Period13901596ProvinceEtchu

1390–1596

Kokuhō
Jūyō Bunkazai1
Jūyō Bijutsuhin
Gyobutsu2
Tokubetsu Jūyō
Jūyō Tōken36
39Designated works
18Named makers
97%97% signed
100%100% specific makers
5On the market

Overview

Where closes with the generations, the chapter that follows opens in early and runs to the end of the period. The draw the boundary plainly: works that descend no later than are called , while everything thereafter is referred to simply as Uda. This later phase is the long continuation in , where the -named line that began with Ko-Nyūdō Kunimitsu of Uda District in Yamato extends across successive generations sharing single names. Kunihisa, read by the as son of Kunifusa and active from the Ōei era, runs through several generations down to the close of ; Kunimune carries from into with dated pieces around Bunmei; and the later registers add Kuninaga, Kuniyoshi, Hirakuni, Sanekuni, Kunikiyo, Tomohisa, and Kunitsugu, names the sources place from Eikyō through Tenshō. Because individuals individuate little, a signed blade of this phase is appraised as the manner of its dated moment rather than the hand of one smith.

The steel of the later phase keeps the school's northern foundation while standardizing its expression. The describe mixed with , the grain overall standing () and tending to flow (), with adhering and entering; the leans blackish, and a stands distinctly in the , sometimes with mottling. Over this the temper most often opens as a -based or line into which runs continuously from base to point, and entering, adhering along a bright , with and occasional . A second, more agitated face mixes , and pointed with thick , and that on a Kuninaga tend toward . Against the earlier this reads more regularized: where the early generations stayed close to their Yamato and models with archaic , the later hands settle into the elongated Ōei form (broad for its width, with ) and, in the , the wide of advancing . The Kunitsugu shows this drift toward coarseness directly, its standing and rough, the uneven and the temper darkening at the edge.

To separate later Uda from is to read the steel before the temper. The whitish, standing with its blackish cast and returns a blade to this phase even when a -laden recalls at first glance, and a tightly forged may, as with the better Kunihisa pieces, approach Kunimitsu or Kunitsugu before the dark northern grain brings it home. Distinctive markers recur across the named smiths: the that becomes pointed and is tempered down with a long , the flaring (susodoshii) , somewhat coarse rounded mixed within the , and the particular shaping of the character in the signature. Dated and signed pieces anchor the chronology, from a Kunihisa of Ōei 7 to a Kunimune placed around Bunmei and Hirakuni and Sanekuni works set near Tenbun. Provenance for the phase tends toward settled holding, with examples resting in the Imperial Collection rather than circulating.

Designations

39 designated · 18 named makers

Designation standing

0.20 weighted designation index across 39 designated works

Ranks 2 of 2 periods in Uda

Below the Uda lineage (0.28)

Provenance

3 works with recorded provenance

Provenance standing

1.92 provenance index across 3 provenanced works

Ranks 2 of 2 periods in Uda

Below the Uda lineage (1.97)

Featured masters

Ranked by elite standing (top-tier designations weighted)

  1. 1.Kunihisa國久1394-142810
    25.6% of school
  2. 2.Kunimune國宗1429-14796
    15.4% of school
  3. 3.Kunitsugu國次1469-14873
    7.7% of school
  4. 4.Kunifusa國房1455-14573
    7.7% of school
  5. 5.Kunimune國宗1394-14283
    7.7% of school
  6. 6.Kuninaga國長1394-14282
    5.1% of school
  7. 7.Hirakuni平國1492-15011
    2.6% of school
  8. 8.Hirakuni平國1532-15551
    2.6% of school
  9. 9.Kunitsugu國次1394-14281
    2.6% of school
  10. 10.Kuniyoshi國吉1429-14411
    2.6% of school
  11. 11.Kunikiyo國清1429-14411
    2.6% of school
  12. 12.Sanekuni眞國1492-15011
    2.6% of school
  13. 13.Sanekuni眞國1492-15011
    2.6% of school
  14. 14.Tomotsugu友次1532-15551
    2.6% of school
  15. 15.Tomohiro友弘1394-14281
    2.6% of school
  16. 16.Tomohisa友久1394-14281
    2.6% of school
  17. 17.Tomohisa友久1394-14281
    2.6% of school
  18. 18.Moriyoshi守吉1394-14281
    2.6% of school

Currently available

Other periods in Uda