Kantei
Straight double-edged blade, with the point at the top and the signed tang at the bottom, on a black background.

Owari · of the Seki school · from the end of the Momoyama to the mid-Edo period

Hōki no Kami Nobutaka (伯耆守信高)

One of the three of Owari: a house of Seki swordsmiths that signed in Nagoya during the 17th century

Hōki no Kami Nobutaka (伯耆守信高) is the name of a house of swordsmiths of the Seki school that worked in Owari, in Nagoya. According to the NBTHK, Toyotomi Hidetsugu chose Nobutaka in 1591 together with Masatsune and Ujifusa, the three Owari swordsmiths of their time. The signatures with date and age held by the Nagoya City Museum, from 1621 to 1681, reveal at least two generations.

Kyūshū National Museum, via ColBase

1591 (Tenshō 19)
Chosen by Toyotomi Hidetsugu
60 years
Age in his signature of 1621
1621-1681
Dated signatures in the Nagoya City Museum
Wazamono (4th of 4)
Cutting grade of the first and second generations
On this page
  1. Quick profile
  2. In short

Quick profile

Name
Hōki no Kami Nobutaka; they signed 伯耆守藤原信高 (Hōki no Kami Fujiwara Nobutaka) or 伯耆守藤原朝臣信高 (Hōki no Kami Fujiwara no Ason Nobutaka). The second, once retired, 前伯州信高入道 (saki no Hakushū Nobutaka nyūdō), with the name 閑遊 (Kan'yū). HD
Kanji and reading
伯耆守信高 (Hōki no Kami Nobutaka) AT
Period
From the end of the Momoyama period to the mid-Edo period: chosen in 1591, with blades dated from 1621 to 1681 AT
Province
Owari (尾張, Owari): Nagoya (名古屋, Nagoya), which the signature of 1621 writes 名護屋 (Nagoya) AT
School
Of the Seki swordsmiths, in Mino, settled in Owari; with Masatsune and Ujifusa, one of the “three of Owari” according to the NBTHK AT
Master and lineage
The signature of 1621 declares him a 末葉 (matsuyō), “descendant”, of 三阿弥兼国 (Sanami Kanekuni), of Seki. His master is not recorded in the sources consulted. AT
Title
Hōki no Kami (伯耆守, Hōki no Kami): the blade of 1621 already signs it. When each generation received it is not recorded in the sources consulted. AT
Generations
At least three: the Nagoya City Museum attributes its signatures to three, and the Japanese Wikipedia names the third; how many there were in total is not recorded in the sources consulted AT
Cutting rank
Wazamono (業物, wazamono), the fourth grade of the 『懐宝剣尺』 (Kaihō Kenjaku), for the first and the second, according to the English Wikipedia; maegashira of the western side in Tomita Kiyama’s ranking, of 1933 and published in 1935 AT
Documented fact and tradition
Documented: the signatures with date and age in the Nagoya City Museum, from 1621 to 1681, and two blades in the Tokyo and Kyūshū National Museums. Undocumented in the sources consulted: his master, the dates of his titles and the number of generations. AT

In short

The NBTHK relates that in 1591 Toyotomi Hidetsugu, lord of Kiyosu, chose three swordsmiths from his lands: Masatsune, Ujifusa and Nobutaka. In the Keichō era they were the representative swordsmiths of Owari, on a Seki school base.

The records of the Nagoya City Museum give signatures with the swordsmith’s age: a Nobutaka aged 60 in 1621, who declares himself of the family of Sanami Kanekuni, of Seki, and works in Nagoya, and a retired Nobutaka aged 72 in 1674 and 79 in 1681. They are at least two men: the first was born around 1562 and the second around 1603.

The Yamada cutting list places the first and the second among the wazamono, the fourth of its grades.

Sections

  1. One name, several generations Life and times The three of Owari, the signatures with the age and the generations.
  2. Kantei keys Work and style Jigane, hamon, signatures and what is not on record.
  3. In museums and lists Famous works The dated blades in the museums and his place in the cutting list.
  4. Bibliography and credits Sources The sources consulted and the image credits.