* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Kenshin Kagemitsu
謙信景光
Also known as: Kenshin Kagemitsu — beloved blade of Uesugi Kenshin, National Treasure with Genkō 3 inscription
Description
Kenshin Kagemitsu is a National Treasure tantō made in Genkō 3 (1323), in the late Kamakura period, by the master smith Kagemitsu of the Bizen Osafune school (dates of birth and death unknown). It is known as a sword worn by Uesugi Kenshin (1530–1578). It is held by the Saitama Prefectural Museum of History and Folklore (Saitama City), and it is still passed down today as a treasure associated with the Uesugi family.
Kagemitsu was a smith of the Bizen Osafune school, said to be a son of Nagamitsu, and is known as a master who refined the kataochi-gunome hamon created by his father, Nagamitsu. Kenshin Kagemitsu is regarded as a representative work of Kagemitsu. Its well-forged jigane bears a hamon composed mainly of kataochi-gunome, and because the inscribed year Genkō 3 (1323) and the signature “Bishū Osafune-jū Kagemitsu” are carved on the nakago, its year of manufacture can be pinpointed clearly.
In the Uesugi family sword register, it is recorded as the sashizoe (companion short sword) of Himetsuru Ichimonji, which Kenshin always used. After Kenshin's death (1578), it was passed down in the Uesugi family. In the modern era it came under the ownership of Saitama Prefecture and has been kept at the museum.
Legends & Stories
On the omote side of the Kenshin Kagemitsu blade is carved the divine name “Chichibu Daibosatsu,” and on the ura side is carved bonji. A tachi also carved with the characters “Chichibu Daibosatsu” survives as an Imperial Collection (gyobutsu). Its inscription records the year Shōchū 2 (1325), and states that the samurai Ōkawara Tokimoto, from Musashi Province, Chichibu District, had the brothers Kagemitsu and Kagemasa make it in Shisō District, Harima Province. For this reason, it is thought that this work was also forged in Harima at Tokimoto's commission and dedicated to Chichibu Shrine. The sword researcher Satō Kanzan also points out that, because there is no dedication inscription, Tokimoto may have had it carved on his own koshigatana to pray for the protection of Chichibu Daibosatsu of his home region.
The attached black-lacquered chiisagatana koshirae is thought to date from Kenshin's era. Traces remain that it was modified by the Uesugi family in the Keichō era, after Kenshin's death.