Relationship between Daimyo and Katana-kaji, Takumi?

It's a little question that has been niggling away in the back of my mind.

If you can imagine a late Edo aikuchi Tanto set in a beautiful black lacquer koshirae with pristine Omote Mon and Ura Mon of the Daimyo. The Habaki is in gold. The Mei is two Kanji on the nakago, being the name of the 7th Daimyo of that Han fiefdom. The Mon match the name, and the Tanto has recent NBHTK Hozon paperwork, signifying that... the blade/mei/koshirae is all as it seems.

The question.

Would the Lord of the castle have been skilled enough to make a blade himself? He created the castle gardens himself, allegedly, and was a pretty active and skillful fellow.

Or would the blade have been made by a well-known katana-kaji of his choosing, or by someone recommended to him by a karo or retainer for example? If so, would he really have put his name on it, and at what point, and why? Would one blow of the hammer be enough for him to sign his name?

What would the subsequent Hozon shinsa people have looked at? The blade alone, representing a period in Edo, and made by a good representative hand? There is no indication on the paperwork as to where the Tanto might have been made... and yet they accepted it. Are there examples out there of two-character Mei, indicating simply ownership of the aikuchi tanto, rather than signature of maker?

Any ideas are welcome.

Although I have heard no stories about specific daimyo forging their own swords, it is not beyond possibility. Gotoba forged his own swords, Goshoyaki, so why not? I shall look for more data, never thought about this before. John

For example, Tokugawa Nariaki (徳川斉昭) made swords by himself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokugawa_Nariaki

Ref. p. 292, The Connoisseur's Book of Japanese Swords, Kokan Nagayama Translated by Kenji Mishina

The Mei is "Munetada", Date Munenari's father, (see "Date Munetada" in paragraph 2 line 3). Munenari was adopted. Munetada was the 7th Daimyo of Uwajima in Shikoku and was descended directly by blood from the eldest son of Date Masamune of Sendai (by a mistress). The tanto has the Mei 'Munetada' on it, and the koshirae carries the Date Mon(s).

He is contemporary with the Tokugawa you have posted, Nobody, and the tanto would probably have been made in the same time frame, ie 1800 to 1850. Perhaps Tokugawa Nariaki was famous for trying his hand at sword making, (the talk of Edo?) so Date Munetada (or vice versa) thought why not? and tried his hand at it too!???

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_Munenari

and in Japanese for Munetada

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BC%8A% ... 7%E7%B4%80

PS Tokugawa Nariaki died at the age of 40, but Munetada lived until he was almost 100! He always said the secret of longevity for him was giving up women when he was 75...

Hawley lists few smiths which were Lords of particular clans.

Naonaga [NAO131] - Lord Muramatsu

Nagatomo [NAG122] - Lord Akimoto Nagatomo

Kanehisa [KAN963] - Lord of Harima, hobbymaker

Shin [sHI1008] - Secret name of Lord Tsunamune.

Narinori [NAR127] - Lord Matsudaira of Kawagoe Castle working as a hobby.

Naonaka [NAO139] - Lord of Hikono Castle

Tadamochi [TAD160] - Lord of Himeji Clan

So I guess it wasn't unusual for Lords to make swords as a hobby.

Regards,

Stan N.

There was a Daimyo in the late 15th century, whose ambitions as a swordsmith are well documented. His name was Akamatsu MASANORI and he signed his swords with "Minamoto-Ason MASANORI". He was known to be a warlord, governing the provinces Harima, Bizen and Mimasaka. It is said, he was assisted by Sakyo-no-Shin MUNEMITSU and gave his swords to his retainers.

His swords are of high quality and the best of these is a Juyo Bijutsuhin. Its mei says, that Oda Yamato-no-Kami Fujiwara Toshisada is the owner.

Nowadays it is quite impossible to find out how far emperor Gotoba was engaged in the swordmaking-process. The tachi with the famous Kiku-Mon do not show an individual style of one person. The sheer fact, that people believed it, prooves, that making swords was esteemed as a most noble profession. Therefore it can be assumed, that one or the other Daimyo joined a Toko in his smithy. Wether he did some "sweaty" work himself or not, can only be guessed. In the case of Akamatsu MASANORI there is an individual style visible and I tend to the idea, the hard-boiled warlord did not consider himself "too good" for the dirt and sweat of a smithy.

reinhard

So this was more common and acceptable than I had imagined. Thank you Stan and Reinhard for the valuable insights. In light of this I can begin to see why the shinsa people batted no eyelids.

PS I did a bit more searching around about Munetada and discovered that he wrote pretty good books and poetry, he too having a separate name, Munetada Shunzan 宗紀春山　

Last night I was chatting with a member of the NBTKHK and he mentioned that he'd had a look at possible smiths who might have been involved in the creation of this tanto. There were two Iyo smiths called Kunifusa and Kunimasa, and by following the style of the blade, the dates of their lives and the fact that some were mentioned as having worked in Uwajima, Munetada's fiefdom, he felt positive that we could identify the most likely one.

