In 1943 a list was published by the Nihon Token Tanrenjo (NTT) and the Nihon Token Shinbunshi (NTS) ranking what were then "modern" (gendai) swordsmiths. This was prior to the current system of rating used by either the NBTHK or NTHK. The system used in the NTT/NTS list was the same as used to rank sumo wrestlers. In this system the older, senior smiths were given special, honorary rankings. The remaining smiths were divided into two blocks; East and West, with those of the East Block considered of higher rank than those of the same title in the West Block. Within each block the smiths were ranked as "Yokozuna" (highest rank) to "Maegashira" (lowest rank). In the chart below the provence, prefecture or town in which the smith worked is listed in parenthesis after his name.
All of these smiths made true Nihonto, but some also made non-traditional Showato gunto. This document should be taken more as a list of swordsmiths rather than a ranking based on either the skill of or quality of blades produced by the individual swordsmiths. Note the heading is a "listing of swordsmiths". Since some of these swordsmiths also produced Showato, each blade must be judged on its individual merits. As with all Japanese swords, it is the blade which must be judged and not just the signature (mei) of the swordsmith.
GENDAI TOSHO NINKI BANZUKE
SPECIAL RANKS
GENRO |
EAST BLOCK YOKOZUNA Tsukamoto Ikkansai Okimasa (Tokyo) OZEKI Hokke Saburo Nobufusa (Miyagi) SEKIWAKE Imai Kanetsugu (Gunma) Fukumoto Amahide (Gifu) KOMUSUBI Ota Chikahide (Shizuoka) Tsukakoshi Tsugunobu (Gunma) Oribata Tomomaro (Nagano) Takehashi Kagefusa(Miyagi) MAEGASHIRA Kojima Kanemichi (Gifu) Kato Tsuneyasu (Tokyo) Arai Yasuyuki (Gunma) Kusakabe Shigemichi (Fukushima) Takano Masakane (Ibaraki) Akimoto Akitomo (Tokyo) Endo Mitsuoki (Niigata) Tsukumoto Masakazu (Fukushima) Kasama Kiyokazu (Tokyo) Imai Shigeyoshi (Gunma) Tanaka Munetsugu (Tochigi) Yamamura Sukeyuki (Tokyo) Igarashi Akimitsu (Niigata) Sakai Ikkansai Shigemasa (Toyko) Yanagawa Masayoshi (Tokyo) Takayama Mitsunaga (Miyagi) Yoshihara Masanobu (Tokyo) Horii Nobuhide (Hokaiido) Miyairi Akihira(Nagano) Yamagami Akihisa (Niigata) Ayase Kaneue (Gifu) Morita Kaneshige (Gifu) Kuriyama Kaneaki (Gifu) Kato Jumyo (Gifu) Murakami Kaneshige (Gifu) Kurihara Akiyuki (Gunma) Kirifuchi Kanetomo (Gunma) Morioka Masataka (Tokyo) Gassan Munemitsu (Yamagata) Taguchi Yukiyoshi (Gunma) Hyoryo Naomasa (Yamagata) Kobayashi Naotsugu (Yamagata) |
WEST BLOCK YOKOZUNA Takahashi Riyuoshi Sadatsugu (Ehime) Takahashi Yoshimune (Ehime) OZEKI Moritada Yasuhiro (Kumamoto) SEKIWAKE Torio Hiromasa (Ehime) Emai Sadashige (Ehime) KOMUSUBI Baba Tsugukiyo (Kagawa) MAEGASHIRA Kumabe Tadatoshi (Kumamoto) Okimoto Kunitada (Osaka) Fujimura Kunitoshi (Yamaguchi) Okishiba Yoshisada (Osaka) Fujita Moriatsu (Kagoshima) Kajimura Akikuni (Yamaguchi) Mizukoshi Moritoshi (Hiroshima) Hirai Sukemori (Totori) Konno Mitsumori (Hiroshima) Imaizumi Toshimitsu (Okayama) Takatsuka Masatsugu (Hyogo) Tominaga Ryu-u (Okayama) Murakami Masatada (Shimane) Muto Hidehiro (Fukuoka) Moritsugu Yukimune (Fukuoka) Endo Tomonari (Kyogo) Muto Yukihiro (Fukuoka) Kondo Akikuni (Kochi) Suetsugu Ikkansai Hiroshige (Fukuoka) Fukushima Yoshisada(Shimane) Okafuji Masaru (Yamaguchi) Sato Sadatsugu (Okayama) Ota Yasutsugu (Okayama) Yashige Yoshikiyo (Shimane) Nakata Akinori (Okayama) Endo Nagamitsu (Fukuoka) Koyama Nobufusa (Fukuoka) Terata Morinobu (Kumamoto) Okishiba Kunitsugu (Osaka) Baba Tsuguhiro (Kagawa) Imai Hisatsugu (Ehime) Imai Kiyoshige (Ehime) Kanazaki Toshimitsu (Totori) Hara Okimitsu (Shimane) Fujiki Akitada (Hyogo) Kofuji Hiromitsu (Shimane) Kajita Morimitsu (Oita) Taguchi Masatsugu (Saga) Fukuda Masamitsu (Saga) |
I would like to thank Sensei Kenji Mishina, who brought the list to light as well as Ron Polansky, Dale Atkins, Randall Jesup and Chris Bowen for helping with the understanding of this now archaic method of ranking Showa era swordsmiths. Thanks to Ray Singer for providing a HTML version of the list. Special thanks to Jinsoo Kim for additions and corrections.
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