Kantei
The rusted nakago of the tantō, with several holes, one plugged with gilt metal, and the signature cut at the bottom.

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Kureha-gō · Shintōgo · Masamune

Life and times

A provincial smith with dated blades, whom tradition made a pupil of Masamune and modern scholarship an older fellow pupil.

On this page
  1. Kureha-gō, in Etchū
  2. The dates of his blades
  3. A pupil of Masamune?
  4. Gō Yoshihiro’s master?
  5. His legacy

Kureha-gō, in Etchū

According to the Japanese Wikipedia, he worked in the late Kamakura at Kureha-gō, in the Nei district of Etchū, today the Gofuku neighbourhood of the city of Toyama; he is called Saeki Norishige or, after the place, Kureha-gō Norishige. The NBTHK places him in Gofuku, in the Nei district of Etchū, on the strength of two blades signed “Saeki Norishige” and dated 1319 and 1320.

The dates of his blades

  • The NBTHK, in Sword Journal no. 794, gives blades dated 1314, 1319, 1320 and 1325, and in the Karyaku era (1326–1328).
  • At the 68th Jūyō Tōken session a tantō signed 越中国佐伯則重 (Etchū-no-kuni Saeki Norishige), of the Karyaku era, was singled out as an important piece for studying the evolution of his work.
  • The Japanese Wikipedia adds a record of 1310 in the 光山押形 (Kōzan oshigata).
  • The 日本人名大辞典 (Nihon Jinmei Daijiten), on Kotobank, gives a tantō of 1324 that is not on the NBTHK list, and does not cite the one of 1314.

A pupil of Masamune?

Tradition counts him among Masamune’s ten pupils, the 正宗十哲 (Masamune jittetsu), and his fame was spread by the Edo treatises.

The old treatises do not agree: the 能阿弥本銘尽 (Nōami-bon meizukushi) and the 正安本銘尽 (Shōan-bon meizukushi) make him a pupil of Masamune (正宗, Masamune); the 喜阿弥本銘尽 (Kiami-bon meizukushi), a pupil of Shintōgo Kunimitsu (新藤五国光, Shintōgo Kunimitsu) and a fellow pupil of Masamune.

From his dates and his style, the Japanese Wikipedia considers him a pupil of Shintōgo Kunimitsu and a fellow pupil, probably older, of Masamune; a tantō by Shintōgo bears the date 1315. For the NBTHK, the theory that he was a pupil somewhat older than Masamune is now considered settled.

Gō Yoshihiro’s master?

The Japanese Wikipedia says that he is considered the master of Gō Yoshihiro (郷義弘, Gō Yoshihiro). It is a hypothesis, not a documented fact.

His legacy

For Markus Sesko, matsukawa-hada is seen above all in the blades of Norishige and of smiths close to him; it influenced the Ko-Uda school and Kashū Sanekage, and Hankei, Nakayama Shigehiro and Mito Noritoshi tried to imitate it.