Nanki Shigekuni

Nanki Shigekuni ( Japanese 南 紀 重 國 ), also called Monju Shigekuni, was a Japanese swordsmith around 1600 AD ( Shinto period) and founder of the Monju school in the province of Kii .

Life

Shigekuni, whose real name was Monju Kurōzaburō, came from the Tegai school and was probably the son of the Tegai blacksmith Kanesada V. and younger brother of Kanekuni V. The name "Monju" inherited within the family goes back to Tegai Kanenaga . During the Keichō period (1596-1614) he served Tokugawa Ieyasu among others, e.g. B. Echizen Yasutsugu , as a swordsmith. After his death in 1616, Shigekuni Tokugawa followed Yorinobu , Tokugawa's 10th son, to the province of Kii, where Yorinobu founded the Kishū branch of the Tokugawa family. Shigekuni himself founded his own swordsmithing tradition in Kii, the so-called Monju school.

Shigekuni is considered to be one of the leading swordsmiths of its time, which is expressed, among other things, by the Sai-Jo-Saku (grandmasterly) rating in the Fujishiro collection. He forged katana as well as wakizashi and tanto . Primarily he worked in the style of the Yamato tradition with its typical characteristics, but also mastered the Sōshū tradition excellently.

Nihonto characteristics of Nanki Shigekuni

Certain characteristics of Shigekuni's ironwork can be found on both the Yamato and the Sōshū style blades. They have a clear and shiny blade surface and cutting edge with a lot of activity in the hamon (hardness line). The swords are very similar to old koto blades.

The following signatures ( mei ) can be found on the blade tang ( Nakago ):

• Oite Nanki Shigekuni tsukuru kore ( 於 南 紀 重 國 造 之 )
• Washū Tegai-jū Shigekuni oite Sumpu tsukuru kore ( 和州 手 掻 住 重 國 於 駿 府 造 之 )
• Monju Kurōsaburō Shigekuni oite Sumpu tsukuru kore ( 文 珠 九郎 三郎 重 國 於 駿 府 造 之 )

literature

• Markus Sesko: Lexicon of the Japanese sword smiths NZ. Books On Demand, 2012, ISBN 978-3-8482-1141-8 , p. 144.
• Kokan Nagayama: The connoisseur's Book of Japanese Swords. Kodansha, Tokyo / New York / London 1998, ISBN 4-7700-2071-6 , p. 254.

Web links

• Nanki Shigekuni by Fred Weisberg
• Shigekuni. on: nihontoclub.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Markus Sesko: Lexicon of the Japanese swordsmiths NZ. P. 144.
2. ↑ Markus Sesko: Stories about the Japanese sword. P. 41 ff.
3. ↑ cf. Gosanke
4. ^ Smith Rating Systems. on: nihonto.ca
5. ↑ Nihontoclub database entry Shigekuni
6. ↑ Nanki Shigekuni. ( Memento of the original from October 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on: nihonto.com 

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Nanki is the family name, Shigekuni the first name.