On this page
Kantei keys
- Sugata
- A gentle, elegant tachi shape: koshizori, funbari, a sori that lessens towards the point and a small kissaki. HD
- Jihada
- Two types: refined, very dense ko-itame, with fine ji-nie, or well-forged itame. HD
- Hamon
- Suguha-chō with ko-midare and ko-chōji, or ko-midare and ko-chōji with a small midare; frequent ashi and yō, thick nioi, plenty of ko-nie and kinsuji. The small tobiyaki above the temper appear in him earlier than in the Kyoto smiths of the following generation. HD
- Bōshi
- Tends to sugu, with ko-maru-kaeri; in the ken, almost yakizume. HD
- Nakago and mei
- A tang shaped like a pheasant’s thigh (kijimomo). The signature, 国永 (Kuninaga), is above the mekugi hole, on the back side. HD
His signature
- The 国 (kuni) is written in two ways, compressed vertically or elongated and angular; in both, the first stroke and the last join in an L shape, something uncommon that the journal 刀剣美術 (Tōken Bijutsu) already pointed out in its no. 604.
- The NBTHK proposes two explanations: that another smith inherited the signature, or that it changed with age.
- Sesko divides his signed blades into four categories: the Tsurumaru; the Ise tachi and the ken; an unshortened tachi of the Ikeda of Bizen; and two tachi that are Important Art Objects. Honma believed that the Ise tachi is the earliest signed blade.
Who he is related to
Sesko notes that already in Kanenaga there are features that recall Bizen, such as a true chōji with many variations in the monouchi, and that the nijūba of the bōshi links him to Sanjō. For the NBTHK, his tobiyaki herald Awataguchi Kuniyasu, Ayanokōji Sadatoshi and Rai Kuniyuki.