Power sat in Kamakura, but taste was still made in Kyōto. The Awataguchi school’s pear-skin steel became a byword for perfection, and the Rai line supplied dignified tachi to the court, senior warriors, and the great temples alike.
NihontoWatchNihontoWatchTokubetsu Hozon Token Koto Josaku Mumei Rai Kunizane with Koshirae. 来國真は、古刀上作に列せられる優工であり、鎌倉末期の来派を代表する刀工の一人です。 本作は、地刃ともに来派の特徴を色濃く反映した一振りです。 拵は江戸時代の作で、保存状態も良好です。 オリジナルの拵が付属した鎌倉時代の山城物は少なく、本作はきわめて貴重な一振りといえます。 Rai Kunizane was a distinguished smith ranked among the Jō-saku of the Kotō period, and one of the foremost representatives of the late Kamakura Rai school. This blade vividly displays the characteristic features of the Rai tradition in both the forging and the temper. The accompanying Edo-period koshirae is likewise in very good condition. Kamakura-period Yamashiro blades retaining their original koshirae are exceedingly rare, making this a particularly valuable example. 「刀姿 sword figure」 鎬造り庵棟、身幅重尋常、腰反り短鋒。茎は磨り揚げられ筋違い鑢がかかる。茎尻は一文字に切られる。 The blade is of shinogi-zukuri form with an iori-mune, and has standard proportions in width and thickness. It exhibits koshizori and a ko-kissaki. The tang has been shortened (suriage) and bears sujikai yasurime, with the nakagojiri cut straight across. 「彫物 carving」 彫物は片チリの棒樋が、茎の上部に搔き流しとなる。 The blade is carved with a katakiri-style bōhi, which continues in kakinagashi into the upper part of the tang. 「地鉄 jigane」 地鉄は小板目肌に柾目肌交じり肌立ち、地沸厚くついて地斑調の映りがたつ。 The jigane consists of ko-itame mixed with masame, with the grain somewhat prominent. Ji-nie is thickly applied, and a mottled utsuri is visible. 「刃紋 hamon」 刃紋は中直刃、僅かに小湾れ・小互の目交じり、足・葉よく入り、匂深く小沸つき、地刃共に明るく冴える。釯子は乱れ込み小丸に返る。 The hamon is a chū-suguha, mixed with slight ko-notare and ko-gunome. Ashi and yō are well present, with a deep nioi and fine ko-nie. Both the ji and ha are bright and vividly clear. The bōshi turns in midare-komi and returns in a ko-maru. 「特徴 detailed」 来國真は、鎌倉後期から南北朝中期にかけて活躍した山城国来派の刀工であり、名門「来」一門の中でも重要な位置を占める刀匠です。 本名は藤五郎。来國俊の子、来國光の弟、来倫國の兄と伝えられています。現存する在銘作は少なく、太刀、平脇差、短刀がわずかに確認されるのみです。 作風は、直刃調に丁子や互の目が交じり、刃中に葉や小足が入るなど、来一派の伝統的な出来を示すものが多く見られます。一方で、中には皆焼風の乱れ刃を焼いた、長谷部一派を思わせる作もあります。来國真の作品は、古来より「来派中堅の優工」として知られ、重要文化財や重要美術品に指定された作例も存在します。 本作は磨上げながら刃長二尺四寸二分を有し、鎌倉時代後期の太刀姿を今に伝えています。地刃ともに来派の特徴を色濃く反映した作品であり、地鉄にはやや肌立ちが見られるものの、欠点となるような疵はなく、保存状態も良好です。 拵は江戸時代に制作されたもので、上質な金具類が用いられており、こちらもコンディションは良好です。 Rai Kunizane was a swordsmith of the Rai school of Yamashiro Province who flourished from the late Kamakura to the mid-Nanbokucho period, and he holds an important place within the illustrious Rai lineage. His personal name was Togoro. He is traditionally said to have been the son of Rai Kunitoshi, the younger brother of Rai Kunimitsu, and the elder brother of Rai Rin-kuni. Very few signed works by him survive, with only a small number of tachi, hira-wakizashi, and tanto known today. His style is typically characterized by a suguha-based hamon mixed with choji and gunome, with yo and ko-ashi appearing within the temper, demonstrating the traditional workmanship of the Rai school. At the same time, some examples exhibit a hitatsura-like midareba reminiscent of the Hasebe school. Rai Kunizane’s works have long been esteemed as those of one of the finest mid-ranking masters of the Rai tradition, and examples designated as Important Cultural Properties and Important Art Objects are known. Although this blade has been shortened, it still has a cutting length of 2 shaku 4 sun 2 bu, preserving the form of a late Kamakura-period tachi. Both the forging and temper vividly display the defining characteristics of the Rai school. The jihada is somewhat conspicuous, yet there are no flaws detracting from the blade, and its overall state of preservation is excellent. The accompanying koshirae, made in the Edo period, is fitted with high-quality metal mounts and is likewise in fine condition. Kamakura-period Yamashiro works retaining their original koshirae are extremely rare, and this piece is an especially valuable example. 「拵 Koshirae」 ハバキ(habaki) :素銅地金着二重の腰祐乗。 鍔(tsuba) :鉄地丸形日輪の図銀覆輪。 縁頭(futikasira):赤銅地蒲の図金色絵。 目貫(menuki) :赤銅地雲竜に多宝塔の図。 柄(tsuka) :鮫は黒染で親粒が付き巻鮫。柄巻は鹿革焦茶色の平巻。 鞘(saya) : 黒色の斜め千段刻み鞘。 「刀剣の状態 condition of blade」 研:概ね良好です。 傷:少し肌立った所が有りますが、欠点に成るような傷は有りません。
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Yamashiro-den · Yamashiro
