.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
With original form dated 14 March 1957 confirming registration as a Juyo bijutsuhin [Important Art Object] and transfer of ownership on 9 February 1962, issued by the Bunkazai Hogo Iinkai [Committee for the Protection of Cultural Assets]; originally registered on 24 September 1941
An outstanding 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, Kunimitsu is said to have been either son or disciple of Kunitoshi; his extant signed and dated works range from 1327 to 1351. This unsigned blade shows the influence of the Soshu (Sagami Province) school of smiths based in the shogunal capital of Kamakura, with a pronounced wood-grain pattern and fluctuating hamon with strong nie [hard metal granules]; it is thought that this influence may have been indirect, perhaps through Rai Kunitsugu who had studied under Masamune.
An outstanding 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, Kunimitsu is said to have been either son or disciple of Kunitoshi; his extant signed and dated works range from 1327 to 1351. This unsigned blade shows the influence of the Soshu (Sagami Province) school of smiths based in the shogunal capital of Kamakura, with a pronounced wood-grain pattern and fluctuating hamon with strong nie [hard metal granules]; it is thought that this influence may have been indirect, perhaps through Rai Kunitsugu who had studied under Masamune.