to him, stated that indeed the designation meant that it was not strictly in Bunmei and that the signature showed the chiselling technique as well as the form of Nosada’s early mei rather than the Shodai and that this was possibly one of his very first works.

Tanobe sensei also told me that this represents a very rare style in the span of work by Kanesada, and he confirms this in his sayagaki.

The current polish is top notch. It is the work of the Mukansa (above competition) polisher Kenji Mishina san, and I asked him about this in particular to verify what I thought about the kissaki. His response was that it was of no consequence to the sword and that it was done a long time ago. The boshi is healthy and wide, so the only way of knowing that the kissaki was worked on is that the hamon is ever so slightly straight north of the yokote. It is a good example to use to learn to recognize this, and a skillful and no doubt laborious repair for whomever performed the work.

Because the tsuka was rewrapped, the components of the koshirae received individual papers rather than papers as a whole. There are three Hozon papers for each of the menuki, fuchi/kashira and tsuba. All of them are of high quality manufacture. With the Tokubetsu Hozon papers for the sword, there are four NBTHK papers that are in this package (which is a sizeable investment in itself). Click on the koshirae above or the papers to the left for a high res version.

The fuchi is a signed piece by Masatsugu who made the kashira and kojiri as well. All of these components are made from silver and gold, both very precious. The tsuba is signed by Norisuke, a maker of high regard.

The fuchi and kashira show two mon, one is very rare in use, Maru ni Kokonotsu Meyui (nine square blocks in a circle), and the other is the famous Kiri mon. While determination based on Mon is sketchy at best, the only family I could find in my research and inquiries that used this 9-meyui mon was the Saito Honjou family. My feeling is that this combination, and the rarity of the first mon, means that this is probably a legitimate determination.

I am particularly fond of the menuki, as they show great skill and are very large (just over 3 inches in size) and just beautiful in my eyes. They are of Kyo-kinko manufacture.

Tanobe Sensei Sayagaki

1. 濃州関住兼定
   Noshu Seki Ju Kanesada
2. 但薙折返二字銘銘有之時代文明頃
   Tadashi orikaeshi niji mei kore are jidai Bunmei goro.
   Although with folded back two character signature, the period is around Bunmei.
3. 匂溺直刃珍敷作域也
   Nioi deki suguba chinfu sakuiki nari
   It is a rare work made in nioi deki suguba style.
4. 刃長壹尺五寸三分
   Hacho ishaku gosun sanbu
   The cutting edge length is 1 shaku, 5 sun, 3 bu (46.3cm).
5. 丙根長月上浣田野邉道宏徴
   Hinoe ne, nagatsuki, jokan Tanobe Michihiro shirusu (kao)
   Attested to by Tanobe Michihiro in the first third of September, 1996