Kunikane Puzzle

[Jim Manley]

I have had this blade since the late 1980's and believe it will make an interesting posting for a group that loves a good mystery. I'll lay out my evidence first and my "theory" at the end. 

 

I acquired the blade in gunto naval mounts including a mon of two crossed hawk's feathers (Asano Clan). The blade came with a surrender tag. I would not normally include this but in this case believe it may be another clue to this story of this fine sword. 

 

The blade is signed (kukomon) Oshu Kokubu Wakabayashi ju Yamashiro Daijo Fujiwara Kunikane. I had the blade with me at the Chicago show in 2014 and Peter Bleed was kind enough to take a look at it there, obtain an oshigata, and send it off for comment. He doubted the signature was good and mentioned a dealer had acquired a lot of Kunikane blades, had them signed, and this may well be one of those.  Peter was kind enough to offer praise for the sword in his e-mail letting me know in all likelihood the signature was gemei. 

 

But in addition to the mei the blade carries a gold cutting test by Nagai Jiro Yoshimune, age 13.  I believe this young gentleman may have been the second son of the eighth shogun, Tokugawa Yoshimune.  If this is the case, Jiro Yoshimune, born January 21, 1716, may have engaged in the cutting test in conjunction with a "coming of age" ceremony in 1729. 

 

Also on the sword was an exquisite habaki signed "Ichinomino Nagatsuna w/kao.  My limited research yielded two things:  Nagatsuna was active 1721-1787 (which fits with the time line of both the rule of Tokugawa Yoshimune and the ceremony for his son Jiro) and an article at SamuriSwords.com showing a papered first generation Kunikane with a very similar signed habaki. 

 

The theory: A cutting test date of 1729 limits to possibilities to the first 7 generations of the Kunikane line. In preparation for the coming of age event for Jiro Tokugawa a Kunekane blade was likely pulled from the lot of unsigned blades owned by the Tokugawa family and the rarely used signature of the first generation was copied. Then a special habaki was made.  How the sword ended up in naval kai-gunto mounts can only be guessed at.     

[Jim Manley]

Additional photos 

[Jim Manley]

Apologies for not signing my original post. A couple more photos. 

[ROKUJURO]

Hi Jim,

a beautiful blade!

I read the MEI on the blade as KUNIKANE, but I cannot tell if it is SHOSHIN or GIMEI. I can read the name YOSHIOKA on the tag.

[Peter Bleed]

James,

Thanks very much for posting this blade. I remember it well and have thought of it often. It is a wonderful sword and certainly a document about sword use and treatment during the Edo period. I hope you will let me post some musings in a bit.

Peter

[Gakusee]

Hmm, it does look special that ensemble. Highly precious habaki and a cutting test would put into a question a gimei, at least to me. I would not have thought Kunikane is sufficiently highly rated to be counterfeited. Especially with numerous generations. Could it be a later generation? 
Peter -please do elaborate on the thoughts and arguments for gimei

 

[Shugyosha]

Hi Jim, what’s your reference for this Yoshimune being the name of the second son of the Shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune? 
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokugawa_Munetake

 

I’m not necessarily saying you are wrong but Wikipedia has a Munetake as his second son (Munetaka in Sansom) and neither mention the name in the tameshi mei as linked to him. 

 

[Vermithrax16]

1 hour ago, Gakusee said:

Hmm, it does look special that ensemble. Highly precious habaki and a cutting test would put into a question a gimei, at least to me. I would not have thought Kunikane is sufficiently highly rated to be counterfeited. Especially with numerous generations. Could it be a later generation? 
Peter -please do elaborate on the thoughts and arguments for gimei

 

Just about any smith there has ever been has counterfeit mei out there regardless of rating or reknown, bizarre, but true.

[Jussi Ekholm]

I do believe that is a very rare form of 1st generation signature. Here is the only confirmed example of that signature I am aware of (just note I don't focus on swords of this era) from Jūyō 22: Yoshihiko Usuki Facebook

[Rivkin]

Kunikane was actually gimei-ed; today he is not considered anything famous, but back in the days they were quite respected. Naotane's school did quite a few imitations of their work.

Even though the signature looks quite different, it has a proud and meticulous execution. 

