{ "schemaVersion": 1, "canonicalUrl": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/objects/kanemune-katana/", "recordUrl": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/objects/kanemune-katana/record.json", "accession": "NA 2026.009", "title": "Katana Signed Seki Kanemune", "japaneseTitle": "刀 · 関兼宗作", "classification": { "category": "nihonto", "form": "katana", "presentation": [ "koshirae" ] }, "period": "Period unrecorded · a struck mark on the nakago bears on the question and is not yet identified", "summary": "An unpapered 67.1 cm katana in black-lacquer koshirae, signed 関兼宗作 (Seki Kanemune saku) and carrying a small struck mark above the mekugi-ana; the blade is out of polish and the mark is not identified from the listing photographs.", "attribution": { "label": "Seki Kanemune saku · mei as cut", "japanese": "関兼宗作（銘）", "qualifier": "Four-character signature recorded as cut on the nakago, accompanied by an unidentified struck mark; no maker, generation, or period finding is asserted" }, "highlights": [ { "label": "Nagasa", "value": "67.1 cm" }, { "label": "Sori", "value": "1.7 cm" }, { "label": "Mei", "value": "関兼宗作 · with a struck mark" } ], "revisedOn": "2026-08-20", "revisions": [ { "date": "2026-08-20", "note": "Catalogue record established from the ended listing and its 19 gallery photographs; a struck mark on the nakago is recorded as observed and left unidentified." }, { "date": "2026-08-20", "note": "Published with the struck mark still unidentified; the record is to be revised once the mark is read in hand." } ], "hero": { "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-009/01.jpg", "alt": "Katana drawn beside its black-lacquered saya and mounted tsuka on purple cloth" }, "sections": [ { "title": "Object record", "facts": [ { "label": "Item", "value": "Katana (刀) in black-lacquer koshirae" }, { "label": "Mei", "value": "関兼宗作 · Seki Kanemune saku" }, { "label": "Struck mark", "value": "One, above the mekugi-ana on the mune side · unidentified" }, { "label": "Nagasa", "value": "67.1 cm" }, { "label": "Sori", "value": "1.7 cm" }, { "label": "Width", "value": "Motohaba 3.3 cm · sakihaba 2.3 cm" }, { "label": "Kasane", "value": "Motogasane 0.8 cm · sakigasane 0.6 cm" }, { "label": "Mekugi-ana", "value": "One · both nakago faces photographed" }, { "label": "Period", "value": "Unrecorded · no appraisal paper supplied" } ], "notes": [ { "lead": "Attribution boundary.", "body": "The source description transcribes the signature as 関兼宗作 — Seki Kanemune saku — and the visible strokes support that reading. Separately, the photographs show a small struck mark above the mekugi-ana near the mune: a rounded, lobed outline enclosing a character. Its position and form belong to the family of stamps applied to Seki-made blades during the Shōwa war years, and if it proves to be one of those, the blade is a wartime product made outside the traditional method — a class the NBTHK does not paper and that no amount of polish converts. That is offered as a reading only: the mark is not legible at gallery resolution, no identification is made here, and nothing in this archive settles whether the blade is traditionally made." }, { "lead": "Name note.", "body": "Kanemune is a Mino/Seki name carried by smiths from the Muromachi period onward, and the bare 関 prefix without a province is a form associated with twentieth-century Seki production. This locates the name only; it makes no claim about which hand cut this signature." } ] }, { "title": "Condition record", "facts": [ { "label": "Photographs", "value": "Nineteen archival photographs · no video" }, { "label": "Documents", "value": "No registration card, NBTHK/NTHK paper, or other certificate shown" }, { "label": "Mounting", "value": "Mekugi-ana reads as open in the mounted photograph" } ], "notes": [ { "lead": "Visible record.", "body": "The polish is spent along the full length: broad grey clouding, long directional scratches, and rust freckling concentrated near the edge and at the machi. No hada and no hamon boundary can be read. Nothing here classifies a defect; severity, and whether any given mark is a flaw at all, is left for inspection in hand." } ] } ], "plates": [ { "number": "IV.1", "group": "IV", "groupTitle": "Koshirae & Ensemble", "title": "Ensemble, drawn", "japanese": "拵・全体", "caption": "The blade laid out beside the mounting: black-lacquered saya, dark green tsuka-ito over pale same, a high-relief dark iron tsuba and a plain gilt habaki. The blade surface is grey and mottled along its length.", "alt": "Katana blade drawn and laid