SIGNED (KIKU MON) IGA (NO) KAMI FUJIWARA KINMICHI AND NIPPON KAJI SOSHO, EDO PERIOD (EARLY 17TH CENTURY)

Accompanied by a certificate of registration as a Tokubetsu Kicho Token [Especially Valuable Sword] no. 5701035 issued by the Nippon Bijutsu Token Hozon Kyokai [Society for the Preservation of the Japanese Art Sword] issued on 27th May 1982.

The Sampin (or Mishina) brothers Iga no kami Kinmichi, Izumi no kami Kinmichi, Tamba no kami Yoshimichi and Etchu no kami Masayoshi were the sons of Kanemichi of Seki (Mutsu no kami Daido), who styled himself the ninth generation after Shizu Kaneuji. The brothers went from Mino to Kyoto sometime during the last decades of the 16th century.
In the 19th year of Keicho, Iga no kami Kinmichi produced 1000 swords commissioned by the Tokugawa clan to be made within 100 days at the time of the Osaka campaign, in appreciation of which he was awarded the title 'Nippon Kaji Sosho' ('Overseer of all Japanese Smiths'). He was further granted the right to carve the sixteen-petalled Imperial Chrysanthemum mon on the tangs of his sword blades. This implied that the Kinmichi family were overseers of all the sword smiths in Japan, and were to have a controlling influence over the granting of honorific titles, the 'zuryomei'. The Kinmichi family continued for nine or ten generations into the Shinshinto era.

Willem Dolphyn (1935-2016)

Willem Dolphyn was born in 1935 in Antwerp, Belgium. He grew up in an exceptional artistic environment where collecting art and antiques was a way of life. His father Victor Dolphyn was a painter and taught at the Royal Academy of art, and his grandfather, Willem Elsschot, was a well-known Flemish writer.

As a child, during the difficult war years, Willem drew pages full of incredibly detailed war scenes. Later, he earned a living creating illustrations including book illustrations and comic strips. He started his painting career in the sixties and his first exhibition in Antwerp was followed by many others around the world, including London, Monaco, and Japan.

His fascination with miniatures and his incredible eye for detail resulted in his love for the fine detail and precision of Japanese works of art, in particular swords and armour. He bought his first katana at the age of fifteen, which he found in an umbrella stand at the marché aux puces (fleamarket) in Paris. This was the beginning of his large collection that he built up over many years and was later continued by his son. He passed not only his talent for painting on to Walter, but also his passion for collecting.

In 1984, Willem co-founded and chaired the Token Society of Belgium, an organisation dedicated to the study and preservation of Japanese armour, swords, and sword-fittings. He stayed an active member until his passing in 2016.