手掻包則

Tegai Kanenori

Description

Tegai Kanenori was active in late Kamakura to early Nanbokuchō period Yamato Province (modern Nara Prefecture), representing one of the "Yamato Go-ha" (Five Schools of Yamato) — the Tegai school, which operated under the auspices of Kōfukuji and Kasuga Taisha at the southern gate (Tegai) of the shrine complex. Kanenori is considered the Tegai school's finest representative, achieving the purest expression of Yamato-den aesthetics. The defining characteristic of Kanenori's work is the masame-hada or masame-gakari itame — a straight wood-grain ji unique to the Yamato tradition. Unlike the itame of Bizen or the wild hada of Sōshū, the Yamato masame creates a quietly ordered, parallel-line pattern with a meditative stillness. Fine ji-nie is distributed throughout, and the overall ji has a clear, settled quality that commands attention despite its apparent simplicity. The hamon is primarily suguha in nie-deki, with the subtle character of an archaic (ko-chō) master — steady, refined, with a compact nioi-guchi and fine kinsuji and sunagashi within. The Yamato tradition's suguha has a quiet authority that is fundamentally different from the Yamashiro version: more solemn, more martial, connected to the warrior-monks of Kōfukuji who wielded these blades in actual combat. Surviving works by Kanenori, designated as National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties, preserve the pristine form of Tegai work before the influence of Sōshū-den transformed later Yamato production. DATEKATANA presents Kanenori as an essential representative of the pure Yamato tradition's solemn, archaic beauty.

Famous Works

• 太刀（国宝）
• 太刀（重要文化財）