Nanki Shigekuni

Nanki Shigekuni was a swordsmith of the Shintō period active from the Keichō era through around the Kan'ei era. His common name was Monju Kurō Saburō, and his native province was Yamato (present-day Nara Prefecture). He is said to have belonged to the later branch of the Tegaki school of the Yamato tradition. In the early Edo period, he was employed by Tokugawa Ieyasu at Sunpu and forged swords. Later he followed Tokugawa Yorinobu, the tenth son of Ieyasu and founder of the Kishu Tokugawa house, to Kishū (present-day Wakayama Prefecture) when Yorinobu was transferred to Wakayama. Thereafter, the name Nanki Shigekuni continued for eleven generations as a house smith of the Kishu Tokugawa family, with the first generation being its founder. On blades forged at Wakayama, he cut signatures such as "Made at Nanki by Shigekuni" and "At Nanki, Shigekuni," and he is counted among the representative master smiths of the Keichō Shintō, which marked the transition from Koto to Shintō.

His work style divides broadly into two types. One is work based on the Yamato tradition featuring a straight-temper (chokuha) style, displaying antique elegance on steel with mixed masame grain. The other is wavy-temper (midare) work emulating superior smiths of the Sōshū tradition, following the style of Shidzu and Masamune, displaying strong nie with yardwork (jikage) and kinsuji interspersed throughout. Shigekuni's great distinction lay in his skillful differentiation between these two work domains of differing character—Yamato and Sōshū styles—and his hallmark was a lustrous jihada refined through dense, meticulous forging. He also left bold works displaying broad width and thick depth, attesting to his high technical skill.

Tokugawa Ieyasu and Tokugawa Yorinobu, to whom Shigekuni served, were preeminent daimyo—Ieyasu as the supreme ruler and Yorinobu in the foremost position among the Three Great Houses. The family line of Shigekuni, who was their house smith, was treated as a house-lineage (gokeryū) swordsmith of extremely high status. Under the patronage of the Kishu Tokugawa house, a powerful daimyo family, the sword-making tradition was passed down through successive generations. The second generation was Monju Kinsuke, who later adopted the name "Monju Shigekuni" and left numerous works bearing the characters Monju in the signature. Through the generations, the founder's lineage flourished in Kishū.

In terms of assessment, the first Nanki Shigekuni was ranked as superior Shintō work (shintō jōsaku), and his sword-making skill was held in high esteem. He is also counted among the five smiths representing Keichō Shintō. His works are listed in the Edo-period ranking record Kaihō Kenshaku as ryō-wazamono (excellent masterpiece blades). Having mastered both the Yamato and Sōshū traditions at a high level, his broad work range and superior jihada quality were valued by later generations. He endures in sword history both as a master smith representing Kishū and as the progenitor of the Nanki Shigekuni school.