Kantei
The two faces of a katana blade with the tang: on one, a dragon coiled around a plum tree engraved in relief; on the other, two grooves; the tangs bear inscriptions.

Photo: dealer in Japan

Bizen · engraving · dragons

Work and style

He forged in the Bizen tradition and engraved his blades himself: dragons, plum trees, deities and Sanskrit letters.

On this page
  1. Style
  2. In museums and at the NBTHK
  3. Gallery

Style

  • Kotobank describes him as a master of the Bizen tradition (備前伝, Bizen-den) and, above all, of blade engraving (刀身彫刻, tōshin chōkoku), and calls him the foremost figure among modern swordsmiths.
  • He engraved dragons, often with a plum tree, the Kurikara dragon (倶利伽羅, Kurikara), Daikokuten, Fudō Myōō and Sanskrit letters (梵字, bonji). His engraved blades bear 彫同作 (hori dōsaku, “engraved by the same maker”), and his chisels, made by himself, are kept at the Ehime Museum of History and Culture.
  • He made copies of old masters: a tantō 庖丁正宗写 (Hōchō Masamune utsushi) in 1962 and a katana engraved in the manner of 一竿子忠綱 (Ikkanshi Tadatsuna) in 1963.

In museums and at the NBTHK

  • The NBTHK catalogue 平成の名刀・名工展 (Heisei no Meitō Meikōten) (2019) exhibits, among the holders of the intangible cultural property “Japanese sword”, a katana of 74.4 cm, with a sori of 2.7 cm, and a wakizashi of 35.6 cm, with a sori of 0.5 cm, both of February 1958 and “at the request of Ehime prefecture” (応愛媛縣需, ō Ehime-ken ju). He signs them 重要無形文化財指定 刀匠 龍泉貞次 (jūyō mukei bunkazai shitei tōshō Ryūsen Sadatsugu) and they belong to the 愛媛県美術館 (Ehime-ken Bijutsukan, Ehime Prefectural Museum of Art).
  • ColBase records six works of his in the Tokyo National Museum; among them, a katana of 1958 of 74.0 cm, polished by 本阿弥日洲 (Hon'ami Nisshū), a tachi of 1959, a wakizashi of 1960 and two tantō of 1962, one of 25.1 cm and the 庖丁正宗写 (Hōchō Masamune utsushi), of 21.7 cm.
  • Bunka Isan Online describes the 1960 tachi in the Tokyo National Museum: 80.2 cm, sori of 3.3 cm, signed 龍泉貞次造 (Ryūsen Sadatsugu zō), with his kaō, and with the inscription 皇孫殿下御守刀以余鉄精鍛之 (Kōson denka omamori-gatana yotetsu o motte kore o seitan su, “forged with the iron left over from the protective sword of His Highness the grandson of the emperor”).