Tsuruga Kaneshige
敦賀金重 (Tsuruga Kaneshige)
Lineage: the signature does not state the generation
Swordsmith of Tsuruga in Echizen province, active at the end of the Edo period; a work of his dated 1865 is known.
Profile
A swordsmith of Tsuruga in Echizen from the closing years of the Edo period, known only through his signature: 越州敦賀住金重 (Esshū Tsuruga-jū Kaneshige), that is, Kaneshige, resident of Tsuruga in Esshū. A work of his dated the second year of Genji (1865) is known. The signature names neither a generation nor a teacher.
Swords available
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Esshū Tsuruga-jū Kaneshige
Late Edo blade, signed and dated to the second month of Genji 2 (1865), with an untouched tang carrying a single mekugi-ana and Tokubetsu Hozon papers from August 2024. The blade is signed 越州敦賀住金重 (Esshū Tsuruga-jū Kaneshige) and dated 元治乙丑年二月吉日 (Genji kinoto-ushi-doshi nigatsu kichijitsu), an auspicious day of the second month of Genji 2 (1865), with the shogunate already in its final years. The signature reads Esshū Tsuruga-jū Kaneshige: 越州 (Esshū) stands for the province of Echizen, where Tsuruga lies, in present-day Fukui prefecture. The original seller suggests a possible link to the Nanbokuchō-period Kaneshige (Kinju) of Mino, whom one tradition holds to be the founder of the Seki school: a monk named Michiami, said to have entered Masamune's workshop at the age of 61 to learn the Sōshū-den. The blade measures 74.6 cm nagasa with a low sori of 0.9 cm. The hamon is gentle and set in nie, and the surface looks sound in the photographs. The tang, photographed at full resolution, is untouched and retains a single mekugi-ana. It comes with NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon papers from August 2024, issued for the blade, and the gallery includes a photograph of the certificate itself. Shirasaya and koshirae are included.
66.5/100
€9,890
