Katana Sword (signed Ono Hankei; dedicated to Sumiyoshi Daimyojin of Sesshu)

A Sword Signed by Hankei for the Sumiyoshi Deity

The Katana Sword (signed Ono Hankei; dedicated to Sumiyoshi Daimyojin of Sesshu) (刀〈銘小野繁慶／奉納接州住吉大明神御宝前〉) is an Edo-period katana held by Sumiyoshi Taisha in Sumiyoshi Ward, Osaka City, which in 1960 was designated an Important Cultural Property.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records it as a single sword by Ono Hankei. The words in angle brackets in its official name are the inscriptions cut into the tang: the maker's name, Ono Hankei, and a dedication, "Hono Sesshu Sumiyoshi Daimyojin Gohozen".

The dedication means that the Katana Sword was offered before the sanctuary of Sumiyoshi Daimyojin, the deity of the shrine. The Agency writes the province as 接州; since Sumiyoshi Taisha is the leading shrine of Settsu province, the word reads naturally as Sesshu, another name for Settsu. The blade itself records who made it and where it was given.

Hankei: From Gunsmith to Swordsmith

A note contributed to Cultural Heritage Online by the Tokugawa Art Museum identifies Hankei as Noda Zenshiro Kiyotaka, a native of Mikawa who served Tokugawa Ieyasu and Hidetada as a gunsmith. He later turned to making swords and took the name Hankei.

The Tokugawa Art Museum keeps a matchlock gun by Kiyotaka, its barrel inscribed "Nihon Kiyotaka" and dated the tenth month of 1611. It was used by Ieyasu and passed to Yoshinao, first lord of the Owari Tokugawa. The maker of the Sumiyoshi sword had been forging guns like this before he became a swordsmith.

The reading Hankei follows the Agency's own furigana for this sword.

Why It Matters

The Agency's database says only that the Katana Sword (signed Ono Hankei; dedicated to Sumiyoshi Daimyojin of Sesshu) is an Edo-period work, with no measurements or description of its forging. What can be said with confidence rests on the tang inscriptions.

With both the maker's name and the recipient cut into the steel, the blade shows that it was made as an offering to Sumiyoshi Daimyojin. The shrine's own chronology also records the designation of the sword signed Ono Hankei in 1960.

Two other swords signed Hankei, held by Kongo Sanmaiin on Mount Koya, were designated Important Cultural Properties in 1950. Like the Sumiyoshi blade, they survive as gifts to a religious institution.

The Sword and Sumiyoshi Taisha

The shrine's chronology shows that Sumiyoshi Taisha also holds a matchlock signed Noda Zen Kiyotaka, designated by Osaka Prefecture in 1984. That name matches Noda Zenshiro Kiyotaka, the gunsmith's name recorded by the Tokugawa Art Museum.

The shrine therefore keeps both a gun and a sword that appear to be by the same maker. Keeping that double career in mind makes the dedication on the Hankei katana easier to read.

Seeing the Katana Sword Signed Ono Hankei

Kokugakuin University's encyclopedia of shrine museums lists the sword signed Ono Hankei among the holdings of the Sumiyoshi Bunkakan, the shrine's treasure hall. The shrine's current website, however, gives no opening information for the Bunkakan, and it could not be confirmed whether the sword is ever on view. Ask Sumiyoshi Taisha on 06-6672-0753.

According to the shrine, its gates open at 6:00 a.m. from April to September and 6:30 a.m. from October to March; the outer gates close at 4:00 p.m. and the inner precinct at 5:00 p.m. It is a three-minute walk east of Sumiyoshi Taisha Station on the Nankai Main Line, and next to Sumiyoshi Toriimae on the Hankai tram line.