Onizuka Yoshikuni

Profile

Onizuka Yoshikuni was a shintō-period swordsmith based in Yanagawa, the castle town of the Tachibana in Chikugo province. Tradition holds that he came from Tanagura in Mutsu, where Tachibana Muneshige held his fief until he regained Yanagawa in 1620, and that he moved south with his lord. His name is tied to the group of smiths who worked in Chikugo under the family name Onizuka (鬼塚), whose blades tend to show a nearly straight hamon. In his later years his son, the second Yoshikuni, is thought to have often forged on his father's behalf. A wakizashi by him is held at the Yanagawa Kobunshokan (柳川古文書館), the historical archive of Yanagawa.