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MINO -
Kanemoto School - From Akasaka to Seki




KANEMOTO School

KANEMOTO: 
Technical  SUGATA - SENGOKU SUGATA made strong. High SHINOGI.
             HADA - KO-MOKU MOKUME with ITAME MASA mixed. MASA on 
                    the SHINOGI.
            HAMON - A few CHU-SUGU (or KO-GUNOME MIDARE, KO-CHOJI, 
                    GUNOME-TOGARI or GUNOME-MIDARE with SUNAGASHI) 
                    but this school is most famous for SANBONSUGI.
                    The 2nd generation is the renowned MAGOROKU, 
                    who made his HAMON uneven with the troughs 
                    coming close to the HA. On blades of later 
                    generations, SANBONSUGI became a defined 
                    signature HAMON of two short and one tall. 
                    Basically, the later the generation, the 
                    wider the YAKIBA and the greater the symmetry.
            BOSHI - JIZO or MIDARE, but later smiths made KO-MARU.
           NAKAGO - KANEMOTO NAKAGO with two character MEI.

KANEMOTO School:
________
KANEMOTO(1) MEI-O 1492
   |_______________________________________
___|________                            ___|____
KANEMOTO(2) "MAGOROKU" TAI-EI 1521      KANEMOTO
|___________________________ ________________________
___|____ ___|____ ____|____ KANEMOTO
(3) TAI-EI 1521 KANEHIRO -TEN-MON 1532- KANEMITSU
|___________________________ _____________________
___|___ ___|____ ___|___
KANEMOTO(4TH) TEN-MON 1532 KANEMOTO
GEN-KI 1570 KANEYORI
Branch-line Brings GEN-KI 1570
Name to Shinto

KANEMOTO(1) MEI-O TAROSAEMON. Buddhist name: HOMYO-SEISEKI.
Last of AKASAKA SENJUIN KUNINAGA line. Theory says his
sphere of influences were SEKI smiths KANEMITSU, KANEMUNE,
KANEKUNI and KANEYUKI. We see swords between BUN-MEI 1469
and EISHO 1504. He first worked together with KANEOTO, then
made swords with his son.
ITAME with MASAME MINO KURO dark steel with SHIRAKE UTSURI.
KO-GUNOME MIDARE BA and KO-CHOJI. Patterns are FUKISOKU,
a marked irregularity. This feature is passed to his son,
MAGOROKU. SUNAGASHI develops in the mid and MURA-NEI will
be seen in the HABUCHI. YAKI-KUZURI broken-up YAKIBA, may
develop from his forging techniques.
MEI is in the SHINOGI-JI. Early signatures, KANEOTO days,
are NIJI-MEI two characters, middle period, working with
his son, we see the NOSHU AKASAKA JU signatures.

KANEMOTO
NOSHU AKASAKA JU KANEMOTO
NOSHU AKASAKA JU KANEMOTO SAKU

MAGOROKU KANEMOTO(2) TAI-EI. AKASAKA JU. The second KANEMOTO
in AKASAKA is the famous "MAGOROKU". His blades are judged
SAIJO O-WAZAMONO, the greatest in cutting. The whole KANEMOTO
family of smiths made swords in the general styles of
IZUMI-no-KAMI KANESADA and Kanemoto's very name alludes to
being the
sixth in the KANESADA line, MAGO ROKU. MAGOROKU's
excelled style
became the banner of his school and line. He
was the success and
leader at AKASAKA. He then moved to SEKI
where KANEMOTO(3) was
his student.
KANEMOTO(2) made wide bladed, somewhat thin SENGOKU-style
swords
having a noticeable HIRA-NIKU.
Well-made and clear color ITAME with MASAME JITETSU.
GUNOME TOGARI BA and his SANBONSUJI, which is made uneven.
His
YAKIBA can appear so uneven, SANBONSUJI may be hard to
discern.
Or, his can be an obvious and delightful play with
the
three-cedars format.
KANEMOTO Appraisal Note: MAGOROKU became famous for his
SANBONSUJI
and the pattern became the school flag. The third
KANEMOTO will
have a CHU-width, fairly evenly set SANBON
series. The forth
KANEMOTO will have HIRO, wide-width, very
evenly done three
cedar figures. His signature will have
strong strokes and straight
lines on the legs of the MOTO.
A late signature is seen where Hira-gana appears as "MA"-"KO",
as MaKo-Roku Kanemoto and Kanemoto MaKo-Roku Saku.

