SIGNED RAI KUNITOSHI, KAMAKURA PERIOD (LATE 13TH CENTURY)

Details

A YAMASHIRO TACHI
REGISTERED AS A JUYO BIJUTSUHIN [IMPORTANT ART OBJECT]
Signed Rai Kunitoshi, Kamakura Period (Late 13th Century)
Sugata [configuration]: shinogi-zukuri [longitudinal ridge], ko-kissaki [small point], iori-mune [shallow peaked back]

Kitae [forging pattern]: tight itame [wood grain] with jinie [hard metal granules over the surface of the blade] and nie utsuri [nie-like reflections]

Hamon [tempering pattern]: hososuguha [straight, narrow line] with choji [clove] patterns, backward-pointing ashi [lines projecting into the hardened edge], and ko-ashi [small ashi]

Boshi [tip]: komaru [gently turned-back temper line]

Nakago [tang]: suriage [cut down] with indistinct yasurime [file marks], two mekugi- ana [holes for retaining pegs], the heel cut off at right angles, signed between the two mekugi-ana to the left of the ridge Rai Kunitoshi

Fitted with a two-tier gold and gilt-copper habaki [collar]

Shirasaya [plain wood scabbard] with inscription by Honma Kunzan dated October 1963 including the information that this tachi was formerly owned by the Inaba family.

Red-lacquered handachi koshirae [set of mounts] comprising: red-lacquered saya [scabbard]; tsuka [hilt] covered in black-lacquered sharkskin wrapped in gold and brown silk forming a lozenge pattern; gold kabutogane [fitting at the end of the hilt] with file-mark decoration; shakudo [copper-gold alloy] and gold fuchi [hilt collar]; red-lacquered horn koikuchi [scabbard mouth]; red-lacquered kurikata [cord fitting]; gold ishizuki [scabbard butt] with file-mark decoration; shakudo tsuba [hand guard] in the form of an aoi hollyhock and with four inome ['boar's eye'] piercings and a gold rim, diameter 2 15/16in. (7.5cm.), late Edo period (19th century)
Overall length of blade: 35 7/8in. (91.1cm.)
Nagasa [length from tip to beginning of tang]: 28 5/16in. (71.9cm.)
Sori [curvature]: 1in. (2.5cm.)
Motohaba [width at start of tempered edge]: 1 3/16in. (3cm.)
Sakihaba [width before tip]: 11/16in. (1.8cm.) (2)

Provenance

Formerly in the possession of the Inaba family of daimyo [feudal lords] in Yamashiro province; at the time of its registration (see below) still in the possession of Viscount Inaba; see Fukunaga Suiken (Katsumi), Daimyoke, chomeike token mokuroku [Catalogue of swords owned by daimyo and other famous families] (Tokyo, Yuzankaku, 2000), pp. 26-9.

Literature

Honma Junji and Hiroi Yuichi, Nihonto juyo bijutsuhin zenshu [A complete collection of Japanese swords registered as Important Art Objects], vol. 1, (Tokyo, Seishosha, 1985), cat. no. 87
Manno Art Museum, Manno korekushon senshu [Selected Masterpieces of the Manno Collection] (Osaka, Manno Kinen Bunka Zaidan, 1988), cat. no. 183

Exhibited

With original certificate of registration as a Juyo bijutsuhin [Important Art Object] on 10 May 1938

Special notice

Prospective buyers of this lot should be aware that as an 'Important Art Object' this Lot cannot, as matters presently stand, leave Japan. Successful buyers are themselves responsible for registering their acquisition of the lot with the Cultural Agency of the Ministry of Education of the Japanese Government within 14 days of the date of the sale. This lot is subject to Japanese consumption tax at 5% on the hammer price and is zero rated for United Kingdom VAT.

Further details

Prospective buyers of this Lot should be aware that as an 'Important Art Object' this Lot cannot, as matters presently stand, leave Japan. Successful buyers are themselves responsible for registering their acquisition of the Lot with the the Cultural Agency of the Ministry of Education of the Japanese Government within 14 days of the date of the sale. This Lot is subject to Japanese consumption tax at 5 on the hammer price and is zero rated for United Kingdom VAT

Lot Essay

Kunitoshi was a leading member of the Rai school of swordsmiths, the third of the lines (after those of Awataguchi and Sanjo Munechika) active in Kyoto (Yamashiro province) during the Kamakura period. There has long been heated controversy about the identity of the smith or smiths using this signature, some believing that the respective signatures Rai Kunitoshi (as here) and Kunitoshi indicate the work of two different individuals (sometimes Kunitoshi is held to have been the father of Rai Kunitoshi), while others believe that both signatures were used by the same smith. Whatever the truth of the matter, there are slight but undeniable differences in the style of swords with and without the additional character Rai. Those with the Rai typically exhibit a straightish hamon (tempering pattern) while those signed with only two characters are often in the choji [clove outline] style with much nie activity. Dated Kunitoshi blades are known from about 1288 until 1322 and it is sometimes suggested that the name was used by two successive generations. The style of the signature on this tachi suggests a date in the closing years of the thirteenth century. The structure of both the forging pattern and the tempered area is outstanding even when set against other Kunitoshi blades, making this one of the most important Japanese swords to be offered at auction in recent years.

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