Kantei

In museums and lists

Famous works

The Takahira katana in three museums, the designated ones and his place in the Yamada cutting list.

On this page
  1. Documented works
  2. Three pieces
  3. In the lists
  4. Gallery

Documented works

WorkDesignationWhere it is
Katana signed 兼若 (Kanewaka), of 1604 (Keichō 9), of 65 cm and 0.4 cm of curvatureImportant Art Object, according to Markus SeskoOwner not stated
Katana signed 越中守藤原高平 (Etchū no Kami Fujiwara Takahira), of the sixth month of 1622 (Genna 8), of 71.5 cm and 1.5 cm of curvatureNo designationMetropolitan Museum, New York (2007.478.2a, b)
Katana signed 越中守藤原高平 (Etchū no Kami Fujiwara Takahira), of the fifth month of 1622 (Genna 8), with a black lacquer mounting with waves in makieNo designationTokyo Fuji Art Museum (00732)
Katana with the same signature and the same date, of 74.5 cm and 1.6 cm of curvatureNo designationTokyo National Museum (F-20190)
Katana signed 賀州住兼若 (Kashū jū Kanewaka), which the museum gives to the third generationNo designationTokyo National Museum (F-17310)
Wakizashi signed 賀州住兼若 (Kashū jū Kanewaka), of undetermined generation, of 48.8 cm and 1.7 cm of curvatureNo designationTakaoka City Museum, Toyama
Katana by the first Tsujimura Kanewaka and katana by the thirdCultural properties of Ishikawa prefectureShown in 2006 at the Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art
Katana signed 加州住兼若 辻村又助 五十三歳作之 (Kashū jū Kanewaka Tsujimura Matasuke gojūsan-sai kore wo saku), of 1664 (Kanbun 4)No designation statedOwner not stated
Spear signed 兼若 (Kanewaka)No designation statedMaeda Tosa-no-kami Family Museum, Kanazawa

Three pieces

The katana in the Metropolitan Museum, which entered its collection as a gift in 2007, is a Takahira dated to the sixth month of 1622, with the school’s hamon of gunome tending to square.

The Tokyo Fuji Art Museum and the Tokyo National Museum each hold a katana signed Takahira and dated to the fifth month of 1622. Being in two institutions, they would be two different blades made in the same month.

The exhibition 「名刀と槍」 (Meitō to yari) at the Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art, in 2006, showed a katana by the first Tsujimura Kanewaka, who shaped the shintō of Kaga, and one by the third, both cultural properties of the prefecture, together with work by Kiyohira, the fourth of the first’s sons, who forged in Edo and in Odawara.

In the lists

In the 『懐宝剣尺』 (Kaihō Kenjaku), the Yamada cutting list of 1797, the Japanese and the English Wikipedia place Kashū Kanewaka, the first, among the 大業物 (ō-wazamono), the second of its four grades, and Etchū no Kami Takahira, who is the same swordsmith, in the mixed category. The Japanese Sword Index gives the first the grade of 良業物 (yoki-wazamono), and Kagehira as well; Matasuke and Kiyohira, that of 業物 (wazamono).

Markus Sesko cites a katana signed Kanewaka and dated 1604 as a 重要美術品 (jūyō bijutsuhin), Important Art Object, without saying who holds it.