Muneari

Profile

Muneari (宗有) was a late Edo-period swordsmith from Mutsu province. Tradition has it that he was born in Hachinohe and worked for the Hachinohe domain of the Nanbu clan. Around the 1850s he moved to Edo and joined the workshop of Koyama Munetsugu (固山宗次), under whom he learned the Bizen tradition and from whom he received the art name Seisōsai. The reference works also record an earlier name, Munehisa (宗久). In the Bunkyū era (1861–1864) he set up his own forge at Aoyama in Edo, and he is said to have continued to serve the Hachinohe domain. His recorded signatures include 青山住宗有 (Aoyama jū Muneari) and 於江府宗有 (oite Kōfu Muneari). His work follows his teacher's manner, with gunome hamon. On the tang, his early file marks are slanting with a decorative border, as on Munetsugu's blades; by the Keiō era they become horizontal. Several of his blades carry an inscribed cutting test.