SIGNED OITE NANKI SHIGEKUNI KORE O TSUKURU, EDO PERIOD (17TH CENTURY)

The smith was of the late Yamato school: his early work is inscribed "resident of Tegai," referring to the Tegai school of Todaiji Temple in Nara. Along with many smiths he migrated after the pacification of the nation in the late sixteenth century, and went to Tsuruga. He was retained by the Tokugawa branch family in Kii Province, and his descendants continued to work in the castle town for eleven generations. Many consider Shigekuni to be the greatest of all shinto smiths. He emulated the work of Go no Yoshihiro, making Soshu style swords in keeping with the requirement of the time, while keeping the masame hada and fluffy hamon of his Yamato origins.