Kantei
A tantō on a black background, with the tang to the left and two holes, a groove ending in a point and a small engraving on the blade.

Kyoto National Museum, via ColBase (photo: 岡田愛, Okada Ai) · ColBase terms of use

Kaga · Norishige · the dates

Life and times

Few signed blades by Sanekage are known, and still fewer dated ones: they are almost all that is known of his life.

On this page
  1. His dates
  2. A pupil of Norishige?
  3. In Kaga
  4. At the NBTHK

His dates

His known dated works are from the sixth year of Jōji (1367) and from the fifth, sixth and seventh years of Ōan (1372, 1373 and 1374). The tables of swordsmiths do not agree on his years of activity: some give 1362 to 1375 and others, about 1340–1380. What the dated blades document is 1367 to 1374.

A pupil of Norishige?

Tradition makes him a pupil of Norishige, of Etchū Province. But Norishige has work dated in the Shōwa (1312–1317) and Gen’ō (1319–1321) eras, and Sanekage in Jōji (1362–1368): half a century apart, which is why scholars today rule out a direct relationship and speak of influence or of technical exchange.

In Kaga

He is considered one of the founders of sword-making in Kaga Province. The tradition that the Fujishima school of Kaga learned from him could not be checked in any source.

At the NBTHK

His name appears as an attribution in the NBTHK Jūyō Tōken sessions from the eleventh onwards, and a published count lists 46 blades attributed to Sanekage at that level; in kantei he is placed one step below Norishige. The year of that count has not been checked.