Information about WW2 Smith Ikeda Kunitada

[Itomagoi]

Hello,

I am looking for some Information about the WW2 smith Ikeda Kunitada.

Unfortunately I can't find much about him.
CHU SAKU (Kurihara Hikosaburo Akihide), 2nd Seat (6th Shinsakuto exhibition 1941). One of his students was Takaba Hidetada.

 

 

[Kiipu]

That would be a swordsmith located in the Tōkyō area.  The best person to ask would be Chris Bowen.

Tōkyō 東京　Ikeda Kunitada 池田國忠.

[Itomagoi]

A very good idea, Thomas. Chris has taken the time to provide the following information:

 

There was a Kunitada, real name Ikeda Shimeyoshi 池田〆吉 who is listed as a Seki smith. This same person is listed as a student Kato Sukekuni who was in the Kato family of smiths from Meguro, Tokyo, so it is likely he trained with the Kato family and moved to Seki where the demand for smiths and the production of gunto was high. 

 

The blade shown below has the Nagoya stamp consistent with blade coming from Seki but the workmanship is more in line with (kesho yasuri-me, etc.) the style of the Kato group than that of those of Seki. He probably didn’t train for very long under Kato Sukekuni as the workmanship seems a little on the crude side.

 

One other piece of the puzzle that indicates that Kunitada worked in Seki:

 

I found the following information concerning a Seki smith, Takaba Makoto:

 

"高羽誠刀匠は、昭和3年2月18日に生まれる。昭和17年、池田国忠刀匠に入門、昭和18年、中田兼秀刀匠に入門する。刀匠銘の「秀忠」は池田国忠刀匠の「忠」と中田兼秀刀匠の「秀」からいただいたものである"

 

It says that the smith Takaba Makoto studied under Ikeda Kunitada in Showa 17, and under Tanaka Kanehide, in Showa 18. He took the mei Hidetaka using a kanji from each of these teachers. Takaba was a Seki smith, as was Tanaka, thus there is no doubt he trained under Ikeda in Seki.

 

My best guess is that Ikeda studied, likely briefly, in Tokyo under Kato Sukekuni, taking the Kuni kanji from Sukekuni for his mei. As I said earlier, his workmanship resembles more closely that of the Kato group than what is commonly seen from Seki smiths in that period.

[Bruce Pennington]

Can anyone make out the year on that nakago?  It looks to me like "2608" but that would be 1948!

[Itomagoi]

August 2603 = August 1943 

[Bruce Pennington]

1 hour ago, Itomagoi said:

August 2603 = August 1943 

Ok, now I see it, thanks Peter!