Echigo no Kami Kunitomo
越後守国儔 (Echigo no Kami Kunitomo)
Horikawa school smith in Kyoto (Yamashiro), pupil and, by tradition, nephew of Horikawa Kunihiro; active in the early 17th century.
Profile
Kunitomo was one of the leading pupils of Horikawa Kunihiro, founder of the Horikawa school, and tradition holds that he was his nephew. Like his master he came from Obi in Hyūga, and he worked in the Horikawa quarter of Kyoto during the Keichō and Genna eras, at the start of the 17th century. He received the honorary title Echigo no Kami and signed Echigo no Kami Fujiwara Kunitomo. He is regarded as the pupil whose style comes closest to Kunihiro's, and blades made on his master's behalf are attributed to him. According to school tradition, after Kunihiro's death he guided the youngest pupils, Izumi no Kami Kunisada and Kawachi no Kami Kunisuke, who went on to become founding figures of Osaka swordmaking. His blades show a well-defined itame covered in ji-nie with chikei, and a ko-nie hamon in notare and gunome midare. A katana signed jointly by Kunihiro and Kunitomo, designated an Important Cultural Property, is kept at the Kishū Tōshōgū shrine in Wakayama, and the Kyoto National Museum holds another blade bearing his signature.
Rankings
- Yoki-wazamono (very good) (Kaihō Kenjaku, 1797)
Swords available
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Echigo no Kami Fujiwara Kunitomo
Shintō katana by the leading pupil of Horikawa Kunihiro, between Keichō and Genna, 70.8 cm long, with NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon and a koshirae whose iron tsuba is carved with hanabishi. Kunitomo, holder of the Echigo no Kami title, was the leading pupil of Horikawa Kunihiro and, by tradition, his nephew as well. The originating seller further holds that he taught the first Kunisada and the first Kunisuke, two of the great Ōsaka names. His forging is described as finer and more refined than is usual in the Horikawa school. The blade measures 70.76 cm nagasa with 1.52 cm sori and is placed between the Keichō and Genna eras (1596-1624), with no date cut into the signature. The tang has five mekugi-ana, four of them plugged, which the originating seller himself calls a regrettable point of preservation. It holds an NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon certificate and comes with a koshirae whose iron tsuba is carved with hanabishi; no shirasaya is included.
36.2/100
€10,380
