Kantei

Smith of Yamashiro (Kyoto) · late Heian and early Kamakura

Awataguchi Kunitomo (粟田口国友)

The eldest brother of the Awataguchi school of Kyoto, rotating smith of the retired emperor Go-Toba around 1190-1199 and the oldest of the school with surviving work: what is documented, the tradition, his style and his few blades

Kunitomo forged at Awataguchi, in Kyoto, around the Kenkyū era (1190-1199). Tradition makes him the eldest son of Kuniie and the first of the brothers of the school; he is the oldest Awataguchi smith with surviving work, and his certain blades can be counted on the fingers of one hand.

1190-1199
Active around
1, at Atsuta
Important Cultural Property tachi
75.7 cm
Nagasa of the Atsuta tachi
1213
Death, according to a book of 1792
On this page
  1. Quick profile
  2. In short

Quick profile

Name
Awataguchi Kunitomo AT
Kanji and reading
粟田口国友 (Awataguchi Kunitomo) AT
Period
Late Heian and early Kamakura, around the Kenkyū era (1190-1199) AT
Province
Yamashiro: Awataguchi, in Kyoto AT
School
Awataguchi (粟田口派, Awataguchi-ha) AT
Family and master
Eldest son of Kuniie, the de facto founder of the school, according to tradition; brother of Hisakuni and Kuniyasu, father of Norikuni AT
Rotating smith
Of Go-Toba: the sixth month in the first list and the first month in the list of 24 smiths AT
Documented fact and tradition
Documented: the signed tachi of the Atsuta shrine and its designation. Tradition: the kinship of the brothers, which no document of the time proves, and the date of his death AT

In short

According to tradition, Kunitomo was the eldest son of Kuniie and the first of the so-called six Awataguchi brothers. The retired emperor Go-Toba summoned him to his system of rotating smiths (御番鍛冶, goban-kaji). His tachi are slender and very elegant, with a deep koshizori, a very dense ko-itame and a ko-nie suguha, according to Markus Sesko; English Wikipedia says they resemble those of Sanjō Munechika. His most famous blade is a signed tachi of the Atsuta shrine, in Nagoya, an Important Cultural Property since 1950.

Sections

  1. Awataguchi · Go-Toba · Saemon Life and times The Awataguchi school, Go-Toba’s lists of rotating smiths, his name and the dates given by a book of 1792.
  2. Dense ko-itame · ko-nie suguha Work and style The kantei keys to his tachi: sugata, jihada, hamon, bōshi, nakago and signature, and the signatures that are not his.
  3. Atsuta Jingū · Important Cultural Property Famous works The tachi of the Atsuta shrine, the other signed or attributed blades and a tachi in the Tokyo National Museum that bears his name without being his.
  4. Bibliography and credits Sources The sources consulted on 4 October 2026, with their link.