The Mino Tradition and the Sengoku Sword — Seki no Magoroku, Izumi-no-kami Kanesada, and the Wazamono Rankings

Mino — The Last of the Gokaden

The Mino tradition developed in Gifu (old Mino province), centered on Seki. Within the Gokaden, it is the youngest, formed in the late Kamakura to Nanbokuchō period under the influence of Yamato and Sōshū.

• A practical style focused on combat
• Favored by Sengoku warriors, and geared for mass production
• The very definition of “does not break, does not bend, cuts well”

Its evaluation on the battlefield was extremely high — the byword of “the combat sword.”

Formation of the Mino Tradition — Two Streams Fused

Two lineages fed the Mino tradition:

• Yamato line — Mino smiths moving south from Yamato and setting down local roots
• Sōshū line — The Sōshū influence brought by Kaneshige and Kaneuji of the Masamune Jittetsu

Kaneuji (Shizu Saburō Kaneuji) came from the Tegai school of Yamato, studied under Masamune, and moved to Shizu in Mino, founding the Shizu school. His work — Yamato’s masame-hada combined with Sōshū’s nie — is preserved as Important Cultural Property and National Treasure class.

After Kaneuji, the Shizu school moved to nearby Naoe, becoming a group called “Naoe Shizu.” Mass production accelerated over time.

The Seki Shichi-ryū — Convergence in the Mid-Muromachi

In the early to mid-Muromachi, the smithing communities converged on Seki (present-day Seki City, Gifu), and “Seki” became the byword for the Mino tradition. Several schools stood side by side, collectively called the “Seki Shichi-ryū” (Seven Schools of Seki):

• Zenjō school — Kaneyoshi, Kanesada (I)
• Sanami school — Kanenori, Kanezumi
• Nara school — Kanetsune, Kaneharu
• Tokuin school — Kanemitsu
• Ryōken school — Kanetsugu
• Tokunaga school — Kanesada
• Muroya school — Kanezumi

Each contended and cooperated with the others, meeting the enormous demand of the Sengoku era.

Izumi-no-kami Kanesada (Nosada) — Practical and Beautiful

“Kanesada” is a name passed through generations, and it is the second-generation “Nosada” who is most famous. Active in the late Muromachi (early Sengoku), signing as “Izumi-no-kami Kanesada.”

Nosada’s work brings out a midareba centered on gunome with masterly execution, uniting practicality and beauty. Widely owned among Sengoku warriors.

The Kanesada house continued into the Edo period, and the eleventh-generation Aizu Kanesada — signed with the “August 15” mei — became Hijikata Toshizō’s sword. A symbolic presence for Bakumatsu Shinsengumi enthusiasts.

Seki no Magoroku (Kanemoto) — Completing Sanbon-sugi

Widely known as “Seki no Magoroku,” the second-generation Kanemoto stood at the pinnacle of the Mino tradition in the late Muromachi.

His signature hamon is the sanbon-sugi (three-cedar) — a regular succession of three-cedar shapes. Visually beautiful and highly practical.

• Prized for exceptional cutting among Sengoku warriors
• “Seki no Magoroku” became the byword for a Sengoku masterpiece
• One of Tokugawa Ieyasu’s blades — “Kanemoto” — is attributed to Magoroku
• One of the 14 Saijō Ōwazamono

Sue-Bizen and Mass Production

Alongside Mino, mass production in the Sengoku era was sustained by sue-Bizen (see the previous article [The Bizen Tradition and the Osafune School]). Among Yozaemon-no-jō Sukesada, Genbei-no-jō Sukesada, Hikobei-no-jō Sukesada, and others, dozens of smiths cut the name “Sukesada” — signature alone is insufficient to identify the individual. Only signatures that also include title and personal name are treated as “custom-order” pieces for identification purposes.

After the Ōnin War — Standardization of the Uchigatana

Following the Ōnin War (1467), the changing modes of combat also changed the form of the sword:

• From tachi (worn suspended) to uchigatana (thrust through the belt)
• Standardized to a cutting edge of about 2 shaku 3 sun (~70 cm)
• Medium sori (shallower than the koshi-zori of the tachi)
• Heavier kasane, emphasizing practicality

This is a design that met the culture of foot combat and quick-draw practice. From the “tachi on horseback” of the Heian and Kamakura to the “uchigatana on foot” of the Sengoku.

Wazamono Rankings — Edo-Era Cutting Tests

From the Sengoku into the Edo period, cutting tests (tameshigiri) were conducted extensively. Using the bodies of executed criminals:

• Hito-tsu-dō — cutting one torso
• Futa-tsu-dō — cutting through two torsos stacked
• Mitsu-dō — three
• Itsu-tsu-dō — five

Yamada Asaemon served for generations as the official cutting-tester (Ohitameshi Goyō) for the shogunate.

