Higo no Kami Kuniyasu

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Higo no Kami Kuniyasu (肥後守国康) worked in Ōsaka, in Settsu province, during the second half of the 17th century; his known work centres on the Kanbun era (1661–1673). The swordsmith directories list him as a son of the first Kawachi no Kami Kunisuke (河内守国助), one of the early masters of Ōsaka shintō, and as a younger brother of the second Kunisuke, known as Naka-Kawachi (中河内). He was thus trained in the Kunisuke school and shares its manner: a broad chōji-midare hamon, at times with the fist-shaped kobushigata chōji (拳形丁子) associated with his brother, and with kinsuji and sunagashi in the hardened edge. The hada is usually a tightly forged ko-itame. He signed with his title, Higo no Kami Kuniyasu. He is counted as the first generation of the name.