A Rai Kunitoshi Tantō (来国俊)

This tantō by Rai Kunitoshi stands among the finest blades ever to pass through the Unique Japan archive. Rai Kunitoshi is one of the towering figures in the history of Japanese swordmaking – ranked saijō-saku (grandmaster) by Fujishiro, and the maker of four blades designated as Kokuhō (Japanese National Treasures) out of only 110 such swords in existence. Two of those National Treasure blades are tantō, and this example bears a striking resemblance to them: the same uchi-zori inward curvature, the same graceful furisode-nakago, and almost identical proportions at 24.1cm to the National Treasure’s 24.5cm.

The blade is constructed in hira-zukuri with a mitsu-mune – a relatively rare three-ridged spine associated with the Yamashiro school of the Kotō period. The jihada is a flowing nagare-hada with o-itame, rich with ji-nie and the signature nie-utsuri of Rai Kunitoshi. The hamon is a tight hoso-suguha in ko-nie-deki with an exceptionally bright nioiguchi, and the boshi resolves into an elegantly hardened ko-maru-kaeri with some nijuba – a textbook expression of the Rai school at its peak. Both faces carry a bōhi that runs with kaki-nagashi into the tang.

The blade was certified NBTHK Jūyō Tōken at the 29th session in December 1982 and carries a sayagaki by the late Dr. Honma Junji (Kunzan sensei), former chairman of the NBTHK, inscribed at the same time. It was also published in the inaugural NTHK-NPO Yūshutō catalogue in 2015, and polished by renowned sword polisher Sasaki Takushi in 2016. The hakogaki (box inscription) notes a close historical connection to a talisman sword made by the same smith and worn by Matsudaira Nobutsuna (1596–1662), now preserved at Hikawa-jinja in Inamachi.