Jūyō No 585

Kitae: excellently forged itame with plenty of ji-nie

Tokubetsu-jūyō-tōken at the 14th tokubetsu-jūyō shinsa held on May 29, 1996

katana, orikaeshi-mei: Rai Kunitoshi (来国俊) – Genkō ni (元亨貳) (ika-kire, below cut off) (to nenki ga aru) (bears a date signatute of Genkō two, 1322)

kinzōgan-mei: Bungo no Kami Narinobu kore obiru (豊後守斎宣帯之) ("worn by Bungo no Kami

Narinobu")

Tai Yutaka (泰豊)

Measurements

nagasa 66.2 cm, sori 1.8 cm, motohaba 2.9 cm, sakihaba 2.2 cm, kissaki-nagasa 3.2 cm, nakago-nagasa 20.1 cm, nakago-sori 0.1 cm

Description

Keijo: shinogi-zukuri, iori-mune, relatively wide mihaba, thick kasane, despite the suriage a deep sori, rather compact chū-kissaki

Kitae: excellent and densely forged itame that is mixed with some nagare and that features chikei plenty of ji-nie

Hamon: suguha-chō in ko-nie-deki mixed with ko-gunome, ko-chōji, many ashi and yō, fine sunagashi, and a few uchinoke

Bōshi: shallow notare with a roundish kaeri and a few hakikake

Horimono: on both sides a futasuji-hi which runs on the omote side as kaki-nagashi into, and on the ura side as kaki-tōshi through the tang

Nakago: suriage, kirijiri, old yasurime katta-sagari, new yasurime kiri, three mekugi-ana (one plugged), the sashi-omote side bears an orikaeshi niji-mei plus date and the ura side a kinzōgan-mei of the name of a former owner of the blade

Artisan: Rai Kunitoshi from Yamashiro province

Era: end of Kamakura period

Provenance: Shimazu (島津) family, daimyō of the Kagoshima fief

Explanation

It has not yet been determined with certainty if Niji-Kunitoshi and Rai Kunitoshi were the same person or not. There exists a work by Rai Kunitoshi which is dated Shōwa four (正和, 1315) and which is signed with the supplement “made at the age of 75.” The only known dated work of Niji-Kunitoshi is from Kōan one (弘安, 1278). Calculting back from the age given with the Shōwa four work, we learn that Rai Kunitoshi was 38 years old in Kōan one and so it is theoretically very well possible that we are facing here a single smith. However, we recognize significant differences in workmanship and so we can distinguish between a Niji-Kunitoshi and a Rai Kunitoshi style. This blade bears an orikaeshi-mei "Rai Kunitoshi" with remnants of the date "Genkō two" chiseled next to the niji-mei. This way of dating a blade is neither seen at Rai Kunitoshi nor at the Rai School in general and the characters are also executed in a different manner as the signature itself. Now the Rai smiths did occasionally date in kakukudashi manner, i.e. with the date being chiseled below of the signature (on the same side of the tang). Therefore, it is possible that this blade was indeed dated Genkō two in kakikudashi style, that this date, being inscribed below of the signature, was inevitably lost when the blade was

shortened, but that someone wanted to preserve that information and decided to add the year next to the folded-over niji-mei. The jiba of this blade ranks on one level with the greatest masterworks of this smith and is in perfect condition. A closer inspection of the character for Kuni reveals that the four dots within the box radical are chiseled in a slanting manner, going from bottom right to top left. This is a characteristic feature of Rai Kunitsugu's (来国次) signatures and so it is possible that the signature is a daimei of Rai Kunitsugu.

The kinzōgan-mei states that this blade was once worn by the Kagoshima daimyō Shimazu Narinobu (島津斎宣, 1773-1841).

 end Juyo zufu translation.

Koshirae

 

Hada & Hamon

 

Hada / grain structure

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