Kantei

Bibliography and credits

Sources

The sources consulted on 5 October 2026.

On this page
  1. Sources

Sources

Official databases and museums

  1. ColBase, Tokyo National Museum: katana by Suishinshi Masahide of 1808 (F-20272)
  2. Bunka Isan Online: katana by Suishinshi Masahide of 1808
  3. ColBase, Tokyo National Museum: katana of 1798 (F-16428)
  4. ColBase, Tokyo National Museum: wakizashi of 1819 (F-15845)
  5. ColBase, Tokyo National Museum: Tōken bengi (刀劔弁疑) (QB-2907)
  6. National Diet Library: authority record for Kawabe Masahide (1750-1825)
  7. National Diet Library: Tōken wakumon (刀剣或問)

NBTHK

  1. NBTHK: “Three Excellent Swordsmiths: Masahide, Naotane and Kiyomaro”, catalogue of the 2025 exhibition
  2. NBTHK: 70th Jūyō Tōken designation (2025)
  3. NBTHK Sword Journal no. 706 (November 2015), kantei no. 3: katana by Suishinshi Masahide
  4. NBTHK Sword Journal no. 781 (February 2022)

Studies

  1. Markus Sesko, “Rare mentionings of forging techniques in sword signatures” (2013)

Dictionaries and encyclopaedias

  1. 水心子正秀 (初代) (Suishinshi Masahide, shodai), Japanese Wikipedia
  2. 水心子正秀 (Suishinshi Masahide), Japanese Wikipedia: the generations
  3. Kotobank: 水心子正秀 (Suishinshi Masahide), Nipponica

Image credits

  1. Katana signed 水心子正秀 (Suishinshi Masahide) and dated 1808 (Bunka 5). Tokyo National Museum (katana-1808.jpg)

    Tokyo National Museum, via ColBase.
  2. The point of the katana of 1808, with its undulating hamon and the bōshi (katana-1808-punta.jpg)

    Tokyo National Museum, via ColBase.
  3. The tang of the katana of 1808, with the date 文化五年二月日 (Bunka gonen nigatsu hi) and the commission of Nakagi Koretaka (中木維長) (katana-1808-mei.jpg)

    Tokyo National Museum, via ColBase.
  4. The dragon engraved at the base of the katana of 1808 (katana-1808-dragon.jpg)

    Tokyo National Museum, via ColBase.
  5. The other side of the base of the katana of 1808, with the groove and the engraving (katana-1808-habaki.jpg)

    Tokyo National Museum, via ColBase.
  6. Katana by Suishinshi Masahide in an exhibition; the author of the photo dates it to 1791 (katana-vitrina.jpg)

    SLIMHANNYA, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.