Daido Tanto
S0186
SOLD
A hirazukure tanto attributed to Mutsu no Kami Daido. Hawatare: 9 sun 8 bu (29.7 cm or 11.7"). Motohaba: 2.66 cm. Kasane: 6.5 mm. Slender hirazukure, pronounced sakizori, iroi mune. Nie deki gunome notare midare, saka-gunome, hako, ashi iri, yo, kin suji, nado. Jizo boshi with long kaeri with togare. Mokume hada packed with ha nie, shiraki, nado. Fresh polish, old shirasaya with sayagaki by Kotoken Kajiwara, niju copper habaki. Kanteisho by Kotoken Kajiwara rating Daido as Josaku, and dating it sue koto. Rated with a double circle in Nihonto Meikan, rated Josaku in Nihon Toko Jiten - Shinto-Hen, and valued at 4,500,000 yen in Toko Taikan by Tokuno.
Kanemichi was the founder of the Mishina school, which had its roots in Sue Seki of Mino. There are two juyo swords dated Tenmon 16 (1547) and Eiroku 4 (1562). His four sons, Iga no Kami Kinmichi, Rai Kinmichi, Tamba no Kami Yoshimichi, Etchu no Kami Masatoshi moved to Kyoto. In Tensho 2 (1574) Kanemichi received the title, Mutsu no Kami. In Eiroku 12, (1569) he was requested to make a sword for the emperor, Ogimachi and in appreciation, was granted the use of the character Dai or O, and started signing O-Kanemichi. He dropped the Kane kanji, and became Omichi, or Daido.
He worked in the Mino tradition, and emulated the works of Shizu Saburo Kaneuji. He was the personal sword smith to Oda Nobunaga, one of the three unifiers of Japan, the other two being Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Iyeyasu. He later moved to Kyoto, where with his sons, became known as Kyoto Gokaji. It seems probable that the Mishina group was favored by the Tokugawa, and they were given this title, because Umetada Myoju's and Horikawa Kunihiro's loyalties had been with the Toyotomi.
Kanteisho by Kajiwara Kotoken