Kantei
Front half of the blade, with the temper line in gentle waves up to the point.

Miyazaki Prefectural Museum of Nature and History · © Miyazaki Prefectural Museum of Nature and History

Sōshū-den · kantei keys

Work and style

What the Tokyo National Museum says of his katana is the only description of his style in the sources consulted; the photos from the Miyazaki museum show two of his blades.

On this page
  1. Kantei keys
  2. What is not on record
  3. Gallery

Kantei keys

  • Sugata. The katana of the Tokyo National Museum is a sturdy blade with a shallow curve.
  • Jihada. Fine ko-itame.
  • Hamon. Gunome-midare in thick nie.
  • Style. For the museum, he excelled in a bold Sōshū-den, and that katana is a typical piece of his.
  • Mei. 出羽大掾藤原国路 (Dewa Daijō Fujiwara Kunimichi), on the Tokyo katana, on the two Miyazaki wakizashi and on the designated blades. On his earliest blades, 平安城住国路 (Heianjō jū Kunimichi), according to Sesko.
  • Nakago. The two Miyazaki wakizashi have a single hole in the tang and bear the signature on one side; the other side is plain.

What is not on record

The sources consulted do not describe the bōshi of his blades, nor his jihada or his hamon beyond the Tokyo katana, nor do they give keys for telling the first Kunimichi from the second.