Kuni

[jct3602]

Question for translations - Hawley lists something in excess of 20 different ways to inscribe "kuni".  Besides the preferences and quirks of individual smiths, would the way "kuni" character is presented be linkable to a particular school/town/province.  For instance, would a smith from Osafune generally use one particular form of kuni and smiths from Seki typically use another?  Might be useful in deciphering mei where part of the signature was obliterated by suriage or machi-okuri, with the 1st visible kanji being kuni and the two higher kanji with the province name being wiped away by filing.

 

John T

[John A Stuart]

Interesting question, I hope there is a study of it. John

[paulb]

Hi John

The only school I know of that had a specific way of writing the kuni character was the Enju school, where a number of their group used a unique symbol, it looks a little like the number 3, (I am sure there is a more technically correct term) within the kuni box which was specific to them. With other schools it is sometimes possible to differentiate between generations using variations within the Kuni character.

If there are any other school specific examples I am not aware of them but dont doubt others may know more.

[Jussi Ekholm]

Not exactly what you are asking for but this will be similar to what Paul said about Enju. I have a tachi that is signed Kuninobu, NBTHK gave it Nanbokucho attribution but kuni fumei (province unknown). So of course I've been trying to figure out as much as I can by myself, which is very hard for a novice. These are some of my findings, not sure how accurate they are.

 

Rai school uses a lot this type of kuni character, here are some variations of it in easy to see form.

 

 

Enju school uses a lot of this "3" type signature as Paul said.

 

 

Uda school uses a lot of this type of kuni character.

 

 

And finally pic of the mei of my tachi which looks bit like the way Rai school signs kuni but it's not quite like that I think.

 

[jct3602]

Hi - my thanks for all the assistance and information!

 

    The kuni character that I am trying to figure is on a 56.7cm tachi mei wak, which was shortened to that size; probably started perhaps around 62cm.  Got it 10 years ago as a mass of rust for cleaning practice; it was interesting having a very shallow marumune and significant curvature; slowly have cleaned it up over the years and will submit it to the next Burlingame Shinsa,

 

    The placement of the kuni character is at the same position as the 1st character of the reign year on the opposite side (almost filed away, but appears to be "10"), so I believe the kuni is not part of the smith's name but the 3rd character in a province designation, with the 1st 2 characters filed away, as were the 2 characters of the Imperial on the date side.

 

    The kuni has what looks like a big "J" in the middle of the box with 2 smaller j's one on top of the other to its right (including an attatched picture); if anyone has seen a similar construction for kuni and remembers the source I would appreciate the info.  The other possibility is of courses that the smith was illiterate and basically trying to copy something that a priest or other literate person had set down and just made a bad job of it.

 

Thanks, John T

[george trotter]

Hi John,

Maybe it is '....kuni ji? sa e mon jo...'. If so it may be by one of the many Sukesada smiths of Bizen. Maybe someone can confirm/correct my reading and then you can go through a list of the many Sukesada smiths (in Hawley or some other book) and hopefully see which one it is.  If you happen to identify a possible smith, the shape of the 'kuni' should help when (if) you can check the mei against a book of oshigata.

Hope this helps,

[jct3602]

Thanks George -

 

     I read it the same; also the apparent date is something like 15th year, and in the koto period most of the reigns that were that length or more were in the 16th century.  About 5 years ago at the Burlingame token kai a top flight polisher, Jimmy Hayashi, said his opinion was Mino.  Since then i have cleaned it up a great deal more, and am interested in what he thinks about it when i take it to the show in August.  Thank you all for your ideas and help.

 

john twineham