Uesugi Kenshin or Takeda Shingen?

[John Wee Tom]

Hi All,

I remember reading/hearing somewhere that either Uesugi Kenshin or Takeda Shingen (I think it was Kenshin) was a real sword connoisseur who had a number of masterpieces in his collection. Can anyone corroborate or shed more light on this?

[Piers Dowding]

People talk about Uesugi Kenshin's collection of 35(?) favourite swords that he liked to wear at his side. Many were passed on to Naoe Kanetsugu, I believe.

Originally made in Osafune, one of them, the splendid blade 山鳥毛 Sanchomo (or Yamatorige) has just been bought by the Osafune Sword Museum for around US 5 million dollars.

Uesugi Kenshin mentioned around 2:40

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=%e ... &FORM=VIRE

[John Wee Tom]

That's great information - thanks Piers, I knew I could count on you!

[Jan Pettersson]

If you look at the picture in my book depicting Kenshin, you can clearly see that his katana takes center stage.
Kenshin punished his samurai by not executing them with the sword if he considered their crimes to be severe. They did not deserve to die by the sword. This is quite unique, as samurai in general considered execution by sword to be the punishment of common criminals. Seppuku was their way to go, as this involved honor and security for their families.
Kenshin truly preferred the edged weapon to the matchlock.

Jan