Talk:Kasen Kanesada/@comment-76.169.161.41-20150131230621

History dump time! During the Muromachi period, the Mino province was very prolific with sword smithing, including the Kanesada and Kanemoto family (you’ll notice some of the other swords also carry those names, including Hijikata’s sword, Izumi no Kami Kanesada; they were all works of the Kanesada family smiths). Kasen Kanesada was forged by the second generation of the Kanesada smiths, which was during the Muromachi period, whose skills as smiths helped establish the reputation of Mino swords. The Kanesada family continued to create sword all the way up to the Edo period (incidentally, Hijikata’s sword was made by the fourth generation), but it is generally agreed that  the Sue-Seki smiths that succeeded them weren’t as good. Also, Nosada is apparently the alias of Kasen Kanesada’s smith. I had to tweak the translation a little so it wouldn’t be as confusing to someone with no knowledge of Japanese history.

The 36 Immortals of Poetry (三十六歌仙) refers to a a group of 36 Japanese poets from the Heian, Nara, and Asuka period selected by Fujiwara no Kinto as examples of the best of Japanese poets. However, ironically, Kasen Kanesada’s former master also happened to KILL 36 people, so now his name either refers to the 36 poets, or the 36 dead people XD Poor guy

Obviously I couldn't fit all of that into the Notes section, but I also didn't want my research going to waste. OTL