Magoroku Kanemoto
孫六兼元 (Magoroku Kanemoto)
Swordsmith of Seki in Mino, active in the first third of the 16th century; second generation of the Kanemoto line.
Profile
The second generation of the Kanemoto line of Mino, and today the only one to whom the name Magoroku (孫六), the family's house name, is applied. He worked at Seki in the late Muromachi period; his dated blades run from 1523 to 1538, and a few rare signatures place him at Akasaka, also in Mino. Accounts of his training differ: some make him the son and pupil of the first Kanemoto, others an apprentice of the first Kanesada. Tradition has him as sworn brother to Izumi no Kami Kanesada, with whom he stands at the head of the Sue-Seki school. He usually signed with two characters, Kanemoto. His name is tied to sanbonsugi (三本杉), pointed gunome repeated at intervals, less regular in his hand than in later generations. The jigane is itame with mokume and a whitish utsuri; the blades have a thin kasane, a high shinogi and little niku, and many katana are around 70 cm long, made for two-handed use. Takeda Shingen, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Kuroda Nagamasa carried his blades; the one known as the Aoki Kanemoto (青木兼元) is named after Aoki Kazushige.
Rankings
- Saijō ō-wazamono (highest grade) (Kaihō Kenjaku, 1797)
Swords available
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Magoroku Kanemoto
Kotō Mino katana signed Kanemoto, attributed by the NBTHK to Magoroku Kanemoto (second generation), with Tokubetsu Hozon, full koshirae and shirasaya. Mino-school katana signed "Kanemoto" (兼元) on the tang. According to the original seller, the NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon certificate attributes it to Magoroku Kanemoto, the celebrated second generation of the line, active in the late Muromachi period and credited with the sanbonsugi hamon. The blade measures 69.2 cm nagasa with 2.0 cm sori; the photographs show a pointed gunome hamon in nioi and an intact boshi. The tang has two mekugi-ana, visible file marks near the machi and an original end, with no sign of shortening. The photographed origami, no. 153476 and dated August 2008, reads 特別保存刀剣 (Tokubetsu Hozon Tōken) in the name of Kanemoto (Magoroku). The piece comes with a shirasaya and a complete koshirae: a saya lacquered in reddish brown with ishime texture, a tsuka with green ito over same, heron menuki, fuchi-kashira with a figurative scene on nanako with gold details, and an openwork iron tsuba with pine, birds and a monkey. The original seller describes the fittings but does not date them, and notes a couple of kitae-kizu on the blade.
53.5/100
€44,750
