Kunimune

Kunimune ( Japanese 國 宗 / 国 宗 , also called Bizen Saburō ( 備 前 三郎 ), lived in the 13th century ) was a Japanese swordsmith of the Kamakura period .

life and work

Kunimune was a famous swordsmith from the Sanemune School of Bizen Province , which flourished in the middle Kamakura period. He was the third son (hence Saburō ) of Kunizane ( 国 実 ) and grandson of Sanemunes ( 実 宗 ). Together with the Ichimonji School ( 一 文字 派 Ichimonji-ha ) and Kunitsuna ( 國 綱 ) of the Awataguchi School ( 粟 田 口 派 Awataguchi-ha ) in the province of Yamashiro , he was called to Kamakura by Hōjō Tokiyori , the 5th regent of the shogunate . These men together founded the Sagami school of sword making there.

There are a number of swords that bear the Kunimune signature, but it looks like the name has been used by two or three successors as well. - Swords made by the first Kunimune show the general characteristics of swords from the middle Kamakura period, which also includes those of the Ichimonji School and the Oasafune School ( 長 船 派 Oasafune-ha ). The surface ( 地 肌 Jihada ) is also like that of the swords from the Ichimonji and Osafuna schools (長 船 派), although there are also unusual surface patterns, looking like root wood, and which have a structure in which the tempered part is does not differ from the untempered. The borderline is visible as a so-called "carnation distortion" ( 丁 子 乱 れ Chōji-midare ). On the one hand, some works show a Nioi ( 匂 ) effect, i.e. That is, they appear as fine structures on the boundary line between hardened and unhardened, while others show a Nie- ( 沸 ) effect, whereby the boundary line appears rather blurred. A few works show slight fluctuations in the boundary line, a gunome-midare ( 互 の 目 乱 れ ), and have a never finish. There are also swords with "white spots" ( 白 染 み Shiroshimi ), which are also called "white spots of Bizen Saburō". For a long time, these were the most noticeable features of the Kunimune swords. They are white spots along the borderline, especially at the tip of the sword. Despite the interest in it, swords showing this trait are not rated as highly as the other swords of Kunimune.

Second and third generation swords, named Kunimune, show fine grain and a straight line between the hardened and non-hardened part of the blade and a rounded tip. Among those belonging to the first generation there was a blacksmith named Nakahara Kunimune, whose signature appears on swords, and who can be dated to the Tokuji or Enkei period (1306-1310). Nakahara is actually the name of a place in Mikawa Province , but also a place in Bizen Province. It is unclear whether the name of the blacksmith is derived from a place or is actually a family name.

There are also swords from a Hōki Kunimune who could also be a pupil of Kunimune. His swords have an inscription made up of two characters and show a boundary line that fluctuates slightly or is straight with occasional fluctuations. The swords show a certain degree of never-ending and look more old-fashioned from the first Kunimune, so that it is questionable whether this Kunimune is really a student of his.

See also

• Nihontō , the Japanese sword.

literature

• Tazawa, Yutaka: Kunimune . In: Biographical Dictionary of Japanese Art . Kodansha International,