Awataguchi Kunitomo
粟田口国友 (Awataguchi Kunitomo)
An Awataguchi smith in Kyoto of the early Kamakura period; the oldest of the school with surviving work and a rotating smith of the retired emperor Go-Toba.
Profile
According to tradition, Kunitomo was the eldest son of Kuniie, the first of the six Awataguchi brothers; he is placed around the Kenkyū era (1190-1199). He appears on the lists of rotating smiths (goban-kaji) of the retired emperor Go-Toba, first for the sixth month and later for the first. His tachi are slender and very elegant, with a deep koshizori bending towards the tip, funbari and a ko-kissaki; the ko-itame is very dense, with ji-nie, and the temper is a ko-nie suguha with ko-ashi. His works are extremely rare: they can be counted on one hand.
Monograph
Awataguchi Kunitomo (粟田口国友) A smith of around 1190-1199 with a handful of surviving blades and a great deal of tradition, told with the level of evidence of each fact. Read the monographNotable works
- Signed tachi of the Atsuta shrine: important cultural property.