Kantei

[Lareon]

Hey Guys,

Was going to post a few photos of one of my latest blades and see how close to the smith people could get from photos alone.
I've taken a few today but am happy to take more.

I'll leave precise measurements off for now 

[Lareon]

 

 

let me know if i've compressed these a little too much, i've tried to keep detail in the blade.

i'll start with these and add more photos as we go

[PNSSHOGUN]

 

Spoiler

Mizuta Kunishige 

 

[Lareon]

2 hours ago, PNSSHOGUN said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Mizuta Kunishige 

 

exactly the right period there is a close connection for sure. Different school and different area.
 

[Lareon]

67.5cm suriage
sori: 0.45cm
moto-haba 2.88cm
Tokubetsu Hozon

[Nihonto student]

Spoiler

Mishina school - Omi (no) kami  Minamoto Hisamichi

 

[Natichu]

All I can add is my guess is Kanbun era Yamashiro shinto. Not a great guess, but I'm running with it.

 

My apologies for not using the hidden text, still not entirely sure how to make that work from my Android phone. 

[Lareon]

On 9/22/2025 at 10:53 AM, Nihonto student said:

  Hide contents

Mishina school - Omi (no) kami  Minamoto Hisamichi

 

 

This is a very good guess, very close in quality and refinement. Different school but right area, think more Osaka den mainstream.

 

On 9/23/2025 at 5:29 AM, Natichu said:

All I can add is my guess is Kanbun era Yamashiro shinto. Not a great guess, but I'm running with it.

 

My apologies for not using the hidden text, still not entirely sure how to make that work from my Android phone. 

 

Close to the right level of refinement but stylistically leans away from kyoto

[Lareon]

[Lareon]

[Lareon]

[Tcat]

 

Izumi no Kami Kunisada

or

Settsu no Kami Masayuki

[Lareon]

Alex, you are extremely close here, they probably bumped into each other getting their morning paper at some point. 

you're almost on the money and Kunisada is an excellent choice. My smith is slightly less famous and took influence from kunisada and sukehiro but you're in the right school right area and right time. I would probably say my smith is the next wave of osaka den and also considered a master though probably just a little less than kunisada. 



 

[SteveM]

Kishu Ishido?

[Tcat]

8 hours ago, Lareon said:

My smith is slightly less famous and took influence from kunisada and sukehiro but you're in the right school right area and right time. I would probably say my smith is the next wave of osaka den and also considered a master though probably just a little less than kunisada. 



 

Points to Awataguchi Ikkanshi Tadatsuna (?)

[sabiji]

I can only recognize very little in the photos. Based on the outlines of the boshi and the hada, for example, I would not have guessed Osaka Shinto.

[Lareon]

I will pass it to Alex i believe he was closest

The smith was Senjuin Morikuni (Izumi No Kami Minamoto Morikuni)

The kantei was very useful and fun for me, it made me research each suggested smith and look into subtle differences in the schools and era.

Thanks everyone for contributing, was fun!

 

[sabiji]

Morikuni is certainly a very good swordsmith, but—and please correct me if I'm wrong—I had associated Morikuni with Edo Shinto and his proximity to Yasusada or Kaneshige.

But I don't know much about Morikuni. Did he also study in Osaka?

[Jacques]

Quote

think more Osaka den mainstream.

Morikuni is known for being one of the best Edo swordsmiths (shinto era)...

[CSM101]

Okay, Morikuni is not in the Token Bijutsu,  not in the english Token Bijutsu, not in Meito Zukan and in the Shinto Hen. How can he be then one of the best Edo swordsmiths if no one knows about him?

[Lewis B]

Morikuni was his later name. Earlier in his career he used Izumi no Kami Minamoto Morimasa. Maybe you can find something under Morimasa. 

[CSM101]

Same for Morimasa.

[Natichu]

I assume this is our gentleman, from Markus Sesko:

 

MORIKUNI (盛国), Kanbun (寛文, 1661-1673), Musashi – “Izumi no Kami Minamoto Morimasa” 

(和泉守源守正), “Izumi no Kami Senju´in Minamoto Morikasa tsukuru” (和泉守千手院源守正造), “Kōshō Kunnai 

ni oite Hachiman´yama Senju´in Yamato no Kami Minamoto Morikasa saku” (於甲州郡内八幡山千手院和泉守源

守正作), “Izumi no Kami Senju´in Morikuni saku” (和泉守千手院盛国作), “Izumi no Kami Morikuni kore o 

tsukuru” (和泉守盛国造之), he was a late smith of the Akasaka-Senju´in lineage and came originally from Kai 

province, later he moved to Edo where he studied according to tradition under Izumi no Kami Kaneshige 

(和泉守兼重), he signed in early years with the name Namen Morimasa (守正), from the point of view of workmanship 

we can see common elements with Kaneshige, Kotetsu (虎徹), and Kazusa no Suke Kaneshige (上総介兼重), he 

signed in a peculiar manner with noticeable wavy and rounded-off strokes, ō-saku. 