The 4-tier ranking of the Kaihō Kenjaku (published 1797)

1. Saijō Ōwazamono — 14 smiths
2. Ōwazamono — 21 smiths
3. Yoki-wazamono — 50 smiths
4. Wazamono — 80 smiths

Sengoku-era Saijō Ōwazamono

• Izumi-no-kami Kanesada (Nosada) — Mino
• Magoroku Kanemoto — Mino
• Miharu Masaie
• Tatara Nagayuki
• Sendai Kunikane

Two Mino smiths in the top rank — a symbol of the practical strength of the tradition.

Sengoku Warriors and Named Swords

The Sengoku era is dense with the pairing of famous blades and famous warriors.

Oda Nobunaga

• Heshikiri Hasebe — Said to have cut through a certain Kannai together with his cabinet. Fukuoka City Museum, National Treasure
• Fudō Yukimitsu — Nobunaga’s beloved tantō, Tokugawa Art Museum
• Yagen Tōshirō — Attributed to Nobunaga, said to have been lost at Honnō-ji
• Sōzasamonji (Yoshimoto Samonji) — Taken from Imagawa Yoshimoto at Okehazama, handed down in the Tokugawa house

Toyotomi Hideyoshi

• Ichigo Hitofuri — Yoshimitsu’s tachi, imperial treasure
• Namazuo Tōshirō — Wakizashi, Tokugawa Art Museum
• Honebami Tōshirō — Wakizashi, Kyoto National Museum (Toyokuni Shrine)

Tokugawa Ieyasu

• Honsaku Nagayoshi — The original of Yamanbagiri Nagayoshi
• Monoyoshi Sadamune — Ieyasu’s beloved sword, for victory prayers
• Shishi-ō — Handed down from Minamoto no Yorimasa, Tokyo National Museum

Uesugi Kenshin and Kagekatsu

• Sanchōmō (Yamatorige) Ichimonji — First of Uesugi Kagekatsu’s 35 personally chosen blades; National Treasure, Okayama Prefectural Museum (purchased by Setouchi City in 2020 for 500 million yen)
• Himetsuru Ichimonji — Yonezawa Uesugi Museum

Date Masamune

• Shinogi Tōshirō — By Yoshimitsu, Tokugawa Art Museum

The Arrival of the Matchlock and the Sword’s Changed Role

In 1543, matchlock firearms arrived on Tanegashima. After the Battle of Nagashino (1575), the main weapons of combat became the matchlock and the spear, and the sword shifted into a role of “finishing weapon” or “symbolic weapon.”

This is what leads, in the Azuchi-Momoyama period and beyond, into the sword’s transformation into fine art. Hideyoshi’s sword-hunts (1588) removed the sword as a practical weapon from the peasantry, while paradoxically raising its status as the “soul” of the samurai class.

Momoyama Culture and Sword Mounts

In the Momoyama culture of Hideyoshi’s era, the decorative arts of the sword’s mount (tsuba, fuchigashira, menuki) reached new heights. The Gotō family (Gotō Yūjō, Sōjō, Jōshin, and others) were active as mounts-metalworkers to the shogunate and to daimyō. Not only “beauty in the blade” but “splendor in the mount” — a bridge into the Edo era, where the mount too became a symbol of authority.

Sue-Seki and the Edo Diffusion

From the late Sengoku into the early Edo, many Seki smiths were invited by daimyō as domain smiths. In this way, the Mino style spread across Japan:

• Aizu Kanesada — Aizu domain; Bakumatsu Hijikata Toshizō’s sword
• Sendai Kunikane — Sendai domain
• Kaga Kiyomitsu — Kaga domain
• Satsuma Naminohira — Satsuma domain

Many lineages of domain smiths in the Edo period trace back to Seki. Mino became the parent of the new blades of the Edo era.

Modern Seki — From Sword City to Blade City

Seki City is still known as the “sword city,” now a center of the blade industry (kitchen knives, knives, scissors). The Seki Ren’chi Denshōkan (Gifu, Seki) exhibits Mino masterpieces alongside the modern blade industry.

Many Japanese kitchen knives and outdoor knives are made in Seki, and the lineage of the sword-smith of more than 500 years ago directly continues into the modern blade industry. Seki is one of the world-renowned centers of blade-making, alongside brands like Sakai and Yoshihiro.

From This Article to the Next

We have traced the five kotō-era traditions (Yamato, Yamashiro, Bizen, Sōshū, Mino) and the Sengoku era. The next article turns to the Shintō and Shinshintō of the Edo period. In the age of peace, the sword became the “soul of the samurai” — Kotetsu (Nagasone Okisato), the Shinshintō revival of Suishinshi Masahide, and the loss of livelihoods for smiths after the Meiji Sword Ban of 1876. A transitional period from “weapon” to “fine art.”