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His blades
| Work | Rank | Where it is | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tachi 太刀 銘国友 (tachi mei Kunitomo) | Important Cultural Property (重要文化財, jūyō bunkazai), since 29 August 1950 | Atsuta shrine (Atsuta Jingū), Nagoya | No. 30 of the exhibition “Kyō no katana” (Kyoto National Museum, 2018); 75.7 cm, sori 2.2 cm, according to Sesko |
| Signed tachi, the second certain one | Tokubetsu jūyō tōken (NBTHK) | Not recorded | 74.3 cm, sori 2.2 cm |
| Unsigned tachi attributed to him | Tokubetsu jūyō tōken (NBTHK) | Not recorded | 76.6 cm, sori 1.6 cm |
| Tachi 太刀 銘国友造 (tachi mei Kunitomo tsukuru) | Important Art Object (重要美術品, jūyō bijutsuhin) | 黒川古文化研究所 (Kurokawa Ko-bunka Kenkyūjo, Kurokawa Institute of Ancient Cultures), Nishinomiya | 72.4 cm; disputed attribution |
The tachi of the Atsuta shrine
It is the most famous example of his work, according to Sesko. It has been an Important Cultural Property since 29 August 1950, and the official record gives it as a work of the Kamakura period. In 2018 it was piece no. 30 in the “Awataguchi and Yoshimitsu” section of the great exhibition “Kyō no katana” at the Kyoto National Museum.
A disputed attribution
The tachi signed 国友造 (Kunitomo tsukuru) at the Kurokawa Institute does not convince Honma, who doubts that it is Awataguchi work and points to a Ko-Bizen smith of the same period; Sesko, on the strength of its shape and its nakago, would accept it as by Awataguchi Kunitomo.
Another Kunitomo
The Tokyo National Museum holds a tachi that is an Important Cultural Property, designated on 14 December 1931, signed 左衛門尉藤原国友 (Saemon-no-jō Fujiwara Kunitomo) and dated Shōchū 1 (1324). Its record does not give it as Awataguchi work, and the date places it some 130 years after Kunitomo: it is another smith, and it is not known whether he was of the same family.
In the treatises
The sources consulted record no blade of his in the Kyōhō meibutsuchō (享保名物帳) or in the wazamono lists.