Minatogawa Shrine Swords

[VIPER]

Just trying too get a feel for the market. What is the price range for a nice textbook Minatogawa Naval sword.........Thanks Jimmy.

[SwordGuyJoe]

I am also interested in these. Are they mounted in anything but Kai Gunto? I have never seen these mounted in shin gunto, kyu gunto, etc. Thanks for bringing up this post.

[huntershooter]

"Ricecracker" has a MasaNaga in shirasaya with NBTHK papers on their site.

The Minatogawa shrine was producing blades exclusively for the Navy from what I understand.

[VIPER]

Thanks....I find these swords the most interesting of all Gendaito..I am looking for one in its Naval Mounts.......Jimmy

[Ted Tenold]

The Minatogawa smiths made swords exclusively for the IJN. However Herman Wallinga noted in his publication "Gendaito Made at the Minatogawa Shrine" that there were examples of a Minatogawa blade in IJA mounts seen, presumeably carried by a member of the Imperial Naval Landing Forces. Conversely, there have been found Yasukuni blades (Yasukuni forged for Army forces) in Navy mounts as well. The only Minatogawa swords I have seen were in Navy mountings so if you find one it is likely to be in Kaigunto koshirae.

 

There were only six active smiths and their students/assistants at the Minatogawa forge. The production numbers were thus lower than the Yasukuni shrine which had a larger base of working smiths. When you consider that the majority of that lower body of work the Minatogawa production is at the bottom of the Pacific, the surviving examples are going to be disproportionate to Yasukuni blades which had a larger body of work carried by land borne forces.

[Brian Hancock]

I have a sword in Kai-gunto mounts signed "Hizen ju Masakiyo" he was a Minatogawa smith but the blade has no Mon from the forge. The book by Wallinga quotes him as "Very little known" so he must have been the Scarlet Pimpernel of Minatogawa forge. I saw one of this smiths swords go for sale at $5,700 just to give you some idea of what dealers are asking.

Cheers,

Brian

[katanako]

Minatogawa Jinja swords are extremely rare...expect to pay around $8K+ for a VG one.

I have one with the Kikusui mon and one without. A friend of mine bought one at the Northern Cal Sword Show last year for $7,500 and it was a very nice one.

Hope you find your's!

 

KATANAKO