Kantei
A long, curved katana on a black background, with the tang on the left and three grooves along the blade.

Tokyo National Museum, via ColBase · ColBase terms of use

National Treasures · meibutsu

Famous works

None bears his signature, but among the blades attributed to him there are four National Treasures and a dozen Important Cultural Properties, many with their own name.

On this page
  1. The designated works
  2. Their names
  3. In the Kyōhō meibutsuchō
  4. Gallery

The designated works

The Japanese Wikipedia counts four National Treasures 国宝 (kokuhō) under his name (the Kikkō, the Fushimi, the Terasawa and the Tokuzen-in) and twelve Important Cultural Properties 重要文化財 (jūyō bunkazai): the Kiriha, the Futasuji-hi, the Habirō, two “traditionally Sadamune”, the Ikeda, whose whereabouts are unknown, the Saimura, the Ishida, the Shuban, the Monoyoshi, the Taikogane and the wakizashi of the Kunōzan Tōshōgū. The table gives those that have been checked in the cultural properties database or in ColBase, and the others with their level.

WorkTypeCategoryWhere it is
亀甲貞宗 (Kikkō Sadamune)Unsigned katanaNational Treasure since 1965 (designated in 1936 under the old law)Tokyo National Museum, donated by Watanabe Seiichirō in 1992
寺沢貞宗 (Terasawa Sadamune)Unsigned tantōNational Treasure since 1952 (designated in 1938 under the old law)Tokyo National Museum
徳善院貞宗 (Tokuzen-in Sadamune)Unsigned tantōNational Treasure since 1952 (designated in 1937 under the old law)三井記念美術館 (Mitsui Kinen Bijutsukan), Tokyo
伏見貞宗 (Fushimi Sadamune)Tantō with shu-meiNational Treasure黒川古文化研究所 (Kurokawa Ko-bunka Kenkyūjo)
切刃貞宗 (Kiriha Sadamune)KatanaImportant Cultural Property since 1963Tokyo National Museum
石田貞宗 (Ishida Sadamune)Unsigned tantō or wakizashiImportant Cultural Property since 1953Tokyo National Museum
二筋樋貞宗 (Futasuji-hi Sadamune)Unsigned katanaImportant Cultural Property since 1953Private collection
無銘伝貞宗 (mumei den Sadamune), of the UesugiUnsigned katanaImportant Cultural Property since 1952Private collection
物吉貞宗 (Monoyoshi Sadamune)Unsigned tantōImportant Cultural Property徳川美術館 (Tokugawa Bijutsukan), Nagoya
太鼓鐘貞宗 (Taikogane Sadamune)TantōImportant Cultural Property (designated in 1938 under the old law)It comes from the Date house; its current owner has not been checked
Wakizashi “traditionally Sadamune”Unsigned wakizashiImportant Cultural Property久能山東照宮 (Kunōzan Tōshōgū), Shizuoka

Their names

  • The Kikkō Sadamune takes its name from the flower in a tortoise shell engraved on its tang.
  • The Terasawa Sadamune, in the Kyōhō meibutsuchō, passed through Terasawa Hirotaka, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Oda Uraku, Tokugawa Hidetada and the Kii house.
  • The Tokuzen-in Sadamune bears the name of Maeda Gen'i, called Tokuzen-in.
  • The Kiriha Sadamune, in the Kyōhō meibutsuchō, is so called because one of its sides is kiriha-zukuri; it bears bonji and sūken and a temper of chōji-midare with nie, and ColBase gives it as representative of Sōshū Sadamune. It passed from the Kii house to the Tokugawa in 1697.
  • The Ishida Sadamune is a tantō in the cultural properties database and a wakizashi in ColBase: the two official records do not agree.
  • There are two “Kiriha Sadamune”: the katana at the Tokyo National Museum and an unsigned wakizashi at the Kagawa Prefectural Museum, from the Matsudaira house of Takamatsu.

In the Kyōhō meibutsuchō

The 享保名物帳 (Kyōhō meibutsuchō), the register of famous swords that the Hon'ami family compiled by order of the shōgun Yoshimune, records several blades by Sadamune as meibutsu: the Kikkō, the Kiriha, the Terasawa, the Ishida, the Tokuzen-in and the Monoyoshi, among others. The Habirō Sadamune 幅広貞宗 (Habirō Sadamune), of the Maeda of Kaga, does not appear in it: according to the Japanese Wikipedia, its owner hid some swords so that the shogunate would not keep them.

His place in the wazamono lists and in the valuations of the treatises is not recorded in any of the sources consulted.