Moriwaki Masataka
森脇正孝 (Moriwaki Masataka)
A smith trained at the Yasukuni Shrine forge who signed first Morimitsu and then Masataka; from 1940 he forged the Navy swords at the Minatogawa Shrine.
Profile
Moriwaki Masataka trained at the forge that the foundation 日本刀鍛錬会 (Nihontō Tanrenkai) kept at the Yasukuni Shrine, in Tokyo, and worked at the Yasugi plant of the company 日立金属 (Hitachi Kinzoku), the one that made the steel for that forge. He signed first 森光 (Morimitsu) and then 正孝 (Masataka).
In 1940 he became, together with another smith trained at Yasukuni, an official smith of the Minatogawa Shrine (湊川神社, Minatogawa Jinja), in Kobe, dedicated to Kusunoki Masashige, where he forged swords for Navy officers. These blades are known as 菊水刀 (Kikusui-tō), because the habaki and the 茎 (nakago) bore engraved the crest of the chrysanthemum on water (菊水, kikusui) of the Kusunoki, which according to tradition Emperor Go-Daigo granted them. The sources consulted do not give his dates or say who his teacher was.
He has an entry in the Gendai Tōkō Meikan, and the Gendaitō Meisaku Zukan reproduces two blades by him, a katana and a tachi.
Notable works
- Katana: plate 63 of the Gendaitō Meisaku Zukan (p. 127).
- Tachi: plate 64 of the Gendaitō Meisaku Zukan (p. 129).