A Shodai Kunikiyo Katana (山城守藤原国清)

This katana is the work of the first-generation Kunikiyo, among the most celebrated swordsmiths of the early Edo period and one of the very few permitted to strike the sixteen-petal imperial chrysanthemum upon his tangs. Born in Shinshû Matsumoto as the son of the third-generation Sukemune, he travelled to Kyôto to study under the great Horikawa Kunihiro, receiving from his master the “Kuni” character that he carried for the rest of his career. When his patron Matsudaira Tadamasa was transferred to Fukui in Echizen, Kunikiyo followed, and it is there that he produced the body of work for which he is known today – which is why collectors speak of him as Echizen Kunikiyo, even though he signed with his Yamashiro no Kami title. He was granted the honorary title Yamashiro no Daijô in 1627 and elevated to Yamashiro no Kami the following year.

Dated to a good day in the second month of Kan’ei 9 (1632), this blade was forged at a pivotal moment in the realm: the retired shogun Tokugawa Hidetada had just died, and his son Iemitsu was consolidating sole authority over a newly settled Tokugawa peace. The imperial chrysanthemum at the centre of the nakago marks the rare standing Kunikiyo enjoyed – a privilege bestowed on only a handful of Shintô smiths. Comparatively few of his works carry a date from 1632, which makes this katana an unusually valuable reference point for his early maturity.

The blade is shinogi-zukuri with iori-mune, of standard width with a deep sori and a chû-kissaki, and carries a bô-hi running into a square kaku-dome. The forging is a tight itame mixed with mokume and flowing nagare-hada, standing out boldly across the surface with abundant ji-nie and a darkish steel. Across it runs Kunikiyo’s signature suguha-chô, shallow notare and short gunome breaking into it here and there, with deep nioi, strong nie gathering through the monouchi, and fine kinsuji and sunagashi threading the habuchi above a subdued nioiguchi – calm and elegant in equal measure. Designated NBTHK Jûyô Tôken at the 35th session in 1989 and shown publicly at the sword museum in the summer of 2002, it now passes onward, a confident and well-documented work from the hand of a master at the height of his powers.