Kashū Kanazawa-jū Fujiwara Kanewaka

Description

The second Kanewaka, Tsujimura Matasuke, was born in 1611 as the third son of the first; he inherited the name because his elder brother Kagehira had no son. He worked for the Maeda of Kaga, and in Kanazawa it was said that a young samurai owning a Kanewaka would be granted a daughter in marriage, for what the purchase revealed of his ambition. The blade, signed 賀州金澤住藤原兼若, now measures 69.7 cm nagasa with 1.2 cm sori, 3 cm motohaba and 0.65 cm motogasane. The hada is a tight itame with chikei, and the hamon the deep nioi notare “like fine drifted snow” that was Kanewaka's speciality. The original seller states that the blade was originally some 2 shaku 5 sun and that a later samurai of the Kaga domain shortened it to suit his own swordsmanship: it is suriage. The photographs show two mekugi-ana, one plugged with brass, and the full signature running close to the nakago-jiri. NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon papers dated 16 February 2026, together with two older certificates from 1968. The koshirae is Edo work, with a kuro-yuteki-nuri saya, an iron tsuba with a gold-inlaid landscape on both faces, gilded fuchi-kashira, gilt menuki and a Kaga-style habaki with its silver cross. Shirasaya included.