The line of Kanetsune 兼 常 blacksmiths is a prestigious lineage dating back to the early Muromachi period, around the end of the 14^th century. The 1^st generation of Kanetsune was active in the Nara Yamato tradition, either from the Yamato Senju'in school or from the Tegai Kanenaga line, depending on the theories. He would then have settled in the city of Shimouchi, Seki, in the province of Mino (present-day Gifu Province) towards the Oei era (1394-1428).

This school continued for many centuries and was particularly close to Magoroku Kanemoto, Izumi No Kami Kanesada, other prestigious blacksmiths of Mino.

In 1571, the blacksmith Kanetsune of this period received from the formidable warlord Oda Nobunaga the prestigious title of "Seki Kaji Toryo", ‘Consul General of the Smiths of Seki’.
During the Sengoku Jidai (1477-1573), period of the provinces in war, there was a very strong demand for armament through all the clans of Japan. But the province of Mino, located in central Japan, was then the most busy and productive of all. Some of the greatest warlords were close to these forges in Mino, such as Akechi Mitsuhide who controlled Mino Province himself, Oda Nobunaga who controlled Owari Province south of Mino, or Tokugawa Ieyasu who controlled the province of Suruga to the southwest of Mino.
Mino’s blades were also renowned and appreciated by warriors for their effectiveness and the hardness of their edge.

Over the centuries, many students and family members of the Kanetsune lineage have migrated to surrounding prefectures such as Bushu and Owari, participating in the recognition of their work and lineage.

This blade here presented dates from one of the last generations at the end of the Edo period, around 1800-1850, the time when Commander Perry arrived in Tokyo Bay with his 4 warships.
Although still having a very impressive size of 84cm from Nagasa, it has been slightly shortened (Suriage) by 3 centimeters. So it was originally an even longer blade, about 86.9cm from Nagasa (2尺 8寸 7分).

This is the type of sword, long and impressive, that the patriots of the imperial government wore when they went to Kyoto in order to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunat with the philosophy Sonno Joi "Reverence the emperor, expel the barbarians". They then wore their swords horizontally to the belt in the manner of the Samurai. In this group of ‘revolutionaries’ was the famous Shinsengumi, responsible for the security of Kyoto. It was an elite group composed of seasoned swordsmen led by Kondo Izami and then Hikata Toshizo., Tanaka Shinbei, Okada Izo, Kawakami Gensai and Kirino Toshiaki (Hanjiro Nakamura).

This blade is from this period of trouble and still has traces of fighting (5 kirikomi). The fact that this blade has come to us proves that the samurai who had fought it and fought it came out alive. It has since been preserved and has become an important historical and cultural heritage of this troubled period.