KANEMOTO
KANEMOTO SAKU
NOSHU AKASAKA JU KANEMOTO SAKU




Go Aoki Kanemoto
Juyo Bijutsu-Hin


Go Aoki Kanemoto
Nagasa: 2 Shaku 3 Sun 3 Bu 7 Rin (70.6cm)
Sori: 5 Bu (1.51cm)
Moto-haba: 1 Sun 2 Rin (3.1cm)
Saki-haba: 8 Bu 1 Rin (2.5cm)
Kissaki-naga: 1 Sun 8 Bu 4 Rin (5.6cm)
Nakago: 5 Sun 6 Bu 7 Rin (17.2cm)
Gentle Nakagozori


Wide Sengoku Sugata, with raised Shinogi-taka, ridge and with O-Kissaki.
Running and defined O-Itame Hada has JiNie and Shirake Utsuri.
Tight Nioi-guchi and Ko-Nie Sanbonsuji set in a creative irregularity.
Jizo-style  Midare Boshi.
Kanemoto Nakago with a very gently rounded and near flat Kengyo jiri.
Two Mekugi-ana and signed in the Ji:

             Kanemoto



Kanemoto School
KANEMOTO TAI-EI - MOTO character: KI "Origins". He has been said 
to be the same man as MAGOROKU. The logic runs that they
lived in both AKASAKA and SEKI, worked at the same place and
in the same way, and at the same time. Some say he was the
son of KANEMUNE and the teacher of MAGOROKU. MAGOROKU could
have been a parent or guardian of KANEMOTO, as he was
certainly close and seemingly a MAGOROKU student. Comparisons
show that they are probably two different men. His hamon will
resemble the same SANBONSUJI irregularity of MAGOROKU.Work is
seen from TAI-EI 1521 to TEN-MON 1532 time.
KANEMOTO

KANEHIRO TEN-MON 1532 (t: KANEMOTO, f: KANEMITSU): KANE form: KIN
"Gold". KANEMOTO School man at SEKI.
KANEHIRO

KANEMITSU TEN-MON 1532 (t: KANEMOTO): KANE form: KIN "Gold".
KANEMOTO School in SEKI.
KANEMITSU

KANEMOT
O(3) TAI-EI (t: KANEMOTO(1) and MAGOROKU): First in AKASAKA
then moved in EI-SHO with MAGOROKU to SEKI. Made swords in a
focused drive to display their school "SANBONSUJI" Three
Cedars HAMON. His will be CHU-width, not perfectly even.

KANEMOTO
NOSHU SEKI-JU YASHICHIBEI_no_JO FUJIWARA KANEMOTO


KANEMOTO(4) TEN-MON 1532. He was the son of MAGOROKU. The forth
KANEMOTO, he came with the group from AKASAKA and lived in
SEKI, working under MAGOROKU. He is the third KANEMOTO smith
in the line from MAGOROKU and therefore has been called
KANEMOTO(3), but MAGOROKU was the son of the first KANEMOTO
and therefore makes this man, KANEMOTO(4). There are minor
differences from the signature of the father.
A sword with the signature of NOSHU SEKI-JU KANEMOTO SAKU
has an indistinguishable time-period of:
x x JUNI-NEN KAN-no-TO I (Year of the Boar), which
helps place him after MAGOROKU's time of KYO-ROKU 1528.
There were several smiths signing "KANEMOTO" in and around
SEKI in TEN-MON, however this is the mainline KANEMOTO
Family inheritor.

KANEMOTO
NOSHU SEKI JUNIN KANEMOTO SAKU


KANEMOTO GENKI 1570. He is a branch smith working and associated
with the main AKASAKA KANEMOTO Family in SEKI. He has their
AKASAKA roots. Shinto KANEMOTO line falls from him, with NARA
School roots.

SEKI-JU FUJIWARA KANEMOTO




Kanemoto Katana
Nagasa: 71.5cm
Sori: 2.1cm


Shinogi-tsukuri, Ihori-mune, wide blade has Hira-Niku. Strong Sakizori Sengoku Sugata with an elongated Chu-Kissaki.
Ko-Itame Hada that runs has Shirake.
Sanbonsugi in tight Nioi-guchi is somewhat uneven and hugs the Ha, an appraisal point for Kanemoto. Sunagashi brushes gently.
Midare-Komi Boshi has a small Ko-Maru in Hakikake.
Ubu Yamagatajiri Nakago has a slightly rounded belly and three Mekugi-ana.

       Kanemoto


Kanemoto Katana

Kanemoto - Tokyo National Museum Exhibition


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