beside its black-lacquered saya and mounted tsuka", "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-009/01.jpg", "redacted": false }, { "number": "IV.2", "group": "IV", "groupTitle": "Koshirae & Ensemble", "title": "Koshirae, housed", "japanese": "拵・全体", "caption": "The complete mounting with the blade housed. The saya is glossy black lacquer with a raised band at the kurikata position and a fitted koiguchi; the overall curvature follows the blade's 1.7 cm sori.", "alt": "Complete koshirae with the blade housed in the black-lacquered saya", "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-009/02.jpg", "redacted": false }, { "number": "II.1", "group": "II", "groupTitle": "Sugata & Nakago", "title": "Full sugata · first face", "japanese": "姿・茎", "caption": "Full length on the first photographed face. Nagasa 67.1 cm with 1.7 cm sori and taper from 3.3 cm at the machi to 2.3 cm at the yokote (measurements per the source description); motogasane 0.8 cm is substantial. Orange corrosion sits across the machi area.", "alt": "Full blade, first photographed face, tip at upper left and tang at lower right", "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-009/03.jpg", "redacted": false }, { "number": "II.2", "group": "II", "groupTitle": "Sugata & Nakago", "title": "Full sugata · second face", "japanese": "姿・茎", "caption": "Full length on the second photographed face. The tang is dark and evenly patinated; the signature is too shallow to register at this scale and is recorded in the tang plates that follow.", "alt": "Full blade, second photographed face, tip at upper right and tang at lower left", "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-009/04.jpg", "redacted": false }, { "number": "II.3", "group": "II", "groupTitle": "Sugata & Nakago", "title": "Nakago · mei and struck mark", "japanese": "姿・茎", "caption": "The tang with one mekugi-ana, diagonal file marks, and a four-character mei running below the hole — transcribed in the source description as 関兼宗作, Seki Kanemune saku, which the visible strokes support. Above the hole, close to the mune, sits a small struck mark: a rounded, lobed outline enclosing a multi-stroke character, roughly five to six millimetres across. The mark is recorded here as present; it is not legible at gallery resolution and is not identified.", "alt": "Close view of the tang showing one mekugi-ana, a four-character signature and a small struck mark near the back edge", "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-009/05.jpg", "redacted": false }, { "number": "II.4", "group": "II", "groupTitle": "Sugata & Nakago", "title": "Mune & machi", "japanese": "姿・茎", "caption": "The mune photographed at the machi: a clean step where the polished blade ends and the tang begins, with rust freckling starting immediately behind it.", "alt": "The back edge at the step where blade meets tang", "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-009/06.jpg", "redacted": false }, { "number": "II.5", "group": "II", "groupTitle": "Ji & Ha", "title": "Surface · lower blade", "japanese": "地刃", "caption": "Lower blade. The surface carries broad grey clouding, fine directional scratching and scattered orange freckles. A paler band follows the edge but its boundary is diffuse; no hamon type is assigned.", "alt": "Blade surface with grey clouding, scratches and rust freckles", "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-009/12.jpg", "redacted": false }, { "number": "II.6", "group": "II", "groupTitle": "Ji & Ha", "title": "Surface · lower mid-blade", "japanese": "地刃", "caption": "Lower mid-blade. Dark staining crosses the shinogi-ji and a lighter band runs along the ha; whether that band is a temper line or polish haze cannot be settled from the photograph.", "alt": "Blade surface with dark staining across the ridge and a paler band along the edge", "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-009/13.jpg", "redacted": false }, { "number": "II.7", "group": "II", "groupTitle": "Ji & Ha", "title": "Surface · mid-blade", "japanese": "地刃", "caption": "Mid-blade. Clouding is heaviest here, with rust points concentrated toward the edge. No grain pattern is legible anywhere along the recorded length.", "alt": "Blade surface with heavy clouding and rust points near the edge", "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-009/14.jpg", "redacted": false }, { "number": "II.8", "group": "II", "groupTitle": "Ji & Ha", "title": "Surface · upper mid-blade", "japanese": "地刃", "caption": "Upper mid-blade. The shinogi-ji reflects brightly while the ji below stays