KANAYAMA

Clouds and Wild Geese

Kumo and Karigane

2.75” X 2.75” X 0.219”

69.85mm X 69.85mm X 0.0873mm

Kanayama is the name of a village in the northern part of Atsuta in Owari Province, so called, as

the legend says, because there was a shrine in this village sacred to Kana-yama-hiko, the patron god of

smiths. It is told that there was a group of guard makers living in this area in successive generations since

the latest part of the Muromachi Period.

Guards attributed to this school, such as the “Tea Jar,” “Masume” (square symbolizing a measure)

and “Mokkō with Chrysanthemum,” are more rugged and simplified even than those of the Owari

Openwork school, and show on the surface mottles called Tekkotsu or “iron bones” produced by iron of

different quality mixed in the basic iron material. Another characteristic is that the seppa-dai is ot squarish

elliptic shape. No signed work of this school exist.