Information on Shiga-Seki?

[Andi B.]

Hello,

I started with some bare wakizashi blades without any mounting or polish (which are a bit unsatisfying in this state) years ago and therefore focussed more on tsuba and fittings.

 

But recently it has arisen that I purchased my first katana, mumei - attributed to the Shiga-Seki school (Hozon paper), from around 1500.

 

I could find out, that "Shiga-Seki" is related to a Kanenobu, who moved from Mino to Owari's "Shiga" (village?).

Can I assume, that the blade was made by this school because of the NBTHK attribution "Shiga-Seki"?

Does it mean, that a member of this school has made the blade or could it also be created by anybody in the "style" of Shiga-Seki?

 

How could such a school look like - is this the smith (Kanenobu) who has some assistants and sucessors working together in the same workshop for some decades?

Is there more information about "Shiga-Seki" available?

 

The blade is suriage (66,6 cm). I think the blade was at least 8 cm longer when it was new (is it possible to estimate, when/why the shortenings have been performed?).

 

Please find below some photos.

Maybe some of you can give me descriptions of the visible characteristics of this blade, hada and hamon?

-> I can see an o-mokume hada and a nie based gunome(?) hamon with sunagashi/kinsuji - are these Mino charateristics?

 

Any information or hints would be great because it's makes fun to learn with a real piece in front of me...

[Lance]

If the attribution was to Shiga-Seki, it would be judged as being made by someone of that group, but for whatever reason they couldn't/wouldn't pin it down to a specific swordsmith within them.

 

Below are a couple links that should help to familiarize yourself Shiga-Seki and Seki School in general.

(I think at least one of website owners are members here too)

They describe it far better than me; but a few indicators towards Seki would be a pointed (togari) gunome hamon with sunagashi in the low spots (valleys) the hamon, a relatively narrow shinogi compared with the overall width of the blade. Supposedly Seki/Mino steel has a more whitish color compared to other groups like Bizen Yamashiro, etc. but I've nevr been able to really recognize the color difference successfully, even when pointed out.

 

htp://www.users.on.net/~coxm/?page=oshigata_sword_k90

Mid Muromachi period around Meio era (1492+) osuriage katana. These Kanenobu were based in Shiga village, Nishi Gun in Owari (near Nagoya) and moved there around 1469 (Bumei era) from Mino Province, shodai may be the son of Muroya Seki Kanenari. There were another 2-3 generations in Shiga. Work is in Seki-den style and has typical sunagashi in hamon.

 

http://yakiba.com/Kat_NoshuKanenobu.htm

Shodai Noshu Kanenobu founded the Shiga Seki Ha of Owari Provence around 1469 when he relocated from Seki. This Ha was established in Shiga village near old Nagoya along the Tokaido trade route. The work style overall is similar to Seki-Den but exhibits characteristic nie in the ji-hada and the hamon contain lines of sunagashi which look like older works.

 

 

http://www.users.on.net/~coxm/?page=late_mino

 

Also I'd reccomend picking up a copy of "The Connoisseur's Book of Japanese Swords" I believe there's a copiy or two for sale in the for sale section on the message board here: As a guide to identifying different traits from various schools throuh history it should be a perfect book for you to learn more about your sword and to understand how it was attributed, and you can use it in the future with any other swords you might see or acquire in the future.

 

 

Regards,

Lance

[Andi B.]

Thanks for this information.

Fortunately I have the Nagayama book. I'll examine the blade and look which characteristics I can find...

[BIG]

Hi,

 

From Cox Mino-To and Markus Index

[Andi B.]

Thanks Peter!