* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Tachi Signed Senju Masashige, Kanbun Era (Kuwana Sōsha)
太刀 銘 勢州桑名藤原千子正重（桑名宗社）
Also known as: Senju Masashige Tachi of Kuwana Shrine
Description
Overview
This is a pair of tachi by Senju Masashige dated the twelfth month of Kanbun 1 (1661) and the first month of Kanbun 2 (1662). They belong to the Kuwana and Nakatomi shrines, and Mie Prefecture designated them a Tangible Cultural Property in 2016. They show that the Senju school, which produced Muramasa, continued in Kuwana in the Edo period.
Signature and Dimensions
The signature reads "Seishū Kuwana Fujiwara Senju Masashige", and the swords are designated as Masashige's work, not Muramasa's. Prefectural documents give blade lengths of about 75.0 cm and 75.3 cm.
Significance
The same Kuwana shrines also hold the Tenbun 12 (1543) Muramasa tachi. The prefecture designated that pair, another Muramasa group, and these swords together in 2016, so the set traces Kuwana swordsmithing from Muramasa in the Sengoku period to the Senju school in the early Edo period. They are now deposited at the Kuwana City Museum.
Legends & Stories
Shows that the Senju school of Muramasa still supplied tachi to the same Kuwana shrines in the early Edo period.