Which Kanemitsu (包光) could this be?

[Toki]

Hey all!

After about 2 months of waiting, my Tanto finally arrived today. It is my second ever Nihonto and was a bit of an impulsive buy (not really proud of that fact). While browsing sellers for Kamakura/ Nambokucho pieces, this little guy caught my eye and I was immediatly fascinated by it. Skip a few days, and lots of pieces from my wishlist sold out one after another, so I decided to go for it and got it. It is a pretty thick Tanto for its size, not sure if it is quite Yoroi-Doshi territory yet.

Some stats first:

Nagasa: 21.2cm (7 Sun)
Sori: 0
Mekugi-ana: 1 
Motohaba: 20.8mm
Motokasane: 8.4mm (Pretty thick!)
Jitetsu: Itame with Masame
Hamon: No clue what to call it, but some big Midare? It has little islands of Hamon that could be Tobiyaki?
Boshi: Was described as Midare-komi Kaen
Nakago is Ubu and Suguta is Hira-zukuri. The Mune is in the Iorimune shape

To finally get to the reason for this post: The Mei. This piece is signed Kanemitsu, but 包光 with 包 as the Kane Kanji. Now, from the signature alone it reminds me of Tegai/Sue Tegai with the niji mei and the choice of the Kane 包, as many smiths in that school seemed to use that particular Kane. However, in my eyes and especially after reading Tanobe Michihiros Book on the Yamato tradition, which a friend borrowed me, the worksmanship does not fit at all. On a side not, I should probably pick up the other books from the Gokaden series.

Now, I initially wanted to ignore the Mei completely and enjoy the piece for what it is, but it has Hozon papers. Please correct me if I am wrong on that, but that basically rules out gimei? The certificate states that the region is unkown, though that it is a late Muromachi era piece.

My best guess currently is, that it is some unregistered Mino smith, where there was not enough references to nail it down with certainty. Nonetheless, I found some hints for this theory:

1. Left of the MITSU Kanji are faint Higaki file marks visible.
2.I have seen some wild Midare hamons on Mino during my last Japan trip.
3. While this is a little far fetched, but according to the Nihontoclub Mei search, there have been smiths in Mino during that time frame, that did use the 包 Kanji for Kane. There is also a Kanemitsu listed for Mino (KAN137) but there seems to be not much info on him.

I did shoot some pictures of the blade with my Macro lens, there will be some added below.

Another cool thing is that it was registered on March 16th 1951 in Aichi, which is very early. It has what seems to be matching Koshirae with a three star like Kamon on the habaki and on the Saya (On the side I forgot to take a picture off, of course). It might not help much, but it is still interesting.

If someone has any clues on where the smith could have come from, I would be most thankful. But all feedback to this little sword is welcome.

All  the Best

Erik

[Rivkin]

I can't really see the first kanji, but I assume it was read by someone with much better command of Japanese. With Kanemitsu written this way it is most likely unlisted smith from Mino of Tegai descent, probably of Kanabo lineage. The style is Soshu, hitatsura, which is not that uncommon with some Mino tanto circa 1520+. But its not the mainline Soshu work.

[Rivkin]

Oh, I could have actually read the original message. It has papers. If it says province unknown, means unlisted smith but most likely the signature is genuine.

With this style and this name there are not too many options, especially with such yasurime. Zenjo, Kanabo, some other Yamato-Mino lineage, and its not exactly what Zenjo is typically associated with, hitatsura.

[Toki]

Thank you Kirill! 

I think you're pretty much spot on. I should have mentioned the papers sooner/include a photo of them.

And yes, the first Kanji is very hard to see, gladly someone figured it out😅.

Even under good lighting it is still difficult, and the picture on the certificate does not help that much.

 

 

[2devnul]

On 5/30/2026 at 7:13 AM, Toki said:

gladly someone figured it out

Kane is in 'square' (on papers) so they assume this character based on attribution. Right? 

 

Similar use case:

[Toki]

2 hours ago, 2devnul said:

Kane is in 'square' (on papers) so they assume this character based on attribution. Right? 

Hi, 

That's interesting. I never seen a Kanji in a square like this before.

The Kane on my papers is not in a 'square' as seen in the picture. It's written normally, so someone with a good eye has seen it, i guess😅