Kantei

National Treasures, meibutsu and shrines

Famous works

Three National Treasures, some twenty Important Cultural Properties and three tantō with their own names.

On this page
  1. Documented works
  2. The three National Treasures
  3. The named tantō
  4. The count
  5. Gallery

Documented works

WorkDesignationWhere it is
Tachi 来国光 (Rai Kunimitsu), 1327 (Karyaku 2)National TreasureTokyo National Museum (F-21)
Tachi 来国光 (Rai Kunimitsu), shortenedNational TreasureKyūshū National Museum (F1)
Tantō “Uraku Rai Kunimitsu” (有楽来国光, Uraku Rai Kunimitsu)National Treasure—
Katana with a gold attribution by Hon'ami KōshitsuImportant Cultural PropertyTokyo National Museum (F-17)
Katana shortened by Umetada MyōjuImportant Cultural PropertyKyoto National Museum (E甲215)
Tantō “Shiokawa Rai Kunimitsu” (塩河来国光, Shiokawa Rai Kunimitsu)Important Cultural Property—
Tantō “Ikeda Rai Kunimitsu” (池田来国光, Ikeda Rai Kunimitsu)Important Cultural PropertyOwner not on record
Tantō of the Akimoto family, of 24.5 cmImportant Cultural PropertyOwner not on record
TachiImportant Cultural PropertyShiogama shrine (鹽竈神社, Shiogama Jinja), Miyagi
TachiImportant Cultural PropertyFutarasan shrine (二荒山神社, Futarasan Jinja), Nikkō
TachiImportant Cultural PropertyAkiba-san Hongū Akiba Jinja (秋葉山本宮秋葉神社), Hamamatsu
TantōImportant Cultural PropertyHiro Hachiman shrine (広八幡神社, Hiro Hachiman Jinja), Wakayama
Unsigned katana attributed to KunimitsuImportant Cultural PropertyFukuyama Museum of Art (ふくやま美術館, Fukuyama Bijutsukan)
Tachi of the Matsubara shrine (Saga), another of the Maeda house and a tantō of 1330Important Cultural PropertyWhereabouts unknown according to the Japanese Wikipedia
Jūyō Tōken tachi of about 68.8 cmNBTHK Jūyō TōkenExhibited at the NBTHK Sword Museum in 2019

The three National Treasures

The 1327 tachi came from the Tokugawa shōgun: in 1899 Tokugawa Iesato gave it to the crown prince, the future Emperor Taishō. Sesko gives it a nagasa of 78.8 cm and a sori of 3.6 cm; e-Museum and ColBase, 79.1 and 3.5 cm.

The Kyūshū tachi measures 80.7 cm: it belonged to the Matsudaira house (Matsudaira Tadaaki, of Himeji, in 1639), then to the Iwasaki and to Yamagata Aritomo, who gave it to the Emperor Meiji in 1885; from there it passed to the museum. Sesko gives it as 80.6 cm and believes that before it was shortened it exceeded 90.

The “Uraku” tantō belonged to Oda Urakusai Nagamasu (1547-1622). The page on the Rai school in the Japanese Wikipedia says that Toyotomi Hideyoshi gave it to him; another page of the same Wikipedia, that it was Toyotomi Hideyori.

The named tantō

Three tantō bear meibutsu names: the “Uraku”, a National Treasure; the “Shiokawa”, with a habaki signed by Umetada Jusai, and the “Ikeda”, of 26.3 cm and in kanmuri-otoshi-zukuri, which belonged to Ikeda Terumasa (1564-1613); the last two are Important Cultural Properties. It remains to be confirmed that all three appear in the Kyōhō meibutsuchō (享保名物帳, Kyōhō meibutsuchō) and not in a later supplement.

The count

Sesko counts 26 works designated by the State (3 National Treasures and 23 Important Cultural Properties) and slightly more than 200 by the NBTHK: some 180 Jūyō Tōken and more than 20 Tokubetsu Jūyō Tōken. With that he equals his father. The Kyūshū National Museum gives 3 National Treasures and 21 Important Cultural Properties. The difference may be due to the date of the count or to the works whose whereabouts are unknown.

He does not appear in the Yamada cutting list: the Kunimitsu who appears in it is 摂州国光 (Sesshū Kunimitsu), another swordsmith. Between 1998 and 2024, the 誌上鑑定 (Shijō Kantei), the kantei competition of the NBTHK journal, proposed blades of his in four rounds: two different blades in all.