This is a very nice wakazashi and is a very sound and healthy blade and appears to be in an older koto style. The kissaki is longish and approaching O-kissaki status.  The blade is wide and has a beautiful curvature that reminds one of the old mino school.  The quality of the sword is also very good.  The hamon is bright and has very good activity.  The hada is milky looking and is forged well with much ji-nie and shirake appears.  The hamon is frosted with nie and the hada is well forged with some mokume and itame. There is profuse ara-nie and ji-nie. This sword was attributed to Mino Kanenaka. There were many Kanenaka smiths working at this time but this sword is of a distinct quality. The hamon is gunome midare in notare with much activity and plenty of nie with nioi. The hada is an itame/mokume mix with some masame.

This is a koto muramachi wakazashi made back in the 1500’s by Kanenaka a smith from the Seki school lineage. The hamon is notare based gunome and has very good quality hatarai/activity. The hamon is very healthy for such an older piece. The hada is also well forged and is very active and has very nice masame in places. Seki school blades like this were known to be very reliable and sharp. This wakazashi comes in shirasaya with papers attesting to quality and maker. There is a silver foil habaki also. The sword comes in a good polish.

KANENAKA (兼仲), Eiroku (永禄, 1558-1570), Mino – “Kanenaka” (兼仲), “Nōshū Seki-jū Kanenaka” (濃州関住兼仲), Zenjō school, itame mixed with masame and a tendency to shirake, angular gunome in ko-nie-deki