Kanenaga Gendaito

An interesting gendaito turned up today out of the woodwork at Preston militaria fair. It has a pretty wild choji hamon with lots of sunagashi between the choji peaks, and clear ko-itame hada.

I was surprised to discover that it was just signed nijimei Kanenaga (no stamps) and dated 1943. Anyone have any thoughts which Kanenaga this is? I was surprised at how nice the sword is (it's also in early war good quality mounts) and really though it would have had a star stamp before removing the tsuka.

Sorry for the poor quality of the photos, only had my phone with me at the fair and the nakago was covered in crud.

Thanks,

Peter

Very pretty!!! Congratulations, Peter

Hoanh

It doesn't seem to be Kawamura Kanenaga and definitely not Watanabe Kanenaga. Amaike Kanenaga seems like a possibility?

There is an oshigata on Rich Stein's website:

http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/oshigata/kanenag4.jpg

Hi Peter,

Find only One Smith by two sources:

1. Markus Index : Noshu Seki no ju Kanenaga kore o saku real Name Amachi Ginjiro

2. Jinsoo Kim: a Seki Kaji Tosho Kanenaga real Name Amachi Ginjiro

Best Regards

This is the Seki smith Amachi Ginjiro Kanenaga.

This is the Seki smith Amachi Ginjiro Kanenaga.

Thanks Chris, is it likely to be completely traditionally made or water tempered western steel etc?

Kanenaga (包永), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – „Nōshū Seki no jū Kanenaga kore o saku“ (濃州関之住包永作之), „Kanenaga“ (包永), civilian name „Amachi Ginjirō“ (天地銀次郎), older brother of Amachi Suzuichi (天地鈴市), he was born on the fourth day of the ninth month Meiji 17 (1884) and died March 8th 1958, he worked as guntō smith, posthumous Buddhist name „Enkaku Chikyō“ (円覚智鏡)

Probably non-traditionally made but can't say for certain from the photos.

I'll post some decent photos up when I can. Thanks for the help.

Some better photos, the sword has sunagashi, inazuma, ji-nie etc. It's surprisingly nice for a Seki smith of no real note.

As mentioned previously the sword is in decent quality gunto mounts, with a removed mon badge visible on the kabuto-gane.

If Seki smiths begin to work in Bizen style, quo vadis?

I best retract my comment as this looks traditionally made....

There are several Seki smiths who worked in Bizen den. Not many, but a few...

Nice Gendaito Peter. Would look great in polish.

Lots going on in there. Maybe one to submit to Markus for the book, as it is unusual for the Seki guys.

Brian

 

It's surprisingly nice for a Seki smith of no real note.

 

There are many surprisingly nice WWII era blades by smiths whose names remain in the shadows. I am often approached by people wanting advice on starting out/collecting gendaito and my mantra is to learn what a good sword is and then collect them, rather than names, as that is where the bargains often are...While this has some condition issues, it is obviously in a different league than the usual mass produced showa-to and could prove to be a very enjoyable blade when restored.

There are several Seki smiths who worked in Bizen den. Not many, but a few...

O tempora, O mores :D

I have seen many Gendai Seki Blades and have found that working in Bizen den, is fairly common.