Inshū Kagenaga
因州景長 (Inshū Kagenaga)
Lineage: the signature does not state the generation
Lineage of smiths signing Kagenaga in Inaba, present-day Tottori, from the late Kamakura period into the Muromachi period.
Profile
Inshū Kagenaga (因州景長) refers to the line of smiths who signed Kagenaga in Inaba province, today's Tottori prefecture, from the end of the Kamakura period through the Muromachi period. The line is also known as Inaba Kokaji (因幡小鍛冶). Tradition ties it to the Awataguchi school of Kyoto: the first Kagenaga is recorded as the son or pupil of Awataguchi Yoshimasa (粟田口吉正), and old texts relate that Yoshimasa himself settled in Inaba and took that name. The name was handed down over several generations, and the usual signature, Inshū-jū Kagenaga (因州住景長), does not show which of them cut it. The work is chiefly associated with suguha over a jigane of somewhat whitish tone; blades with Bizen-style gunome are also known, a trace of contact with the neighbouring province across the mountains.
Swords available
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Inshū-jū Kagenaga
Kotō blade of the mid-Muromachi period by a Kagenaga of Inaba, with a sayagaki by Hon'ami Chōshiki on the shirasaya. With koshirae and NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon papers. Kotō katana by Inshū-jū Kagenaga, a line of smiths from Inaba. According to the original seller, the first Kagenaga worked in the Einin era, within the Kamakura period: known by the common name Tōzaemon, he trained under Awataguchi Yoshimitsu and signed at first as Awataguchi Yoshimasa, until he took the name Kagenaga on settling in Inshū, the province of Inaba. This blade is the work of a Kagenaga of the mid-Muromachi period (1444-1491), with a suguha in the Awataguchi manner and a bōshi tending to a point. Fukunaga Suiken's Nihontō Daihyakka Jiten records the “four traits of Kagenaga”: a bōshi like that of the Rai school, a hada in the Awataguchi manner, nie like that of the Enju school of Higo, and an outline recalling Morimitsu and Yasumitsu of Ōei-Bizen. It measures 71.5 cm nagasa with 1.7 cm sori. The saya bears a sayagaki by Hon'ami Chōshiki, who was in charge of the swords of the Imperial Household. It is supplied with shirasaya and koshirae, and with NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon papers.
49.2/100
€10,380
