Kantei

Kantei keys

Work and style

The two manners of the first generation, before and after his title, the school’s bōshi and what the signatures of each generation say.

On this page
  1. Two manners
  2. Sugata
  3. Jihada
  4. Hamon
  5. Bōshi
  6. Nakago and mei
  7. How to tell the generations apart
  8. Details

Two manners

The NBTHK distinguishes two styles in the first generation. Before the title, in the Tenshō era, a whitish itame with nagare-hada and a hamon of ko-gunome, togariba, gunome and chōji, with a tight nioiguchi with ko-nie: the Seki style, very marked. After the title, the influence of the Sōshū-den, as in many swordsmiths of the Keichō era: sometimes a vigorous Sōshū, recognisable by a hamon in the Mino manner, with notare, gunome and togariba. His model was the style of Shizu Saburō Kaneuji.

According to the NBTHK, what he signed is mostly katana and hira-zukuri wakizashi, with some naginata and spears. From the Tenshō era there are short blades, almost no katana and few dated ones.

Sugata

The tokubetsu jūyō katana that the NBTHK discusses is wide, with little difference between the width at the base and at the point, and a large kissaki typical of the Momoyama. Markus Sesko places the Mishina school among the examples of the Keichō-shintō shape.

Jihada

On that katana, ko-itame with areas of nagare-hada, according to the NBTHK.

Hamon

On that katana, the NBTHK describes a high hamon of gunome and chōji with togariba, ko-gunome and yahazu-chōji, with many ashi and yō and a tight nioiguchi of somewhat irregular ko-nie, plus tobiyaki and muneyaki. The marked vertical variations of the hamon are typical of Seki at the end of the Muromachi.

Bōshi

For the NBTHK, a notare-komi bōshi with a sharp point is the 三品 (sanpin, Mishina) bōshi, the school’s own. If the blade is by Iga no Kami Kinmichi, the hamon has square sections, saka features are barely seen in the midare and the bōshi shows nie-kuzure and hakikake. The tokubetsu jūyō katana has a wide midare-komi bōshi, with a sharp point in ko-maru and a long turn-back.

Nakago and mei

The tang of that katana is unshortened: ha-agari kuri-jiri end, sujichigai file marks, one hole and a long signature on the omote side, along the mune. According to the NBTHK, almost all the signatures of the first generation after the title read 伊賀守金道 (Iga no Kami Kinmichi), five characters, and only three known blades, that one among them, add 藤原 (Fujiwara). The few katana of 1581 bear no title, and on them the date on the ura side begins above the hole.

Markus Sesko gives as an example a tantō by the third generation, around the Hōei era (1704-1711), of 25.5 cm, signed with the chrysanthemum 三品伊賀守日本鍛冶宗匠藤原金道 (Mishina Iga no Kami Nihon kaji sōshō Fujiwara Kinmichi).

How to tell the generations apart

The signature is the first clue: without a title and with 金道作 (Kinmichi saku), the first generation before 1594; with 伊賀守金道 (Iga no Kami Kinmichi) and without the title of sōshō, the first generation afterwards; with the chrysanthemum and 惣匠 (sōshō), the second; with 宗匠 (sōshō), from the third onwards. The Seki style of the first generation, his gunome and togariba, fades in the generations of the Edo period.