Kanemoto

Japanese: 兼元 - かねもと

Year of birth: Year of birth and death unknown. A swordsmith from Mino (Gifu Prefecture) in the late Muromachi period. There are several swordsmiths with the same name in Mino, but the second Kanemoto, who lived in Akasaka (Ogaki City), commonly known as Seki no Magoroku, is particularly famous. Magoroku Kanemoto is listed in most sword books from the Edo period as a masterpiece, that is, one with the best sharpness, and is one of the most representative Mino blacksmiths along with Izuminokami Kanesada, who lived in the same period. Many of his works are short tachi swords measuring around 63 cm in length, but he also has short swords, and there are works dating from the Daiei era (1521-28) and Kyoroku era (1528-32). His style is characterized by a unique blade pattern accompanied by sharp, tani-me-ran (patterned pattern) patterns known as sanbonsugi. His representative works include "Aoki Kanemoto," which was used by Aoki Kazushige, a retainer of Tokugawa Ieyasu, to cut down Magara Juro of the Asakura side in the Battle of Anegawa (1570), and "Daisen Kanemoto" of the Kuroda family. <References> Kazuo Tokuno “Mino Sword Taikan”

(Harada Kazutoshi)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

生年：生没年不詳
室町末期の美濃(岐阜県)の刀工。美濃には同名の刀工が何人かいるが,赤坂(大垣市)に住した2代目兼元で俗に関の孫六と呼ばれるものが特に有名である。孫六兼元は最上大業物,すなわち切れ味がもっとも優れるものとして,江戸時代の刀剣書のほとんどに掲げられており,同時代の和泉守兼定と共に美濃鍛冶を代表する。作品は63cmほどの寸の短い打刀が多く,短刀もあり,大永(1521～28),享禄(1528～32)の年紀作がある。作風は三本杉と呼ばれる尖った互の目乱が連れる独特の刃文に特徴をみせる。代表作には徳川家康の臣青木一重が姉川の戦(1570)で,朝倉方の真柄十郎を切った「青木兼元」,黒田家の「大仙兼元」などがある。<参考文献>得能一男『美濃刀大鑑』

(原田一敏)

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