Later I sat thinking about this. Knowing the way Japanese people think, to some extent, I would imagine that a katana kaji would not want his own particular style to show up too boldly in a sword his Daimyo was making, as that could cause the Daimyo to lose face when showing it to acquaintances. He would do his best to make sure that the Daimyo's work was as flawless as possible, and he would probably insist on it being restrained or understated, nothing flashy, in accordance with the status of his master. (Just my feverish imagination at work...)

Anyway I will post here if any further info becomes available.

PS The photos got left behind on the old board. They are not very good; maybe that's why!

http://militaria.co.za/nihontomessagebo ... php?t=2524

Of my Sensei's two suggestions, Kunifusa and Kunimasa, the latter makes the most sense. He and his ilk lived and worked where Date Munetada's castle was located, in Uwajima, the centre of Iyo no Kuni, around about the right time, 1790-1890.

Four Kunimasa are listed in the Token Soran, p 183, for Uwajima under Shin-shin-to. One was active in Bunka 1804-17, and came from 水心子正秀門; one was his child, active in 嘉永¸ Kaei (1848-53); and a third came from 肥前忠吉門 Hizen Tadayoshi Mon and worked in Uwajima around 文政 Bunsei, 1818-29. The fourth seems to coincide with the following entry in the Token Yoran (see below), and was the son of the third above, and is, according to the Token Soran, to be distinguished from Number One above.

An entry in the Token Yoran gives a Shin-shinto mark to 国正 Kunimasa of 伊予 Iyo in 文久… Bunkyu, ie 1861-1863, (when Date Munetada retired from active political life at about 70 yrs old and built the castle gardens. Remember he lived to be 100, it was said.)

Quote from Token Yoran, p.42:

備前祐春門 School of Sukeharu, Bizen.

An example of his Mei is: 予州宇和島住藤原国正 Yo-shu Uwajima-ju Fujiwara Kunimasa

Well, it's all as clear as mud, but please forgive me for trying to pin this thing down...

To summarize, in case anyone lacks the time to read the whole thread, there was at least one Iyo Kunimasa smith resident and working in Uwajima when the 7th Daimyo Munetada, (directly descended from Date Masamune's oldest son), emerged from the castle and forged, and cut his name into, a Mamori-gatana. The tanto is papered Hozon (so far) by the NBTHK as Shin-shin-to. A large question is how old was he when he made it, and which of the four 'helped' him. I wonder if there is a time in a Japanese person's life when he/she suddenly desires to possess/create a Mamori-gatana? In your 20s? In your 70s?

This is the closest I have managed to get so far. Sensei thinks he may be able to tell from the blade. I've lent it to him as he wants to display it at the Shibu-kai in September. Great honour/honor for me.

(I may go back and edit this post as extra thoughts strike... thanks for reading if anyone has made it this far! )

The Tanto came back today.

My sensei says that from the style of the blade and Nakago, and judging what smith would be allowed to be in contact with a Daimyo, he reckons that as a 藩工 it must be 固山 宗次 Katayama Munetsugu, who went from Bizen to Uwajima in Iyo. He is listed with Juyo Wakizashi and Katana.

The Tanto was displayed at the Autumn NBTHK Ken Shibu Bunkai Meitou-Ten at the end of September, a first for me. Surrounded by wonderful Koto, Shinto, Shinshinto, Gendaito and some Koshiki-ju. It has always been in Koshirae, which made it difficult for him to display the Koshirae once the blade was extracted. He said he could arrange for a Shirasaya and a Tsunagi, so I ordered both. They are beautifully done. As a bonus he made the gold habaki as new again, completely erasing the unsightly dent/ripple in the middle where it must have at some time caught on the edge of the koi-kuchi. And the shirasaya comes in a splendid new bag. All for the price of a meal in London for two! The quality of the work made me catch my breath.

May I be the first to say....where are the pics!?

Congrats, sounds like a very nice blade indeed.

Brian

Why, thank you sir! :lol:

As requested, some (very) amateur shots at last of:

The original Koshirae with new Tsunagi blade.

The new shirasaya and blade with refurbished Habaki.

The white silk bag.

"Me like it..." :lol:

"Me like it..." :lol:

 

This is a Nihonto forum, but it is very rare that I post about Nihonto because I have a) not much knowledge yet and b) no real collection like some of you. I also do not buy and sell Nihonto, unlike some of the members, so I have to confine myself to trying to work out the bigger picture with what I have, relying hopefully on the members for precious drops of wisdom. I know a lot more about this Tanto and my Katana now than I did when I bought them. Perhaps they have been training blades for me.

I am glad you like this one, Carlo.