The family
According to Japanese Wikipedia, the first Higo no Kami Kuniyasu was the third son of the first Kawachi no Kami Kunisuke (河内守国助, Kawachi no Kami Kunisuke) and the younger brother of the second, who is called 中河内 (Naka-Kawachi). His other brothers were 武蔵守国次 (Musashi no Kami Kunitsugu), the eldest, and 伊勢守国輝 (Ise no Kami Kuniteru), the youngest. The page carries notices that it lacks sources.
The generations
The Yamada cutting list, as recorded by English Wikipedia, names “Higo no Kami Kuniyasu I”: the first. That the list specifies “first” implies that there was at least a second. His name, his dates and where he worked are not recorded in any of the sources consulted.
His times
In Tomita Kiyama’s ranking of shintō swordsmiths (1933, published in 1935), in the manner of sumō, “Higo no Kami Kuniyasu” appears with Osaka as his place, among the west maegashira. The NBTHK dates the wakizashi of his that it showed in 2020 to the early Edo period.
Who he is confused with
- 堀川国安 (Horikawa Kuniyasu), of Kyoto, who according to the NBTHK was the third son of Horikawa Kunihiro, is written with a different character and is also ō-wazamono in the Yamada list.
- The folding knife 肥後守 (higonokami), which takes its name from the same title, is not a sword, according to English Wikipedia.