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A calm, lustrous steel is the first thing the connoisseur's eye is meant to settle on with the Rai school: a finely forged ko-itame (小板目) worked until it is dense and refined, over which the ji-nie lies thickly in minute particles, fine chikei (地景) enter, and a nie-utsuri rises in the ji. This bright, refined jihada, the surface the trade reads as Rai-hada when its softer, looser patches intrude, is the constant beneath every manner the house produced. The school took shape in Kyoto in the mid-Kamakura period around the workshop of Rai Kuniyuki (來國行), the de facto founder of the line, whose chronology is reckoned from the Koan 1 (1278) tachi of his transmitted son. From Kuniyuki the Yamashiro-den tradition of late Kamakura was built, carried by Niji Kunitoshi, the two-character 國俊, traditionally his son and the nearest of the house to his hand; by the three-character Rai Kunitoshi, the first to crown his name with the character Rai, a practice all who followed took from him; and onward through Rai Kunimitsu (來國光), Rai Kunitsugu (來國次) and the lesser names Kunizane, Tomokuni, Kunihide and Mitsukane into the early Nanbokucho period. Whether the two Kunitoshi are one smith or two remains the classic open question of the school, argued from a span of dated work running about forty years from Koan 1 to Genko 1 (1321). What unites the house is a temper of restraint and activity at once, its life carried in the nie rather than in the height of the pattern. Against Kuniyuki's wide, suguha-toned ha and against the refined chu- or hoso-suguha of the three-character line, the smiths mix ko-choji, ko-gunome and small midare; ashi and yo enter densely, often as the Kyoto-style kyo-sakaashi (京逆足) that slants back toward the nakago, the opposite of the Bizen direction; the nioiguchi runs deep and bright, ko-nie attaches thickly, and kinsuji and sunagashi move through the body of the ha. The boshi is the school's most misjudged trait: a ko-maru drawn out by hakikake, the brushed nie of the point continuing the work of the ji below, often falling into midare-komi with a pointing tip. Muneyaki along the back recurs often enough that the records name it a habit of the Rai hand, and carving in the groove, suken or gomabashi with an added side hi, is a practice the texts call peculiar to Rai work. The strength of the nie within the ha, the utsuri rising as a nie-utsuri, and the kyo-sakaashi are precisely the marks that part Niji Kunitoshi's choji-dominant midare, which the old books said resembles the Bizen Ichimonji, from the Ichimonji itself.
Where the early masters keep this calm Kyoto register, the late line bends toward Soshu-den: Kunitsugu, counted among the Ten Brilliant Pupils of Masamune and named Kamakura-Rai, shows the strongest nie of ji and ha in the whole school, a notare mixed with gunome the earlier Rai never had. For a collector the house style is the recognition tool. An unsigned, o-suriage katana settles to Rai when the packed ko-itame, the fine nie over it, the standing utsuri and the kyo-sakaashi read together; the named smith is then fixed by degree. Niji Kunitoshi and the three-character Kunitoshi, both graded Sai-jo saku by Fujishiro, anchor the canon, the latter unusually approachable because his signed work is abundant and roughly half of it tanto, late Yamashiro work in its purest form. Kunimitsu, the most prolific and most versatile of the house, gives the impression of surpassing his father in force; Kunitsugu, graded Jo-jo saku, is the Soshu-facing edge whose signed tachi are scarce. Mitsukane, the Chudo Rai who withdrew to forge on Mt. Hiei, stands apart as the strong pole, his ji-nie laid thicker than Kunitoshi's or Kunimitsu's and likened upward to Awataguchi Yoshimitsu; the smaller Kunizane, Tomokuni and Kunihide carry the jigane a step into the Nanbokucho. The provenance roll is of the first rank, with blades worn by Ieyasu and held beside the Honjo Masamune, meibutsu such as the Aizen Kunitoshi, the Torikai Kunitsugu and the Midare-Mitsukane, and descent through the Owari and Kishu Tokugawa, the Maeda, Uesugi and Shimazu houses. Much sits locked as National Treasure and patrimony, yet the Juyo tier of the major names, and the whole record of the minor hands, remains a goal a serious collector can actually reach. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Kunitoshi國俊 | 1278-1288 | 99 |
| Kuniyuki國行 | 1259-1260 | 126 |
| Kunimitsu國光 | 1326-1351 | 262 |
| Kunitsugu國次 | 1311-1327 | 65 |
| Kunitoshi國俊 | 1288-1319 | 193 |
Yamashiro in the Kamakura period
Power sat in Kamakura, but taste was still made in Kyōto. The Awataguchi school’s pear-skin steel became a byword for perfection, and the Rai line supplied dignified tachi to the court, senior warriors, and the great temples alike.
A Hozon-certified blade judged to show notably superior workmanship and a better state of preservation. The bar is higher: re-tempered blades and most unsigned Muromachi/Edo works are excluded.
The NBTHK (Nihon Bijutsu Tōken Hozon Kyōkai, the Society for the Preservation of Japanese Art Swords) is a public-interest incorporated foundation founded in 1948 and supervised by Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs (Bunkachō); it is based at the Japanese Sword Museum in Tokyo. Its expert panels physically examine each submitted work (shinsa) and issue a certificate (kanteishō) ranking it by artistic and historical merit. NBTHK papers are the most widely recognized standard of authentication for Japanese swords and fittings.
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