Sairen
西蓮
Description
Identity and Priesthood
Sairen, whose secular name was Kuniyoshi, was a swordsmith active in Chikuzen Province (present-day Fukuoka Prefecture) in the late Kamakura period. After entering the Buddhist priesthood he took the religious name Sairen.
Lineage
He was the father of the smith Jitsu'a and the grandfather of the smith who, after moving from Chikuzen to Sagami Province, founded the celebrated Samonji line — making him an important figure at the root of Kyushu's swordsmithing lineages.
Career at the Hakata Dangisho
Following the Mongol invasions (the Bun'ei and Kōan campaigns), he was attached to the Hakata Dangisho, an institution established to strengthen northern Kyushu's defenses, and worked there as a smith. His signatures, such as "Chikuzen-no-kuni Hakata Dangisho Kuniyoshi Hōshi Sairen," often record his origin and religious title at length, and a dated work from 1317 survives. He was also known as a master maker of naginata.
Style
His tachi display an archaic elegance; the steel shows a well-forged, flowing itame grain, and the tempering favors a straight hamon (suguha) with a soft, hazy nioi-guchi characteristic of classical Kyushu work.
Reputation
Sairen is regarded as the starting point of the Chikuzen swordsmithing lineage that runs through Jitsu'a to Samonji, and he holds an important place in the history of Kyushu swordsmithing.