UK Sword Register.

No. 61.

Type:    Gendai Tanto

Nagasa:                        25.9 cm             Moto-haba:    3.0 cm              Saki-haba:    2.6 cm

Sugata:             Broad hira-zukuri, saki-zori, mitsu mune tapering to iori-mune about halfway to the kissaki

Jihada:              Itame-mokume hada, some o-hada. Ji-nie, some chikei.

Hamon:             Nie-deki, including some coarse nie (ara-nie) irregular gunome midare, profuse sunagaeshi throughout.

Nakago:            Ubu with one mekugi-ana, kesho-yasurimei, ha-agari kuri-jiri. Signed in sosho script on Omote: MORAN JUNIN MINAMOTO HIDEAKI SAKU and dated on the ura: TAISHO JUGO NEN (1926)

This blade is of rather a stout appearance but the long fukura (curve at the point) enables it to retain an elegant appearance.  The kasane is also quite thin. The strength of the hamon is immediately apparent and the presence of so much nie, together with the pronounced jihada and plentiful sunagashi, indicate Soshu-den as being the inspiration for this tanto made in the early 20^th century. My first impression was that it was not unlike the work of the master of shinshinto, Kiyomaro, who in his later days did work like this in Soshu-den and whose work was very popular at this time.

Born on 20^th March 1886, Hori Kanekichi lived in Shimosakamoto village in Shiga province. In 1905 he entered the school of Hori Taneaki who became both his father-in-law and adopted father. At this time his swordmaking name was Kaneaki.

Both Kaneaki and Taneaki enjoyed sponsorship from one Takease Okō who was the founder of the Nihon Token Hozon Kai (NTHK). They were invited by him to work at Haszawa Bunko, Shibuya-machi in Tokyo. In Taisho 2^nd year (1912) the NTHK conferred the character HIDE on Kaneaki who then became Hideaki, as in the tanto under discussion here. This was the HIDE character from Suishinshi Masahide’s name and also Okō gave him the personal name Shigetaro (lit. man from Shiga).

In Taisho 7^th year (1918) both swordsmiths moved to Muran in Hokkaido to work with the Nihon Seikō-sho which built them a workshop.

In December of Showa 8^th year (1933) the new Crown Prince (now Emperor) Akihito was born. This prompted yet another name change for Hideaki who decide to drop the character AKI from his name in deference to the newly born prince. He replaced it with the character TOSHI, thereafter being called Toshihide.

Toshihide / Hideaki was skilled at Bizen-den and Mino-den, although as previously mentioned, this particular blade seems to be in Soshu-den. He is also well known for forging a number of blades around 1930/31 from the guns of the main battery of the gunboat Mikasa. He continued to work at Muran until his death in 1943 at the age of 58.

(reduced oshigata)

Clive Sinclaire. Nov 2002

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