[jsv]

Fourth kanji seems a bit off. Drunk smith or something else?

[Jacques]

 

Quote

not in Meito Zukan and in the Shinto Hen

Hum...  Shinto hen page 465

Edited September 26 by Jacques

[Tcat]

That was fun, I did have a few guesses though. The sugata is a ringer for some Kunisada. Very good looking sword and thank you for sharing.

[Lareon]

Thanks, I spent quite a lot of time on this before i started the kantei, It is much of a learning exercise for me too as i've spent most of my time in the last few years studying ko gassan works and this was a departure. Apologies if any of my replies were misleading it is difficult to give hints without giving it away.

When it came to the classification of his work and school etc, obviously he is an edo smith of the senjuin lineage but I found references referring to his style as firmly in the osaka style. he studied under Izumi no Kami Kaneshige and is compared heavily to kotetsu understandably as they share the same teacher.

from nihonto koza
 

Japanese:
盛国は大和千手院派の出身なれども、その作、姿・刃文共に大阪新刀の風を帯び、助広・国貞の影響著し。元禄姿を示し、大阪伝に列すべきものなり
 

English:

Although Morikuni is from the Yamato Senjuin school, his work, appearance, and blade pattern are in the style of Osaka Shinto, and the influence of Sukehiro and Kunisada is evident. It shows the Genroku style and should be ranked among the Osaka tradition.

and

Japanese:

和泉守源盛国　[良業物]
元和頃大和千手院の出で江戸に住す。寛文・延宝・天和・貞享・元禄の頃に作す。初め千手院風を帯ぶるが、後には助広・国貞の影響を受けて、濤瀾風の乱を焼く。姿、元禄風にて、地鉄よく練れて精美なり。

 

English:
zumi no Kami Minamoto Morikuni [Ryōwazamono]
Originally from the Senjuin line of Yamato, later lived in Edo. He worked from Kanbun through Enpō, Tenna, Jōkyō, and into the Genroku eras. At first he retained aspects of the Senjuin style, but later he came under the influence of Sukehiro and Kunisada, producing ō-toranba (billowing wave) hamon. His sugata is in the Genroku style, with well-forged, refined jigane.

I would be interested in peoples opinions and thoughts on classification here as this was one point i spent a while researching and trusting to excerpts from books in another language and doing visual comparatives of other swords and smiths to compare style are the only tools available i guess other than expert opinions so all comments are welcome.
 

On 9/26/2025 at 3:37 PM, CSM101 said:

Okay, Morikuni is not in the Token Bijutsu,  not in the english Token Bijutsu, not in Meito Zukan and in the Shinto Hen. How can he be then one of the best Edo swordsmiths if no one knows about him?

and as jacques pointed out he is in shinto-hen (full page included) but i also did not find him under any of his names in Meito Zukan
 

23 hours ago, jsv said:

Fourth kanji seems a bit off. Drunk smith or something else?

 

there is some slight loss of metal here which obscures this character a little.
i included a picture of the damage.

It is suriage but has Tokubetsu Hozen papers

[Jacques]

The author of Nihonto Koza is merely giving his opinion. It is said that Morikuni's work resembles that of Kotetsu (with a certain difference in level), yet Kotetsu's work has nothing that can be linked to Osaka,Kotetsu is a pure EDO swordsmith. I will leave you to draw your own conclusions. 

 

Question worth 10000:  What distinguishes Osaka from Edo?.

 

Morikuni is also quoted in the Shinto Taikan by Iimura (3 blades) and in the Kanzan Sato's Shinto oshigata dictionnary 1 blade.

[Lareon]

Thank you Jacques.

 

Yes I see your point.

My inference on the quote was that his style had changed and moved to be like the two quoted smiths and their style could be seen in his work. Perhaps I leaned too heavily on this.

 

So while the distinction between edo and osaka is not given the influence of the two smiths put it into this camp.

 

Anyway that was the way I read it but yes I take your point.

 

I will take a look at Shinto taiken.

 

Thanks for your input. It's appreciated.