Shigenaga 重長 Stamped Mei

[Conway S]

Greetings, 

 

Found this example over the weekend coming from Komonjo’s workshop. Unfortunately some unscrupulous individual has added an Amahide mei to presumably increase bids for a well-known smith. This is the third example of a Shigenaga stamped mei I have come across. His name does not appear in Sesko’s Swordsmiths of Japan or other lists I have searched. Has anyone discovered any other details on this smith? From the examples I have seen, there is a nice hada present. I would say it resembles ayasugi hada, but that’s just my novice opinion. 

 

Japanese Sword: IJA WW-II Amahide Imperial Army Gunto

 

Con

 

[Rawa]

Wasn't acid used here? No sign of nagashi. But "Amahide" can be confusing.

Edited Tuesday at 01:15 AM by Rawa

[PNSSHOGUN]

The hada is quite particular to Amahide swords, if Komonjo is adding false Showato mei the situation is becoming rather dire. 

[Conway S]

Something about the mei is off. The characters are poorly executed, even for a showato. The chiseling looks smooth as opposed to chippy. But then again, the patination on the nakago appears natural. 

 

 

 

[PNSSHOGUN]

There was a great deal of variance with Amahide Mei, with some examples having various stamps on the Nakago. By comparison the recent fake swords with Gendai Mei have been pretty obvious and unsophisticated. Not defending the seller at all but this looks about right for Amahide in Mei and Deki. 

 

 

[Conway S]

Thanks for the second opinion, John. Since this was only the third time I have seen this stamped mei, I was skeptical seeing this one coming from Komonjo. I also found this example of another stamped mei - 金丸（Kanemura) on an Amahide :

 

Maybe these are some of the other smiths working from Amahide’s workshop. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bruce Pennington]

From Sesko's list:

"KANEMARU (金丸), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Nagasaki – “Kanemaru” (金丸), family name Ogawa (小川), ryōkō no jōi (Akihide), Fifth Seat at the 6th Shinsaku Nihontō Denrankai (新作日本刀展覧会, 1941)"

[Bruce Pennington]

The stamped mei were uncommon, but I have a few on file from 4 smiths:

Seven blades from Masayuki

 

9 Naohiro

 

1 Nobumitsu

 

and now 2 Shigenaga (this one from JSI)

 

 

We now have 2 Amahide blades with other smith names stamped at the bottom - Shigenaga and Kanemaru.

[John C]

@Bruce Pennington  @Conway S @PNSSHOGUN

 

Are there any pictures of these folks standing together? Just thinking they may have helped each other or have been students of one another. Pictures of them being together may explain some of it. 

 

John C.

[dwmc]

Is it possible the stamped smith names other than the kanji Mei could possibly a photo added by mistake? I've personally seen this happen on several occasions and when inquiring to the seller they have admitted the erroneous photo was added by mistake. 

 

The Mei on the Komonjo workshop ad is identical to my own Daisaku Daimei Amahide sword forged by Ido Hidetoshi. Definitely not gimei. 

[Conway S]

@John C In the article linked above, Mal Cox writes that there were 16 smiths listed as part of the Seki Nihonto Tanren Jo in 1942. Only three of those being well recorded. 

[Conway S]

 

5 hours ago, dwmc said:

Is it possible the stamped smith names other than the kanji Mei could possibly a photo added by mistake? I've personally seen this happen on several occasions and when inquiring to the seller they have admitted the erroneous photo was added by mistake. 

 

I’m quite confident the stamp is on the same sword. I have a Shigenaga in my collection, and the seller mentions the stamp in the description. I saw your Amahide in another thread. It looks quite nice and it’s cool that your father brought it home.

 

 

[dwmc]

15 hours ago, Conway S said:

Thanks Con, Yes, my speculation of a misplaced photo was long shot at best. Really just wanted to put to rest the sword had what appears to be a legitimate Amahide Mei based on my own sword signature. Yet I do find it rather fascinating as Bruce mentioned two other Amahide swords with other names stamped at bottom. Appears some strange things occurred at the Amahide's sword factory.

 

I’m quite confident the stamp is on the same sword. I have a Shigenaga in my collection, and the seller mentions the stamp in the description. I saw your Amahide in another thread. It looks quite nice and it’s cool that your father brought it home.

 

 

 

[Bruce Pennington]

2 hours ago, dwmc said:

Appears some strange things occurred at the Amahide's sword factory.

Yes.  He, and/or his forge, had his own kokuin that is seen on his blades, but also on 4 other smiths that must have worked at the forge - Kanemune, Kunimoto, Hidetoshi, and Masafusa

 

 

And yet, we also have one of his blades with an unknown stamp:

 

And a couple blades with his Retired Servicemen's group, Koa Token Sha, kokuin:

 

All this added to these stamped-mei blades!

[Conway S]

6 hours ago, Bruce Pennington said:

All this added to these stamped-mei blades!

 

Well I'm glad I stumbled across that eBay listing. I learned something new and It’s cool to uncover details about these more obscure smiths.