* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Ogawa Kanekuni II
尾川兼國（二代）
Description
Background
Ogawa Kanekuni II was born in 1953 as the second son of the swordsmith Ogawa Kanekuni I; his given name is Mitsutoshi. His father was both a holder of a Gifu Prefectural Important Intangible Cultural Property and a mukansa-certified swordsmith.
Career
He did not initially follow his father into swordsmithing. At the age of twenty he took a job in Kanagawa Prefecture, working as a first-class glazing technician. He later returned to Gifu, and being asked by his father to help with cutting charcoal became the starting point of his own career at the forge. He began forging in earnest at the age of thirty-three.
Mukansa Status
He was certified mukansa in 2009, and is known as the second generation of a father-and-son pair of mukansa smiths.
Style
His work is characterized by tōranba, a Sōshū-tradition temper pattern evoking large breaking waves. Tōranba was also a specialty of his father, and the second-generation Kanekuni has carried the technique forward across a large body of blades. His signatures include forms such as "Mugei jū Kanekuni saku."
Activity
In 2011 he served as a director of the All Japan Swordsmith Association and head of its Tōkai regional branch. At the 2019 "Famous Swords and Master Smiths of the Heisei Era" exhibition he was selected among the master smiths. He continues to forge in Yamagata City, Gifu Prefecture.