Sendai Kunikane II
仙台国包（二代）
Description
Successor to the First Generation — Sendai Kunikane II
The second-generation Sendai Kunikane, personal name Hongō Kichiemon, was the son of the first-generation Sendai Kunikane (Hongō Genzō, later Yoshinojō, 1592–1664), who served as an official swordsmith to the Date clan, lords of the Sendai domain.
Succession
The first generation retired in Shōhō 2 (1645) and passed on the family headship to his son, the second generation. The Hongō smithing family of Sendai, founded by the first Kunikane, went on to serve the Date clan as official swordsmiths for fourteen generations until the Meiji era, with the second generation as its direct successor.
Style
The first generation trained in Kyoto under Etchū-no-kami Masatoshi and modeled his work on the Yamato Hōshō tradition, said to descend from Hōshō Gorō. The second generation is believed to have continued this family style, though detailed records distinguishing his individual work from his father's are scarce.
Reputation
While specific birth/death dates and signed works of the second generation are not well documented in available sources, he is recognized as the direct successor who carried forward the Kunikane line of Sendai swordsmiths — a lineage that would continue for fourteen generations and hold lasting importance in the sword history of the Sendai domain.