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Wakizashi kaneshige

Submitted by defeyter on Thu, 2014-07-03 15:11

Good morning,

I am new to this forum and will introduce myself later today. I bought a wakizashi with NBTHK Hozon Token papers identifying it as Shinto blade. It is signed Senriki kaneshige from Kumamoto ju - fujiwara. I checked the data base but I cannot find this smith in the database. Where could I find more information about this smith, or am I not using the database correctly?

Kumamoto ju~ Fujiwara Senriki Kaneshige 隈本住藤原千力包重

Thank you for your help.

Chris de Feijter, Canada.

wak3.png
wak2.png
nbthk-wak.jpg
kanji.jpg
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#1Submitted by Looper on Thu, 2014-07-03 19:47.

Is this him?

Is this him? http://nihontoclub.com/smiths/KAN308
#2Submitted by echizento on Thu, 2014-07-03 20:21.

Wakizashi Kaneshige

I see one listing in Hawley's for a smith using Kumamoto, KAN 307 and KAN 308. Both are from Higo. KAN 307- KUMAMOTO JU KANESHIGE circa 1661 Late Enju group and KAN 308- (HIGO) KUMAMOTO JU FUJIWARA KANESHIGE also of the late Enju group circa 1684. Can you post a picture of the blade.
#3Submitted by defeyter on Fri, 2014-07-04 00:23.

Appreciate your Reply!

Thank you very much for the reply. The blade was purchased for me as a gift for getting very close to my PhD. degree being done. These are the images I have, since I have not received the blade yet.

The blade comes in shirasaya, so now my next task would be to get all the fittings, another great journey I would think.

I will try to attach the images to the original post.. Hmm, my images are all getting an HTTP error. I will share a link to my dropbox files:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mgjwpeu21cpxx1f/nbthk-wak.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/36tsjhzcxogokv4/wak2.png

https://www.dropbox.com/s/69eukrrseqriwdf/wak3.png

Chris de Feijter
#4Submitted by echizento on Fri, 2014-07-04 03:34.

Kaneshige

Looks like a very nice blade. Congrats.
#5Submitted by defeyter on Fri, 2014-07-04 14:42.

Thank you for the congrats. I

Thank you for the congrats. I am looking forward to actually observing the blade closely when it comes in.

Chris
#6Submitted by defeyter on Tue, 2014-07-08 22:12.

Hello

Hello everyone,

隈本住藤原千力包重
Kumamoto ju Fujiwara Senriki Kaneshige

Since I am pretty sure this blade was made by KAN308 (thanks for your help), I am still wondering about the Senriki part in the inscription.
Kumamoto ju was a Prefecture, Fujiwara a Clan, and Kaneshige the sword smith. Is Senriki the name of the owner of the blade? Or does Senriki mean something else?

Thanks,
Chris
#7Submitted by kazarena on Wed, 2014-07-09 22:04.

Senriki

Chris,

Senriki means 'power of 1000' and it can be a name or nickname of the smith. There is another example of signature with 'Senriki': Kumamoto jū Fujiwara Senriki saku (隈本住藤原千力作) from 1716. Senriki is clearly a name in this signature.

Here's an interesting reference to 千力: Kakushi Buki blog

I wasn't able to find which generation of Kaneshige signed 'Senriki', KAN307 or KAN308.

Regards,
Stan
#8Submitted by defeyter on Thu, 2014-07-10 02:27.

Thanks for your reply.

Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately the link you shared did not show on the forum. What was the interesting reference to 千力?

Thank you,

Chris de Feijter
#9Submitted by kazarena on Thu, 2014-07-10 10:03.

Oops... I've fixed the

Oops... I've fixed the link.

Stan
#10Submitted by defeyter on Thu, 2014-07-10 15:51.

Thank you. That was an

Thank you. That was an interesting short read.

Chris
#11Submitted by defeyter on Thu, 2014-07-17 15:26.

Kanji

Good morning everyone,

On the NBTHK Origami, the second column includes the Kanji as in the picture. These two characters are not on the blade. What do they mean?
I have uploaded images to the original post.

Thank you,

Chris
#12Submitted by saipan59 on Thu, 2014-07-17 18:16.

Shinto

Those two chars are "SHINTOu" (the general time period).

Pete