dark and matte — the uneven light return of a spent polish rather than a surface feature.", "alt": "Blade surface with a bright polished ridge line above darker ground", "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-009/16.jpg", "redacted": false }, { "number": "II.9", "group": "II", "groupTitle": "Ji & Ha", "title": "Surface · upper blade", "japanese": "地刃", "caption": "Upper blade. Scratches cross the ridge at a shallow angle and continue into the ji; several are long enough to read as handling damage rather than polishing marks.", "alt": "Blade surface with scratches crossing the ridge", "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-009/17.jpg", "redacted": false }, { "number": "II.10", "group": "II", "groupTitle": "Ji & Ha", "title": "Surface · below the point", "japanese": "地刃", "caption": "The stretch below the point. Mottling continues to the yokote area with a small rust cluster near the edge.", "alt": "Blade surface approaching the point, dark and mottled", "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-009/18.jpg", "redacted": false }, { "number": "II.11", "group": "II", "groupTitle": "Ji & Ha", "title": "Kissaki · first face", "japanese": "地刃", "caption": "The point on the first face. The fukura is intact and the outline unbroken; heavy dark staining covers the tip area and no bōshi can be read.", "alt": "Point section, first face, with dark staining across the tip", "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-009/15.jpg", "redacted": false }, { "number": "II.12", "group": "II", "groupTitle": "Ji & Ha", "title": "Kissaki · second face", "japanese": "地刃", "caption": "The point on the second face, with rust freckles across the tip and along the edge. The kissaki is compact in proportion to the 3.3 cm motohaba.", "alt": "Point section, second face, with rust freckles across the tip", "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-009/19.jpg", "redacted": false }, { "number": "II.13", "group": "II", "groupTitle": "Ji & Ha", "title": "Near-edge-on view to the point", "japanese": "地刃", "caption": "A near-edge-on record: the polished steel narrows evenly to a fine point with a ridge running unbroken beside it. The frame is retained as part of the complete gallery record.", "alt": "Near-edge-on view of the polished steel running to a fine point", "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-009/07.jpg", "redacted": false }, { "number": "III.1", "group": "III", "groupTitle": "Koshirae Fittings", "title": "Habaki · first face", "japanese": "拵金具", "caption": "The habaki off the blade: one piece of gilt copper alloy, plain, with rust transfer printed across the face where it sat against the blade.", "alt": "One-piece gilt habaki, first face", "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-009/08.jpg", "redacted": false }, { "number": "III.2", "group": "III", "groupTitle": "Koshirae Fittings", "title": "Habaki · second face", "japanese": "拵金具", "caption": "The reverse of the habaki, showing the stepped rear edge and the same plain gilt finish, scratched but undecorated.", "alt": "One-piece gilt habaki, second face", "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-009/09.jpg", "redacted": false }, { "number": "III.3", "group": "III", "groupTitle": "Koshirae Fittings", "title": "Tsuba, seppa & tsuka", "japanese": "拵金具", "caption": "The dismounted fittings: a round dark iron tsuba worked in high relief with a standing figure, a tiered structure, rolling cloud bands around the rim and a dragon form below, with traces of gold on the raised edges; two plain brass seppa; and the tsuka with dark green ito over pale same. Both kozuka and kōgai apertures are cut through the plate.", "alt": "Iron tsuba with figures and clouds, two brass seppa, and the tsuka laid below", "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-009/10.jpg", "redacted": false }, { "number": "III.4", "group": "III", "groupTitle": "Koshirae Fittings", "title": "Fuchi & tsuka, mounted", "japanese": "拵金具", "caption": "The fittings in place: a fuchi worked with the same cloud and dragon motif as the tsuba rim, dark green ito over pale same, and dark menuki set under the wrap. The mekugi-ana reads as open in this view — no peg is seated in it.", "alt": "Fuchi, menuki and tsuka wrap seen mounted, with the mekugi-ana open", "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-009/11.jpg", "redacted": false } ], "rights": { "catalogue": "© 2026 whiskey.works", "photographs": "Courtesy of GN-1-Japan, used with permission. No downstream reproduction permission is granted." } }