Kantei
A long, curved tachi blade with a gilt habaki, resting on a pale cloth in a lit display case.

Shizu, Mino · Kamakura and Nanbokuchō

Kaneuji (兼氏)

Shizu Saburō Kaneuji, the smith from Yamato who founded the Mino tradition in Shizu

Kaneuji came out of the Tegai school of Yamato and settled in Shizu, in Mino, where he signed as Shizu Saburō Kaneuji. Tradition counts him among the ten pupils of Masamune, and the tradition of the Mino smiths starts from his school.

Ihimutefu, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Shizu, in Mino
School he founded
One of the ten
Masamune jittetsu
Cultural Property, 1950
Signed tantō
Yoki-wazamono
Cutting rank
On this page
  1. Quick profile
  2. In short

Quick profile

Name
Kaneuji, called 志津三郎兼氏 (Shizu Saburō Kaneuji) AT
Kanji and reading
兼氏 (Kaneuji); in Yamato he would have signed 包氏 (Kaneuji), with a different character for “kane” AT
Period
End of the Kamakura period and first half of the Nanbokuchō AT
Province
Yamato (大和, Yamato) and later Mino (美濃, Mino), in Shizu (志津, Shizu), in the Tagi district AT
School
Came out of the Tegai school (手掻派, Tegai-ha) of Yamato; founder of the Shizu school AT
Master
Masamune (正宗, Masamune), according to the tradition of the ten pupils (正宗十哲, Masamune jittetsu), a list from the end of the Edo period AT
Generations
There was a second Kaneuji, among the smiths of the Naoe-Shizu AT
Documented fact and tradition
Documented: a tantō signed 兼氏 (Kaneuji), an Important Cultural Property, which the official record probably gives to the first. Tradition: his time in the Tegai school and his teaching by Masamune AT

In short

He came from the Tegai school of Yamato, learnt the Sōshū manner, according to tradition with Masamune, and settled in Shizu, in Mino; his followers later moved to Naoe and formed the Naoe-Shizu, from which the Mino tradition starts. A dictionary sums him up like this: to the Yamato manner he added that of Sōshū and he was the ancestor of the Seki smiths who flourished from the Nanbokuchō onwards.

The official record of his signed tantō, an Important Cultural Property in the NBTHK’s Japanese Sword Museum, calls it an extremely rare tantō.

Sections

  1. From Yamato to Mino Life and times The Tegai school, Masamune, Shizu and Naoe, and the dates given by the dictionaries.
  2. Yamato with Sōshū nie Work and style Jihada, hamon, bōshi, nakago and mei: the keys to recognising him.
  3. A signed tantō and the Inaba Shizu Famous works His only designated signed tantō, the Inaba Shizu and his place in the old lists.
  4. Bibliography and credits Sources The sources consulted and the image credit.