Yamashiro no Kami Kunikane

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The son of the first Sendai Kunikane, the second master of the line was born in 1612 and died in 1672. The Hongō family worked for the Date in Sendai, in Mutsu province, and traced its descent to the Hōshō school of Yamato; his father had trained in Kyoto under Etchū no Kami Masatoshi. He took over the forge in 1645, when his father retired, and later received the title Yamashiro no Kami, signing 山城守藤原国包 (Yamashiro no Kami Fujiwara Kunikane). Two-character Kunikane signatures are known from before the title, as is the form 奥州仙台住藤原国包 (Ōshū Sendai-jū Fujiwara Kunikane). He kept to the house style: a very even masame hada inherited from the Hōshō, and a suguha hamon with sunagashi and doubled lines. From his generation on, the name is read Kunikane, and the family carried it into the Meiji era. The Sendai City Museum holds his work, including a naginata designated a cultural property of Miyagi Prefecture.