After his apprenticeship he worked for the Matsudaira daimyo of the Kuwana Han in Edo in the 1830s, who extensively tested the swords he supplied through Yamada Asauemon (Yoshimasa), Yamada Gosaburô, and Iga Norishige. This no doubt helping him refine the cutting ability of his works. His work appears to have been very popular, as he left behind a large number of high quality items, and famous people of the time owned Munetsgugu swords. These include the Goto master craftsman Ichijo, the Furukawa daimyo Doi, and the Uwajima daimyo Date and interestingly the 7th Yokozuna sumo wrestler Inazuma (“Lightning”) Raigoro (pictured to the right). So by this we can determine that he was very successful at his craft, both in making functional blades due to his work with the various cutting masters, and in reputation, making beautiful blades that were owned at the highest level of society.”

An excerpt:

SOTEN WORK

Haynes summarises the present thinking regarding the Sōten group of Japanese sword guards when he states, in his Index of Japanese Sword Fittings and Associated Artists, that work by Sōten I, the first artist of the Kitagawa School, is very rare. He suggests that, prior to his use of the Buddhistic title of nyūdō which followed the shōdai’s early move from Kyoto to Hikone, his name was read as Munenori. Most of the work of this artist was in solid plates of iron or shakudō; openwork designs were very rare. There is now some doubt as to whether Kitagawa Shūten was the same artist as Sōten I, as once he was thought to be.

The work of Sōten II, the son of the former artist, is difficult to distinguish from that of his father.   He probably made some openwork pieces, both in iron and shakudō, but not featuring warrior subjects. The existence of a third generation is now questioned and, if such an artist existed, his work cannot be distinguished from the many students and followers who signed their work as being by Sōten.