Izumi no Kami Kaneshige

和泉守兼重

Period

early Edo period (from 1625)

School

Edo; served Todo Takatora

Active Years

寛永2年(1625)年紀作〜

Tradition

Edo shinto

Rank

Description

Lineage

Izumi no Kami Kaneshige was a shinto-period swordsmith based in Edo, ranked among the leading Edo smiths alongside Yasutsugu and Hankei. His earliest dated work is from Kan'ei 2 (1625), and he worked during the transition from Keicho-shinto to Kanbun-shinto.

Career

He served the daimyo Todo Izumi no Kami Takatora. He was long thought to be the same smith as Kazusa no Suke Kaneshige, but a blade made jointly by Kazusa no Suke Kaneshige and the third-generation Edo Yasutsugu showed they were different people; he is now regarded as the father or teacher of Kazusa no Suke Kaneshige. He is also generally thought to have been the teacher of Nagasone Kotetsu.

Style

He mainly made shinogi-zukuri katana and wakizashi with a wide suguha hamon mixed with shallow notare, heavily covered in nie. The blades show a marked difference in width between the base and the tip. The tang has a ha-agari kurijiri shape with sujikai filing, and signatures are in a reisho-influenced cursive style such as "Izumi no Kami Kaneshige" and "Bushu Edo ju Kaneshige".

Related Swordsmiths

和泉守国貞

Osaka Shinto (Settsu Province). Carrying on the Osaka tradition of refined shinto swordmaking, Kunisada inherited the techniques of his predecessor (Kunisada I) and refined them further, becoming recognized as the foremost swordsmith in Osaka.

Izumi no Kami Kunisada

Active during the mid-Edo period (late 17th to early 18th century), coinciding with the flourishing Genroku era of Osaka culture. Under the peaceful governance of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, demand for swords shifted toward artistic refinement, and Kunisada embodied this spirit with his polished craftsmanship.