I have a bit of issue with how high contrast the masame lines are. I thought that was something associated with shinshinto/lesser/later generations, but don't quote me on this.

Great habaki.

 

Kirill R.

[Shugyosha]

There’s something about the tameshi Mei that I find unconvincing also. If this was done by an important personage, then why is it a kinpun mei rather than inlaid and why is there no name of the person who supervised the test or other attendee as witness? 

Also, the test cut “tsuri-do” performed on a hanging body is very rare and apparently so difficult that only a couple of generations of the Yamada family could do it (quote Markus Sesko’s book on tameshigiri). So for a 13 year old to do what experienced and practised testers could not stretches its credibility for me. 

 

[Peter Bleed]

Well gee. The NMB is working its magic!. Jim has given us a really interesting sword to discuss and a range of 1) ideas, and 2) information has been presented.

I will say once again that this is a great sword. I like it and would gladly have it in my collection. (hint  hint)

But,

I just can't see this as shoshin. I'm not at all trying to criticize the piece. It is very good,

It presents the signature of the first Kunikane (who WAS, IS, and has to BE(!) considered one of the great swordsmiths of the earliest portion of the Shinto period - Michael, do your own history don't simply follow the Higo/Kansai doctrine). And it looks like - and by recollection IS - a really well- made sword. In fact, it is kind of 'over the top.' It looks very fresh and new. It has that 8&1 and all of the sho-dai's bells and whistles. And to my eye it looks kind pf new. I find it interesting to compare the "feel" of this signature to one on the blade that Jussi got us to look at (kiitos ystävä!).tachi-katana-mei aside,  this swords just looks new to me...

And I hate it when our evaluations come down to 'penmanship' but this signature looks off to me

And then there is all that stuff about on the other side. - a 13 year old boy cuts a hanging body in two - no date...

And if that ain't enough, there is that WORLD CLASS!  habaki.

This sword presents so many angles that it is hard to discuss. It doesn't slip easily into any category, but it is far too fabulous to be a "wrong." It has to be viewed as art - and great art at that.

Peter

P.S.

I was trying to be positive, here becasue I didn't want to be negative. As I re-read this, it strikes me as  -   ahhh -   mebbe a bit too positive.

 

[Toryu2020]

The name given in the tameshi mei appears to be Nagai Jirokichi Munenao - 永井　治郎吉　宗直 - I don't think there is a shogun connection here.

-t

[Vermithrax16]

Couple thoughts:

- Mei characters don't match any I can find for any gen Kunikane, maybe there are other references I don't have as always. The ana hole is also not in correct position, unless there is/are filled in ana I can't see in picture. Left justified mei as if to preserve the bo-hi is out of character as well for the maker.

- Rough masame hada more characteristic of late gen Kunikane (shinshinto), as 1-3rd gen often kantei to Hosho or Norikatsu in terms of grain and execution.

 

 

[Bruce Pennington]

I realize there's plenty of challenges with this one, but does anyone have an idea of the meaning of the circles emblem at the top? Stylized chrysanthemum maybe?

[Toryu2020]

Bruce -

That is a Kuyo mon used by many families...

-t

[Peter Bleed]

Its one of the Date crests.

P

[Bruce Pennington]

2 minutes ago, Toryu2020 said:

Bruce -

That is a Kuyo mon used by many families...

-t

Fascinating, Thomas, thanks!  Mon on blades. 

Just looked that up - 9 planets - and like you said, several family names and variations.

4 minutes ago, Peter Bleed said:

Its one of the Date crests.

Peter, I'm not familiar with that term - date crest.  What does that mean? (sorry for all the questions!)

[Toryu2020]

Date' family as in Date' Masamune the patrons of the Kunikane line...

-t

[Brian]

Have to consider the quality of that habaki and how much it would have originally cost. someone thought very highly of the sword, and it is beautifully made. Shoshin or not, it is a superb sword that I bet traveled among high class owners.

[Gakusee]

The blade seems to have good proportions. The mei is chiselled confidently - with gimei sometimes there is a wobbliness here or there or there is a slight misalignment of some sort in the nakago (as the forger tries hard but it is not natural for him to execute the mei - cf Tanobe sensei’s article in gimei).

Now, this is a very rare mei and why would a forger choose such a rare mei to inscribe rather than the more common variants? That baffles me significantly. 
I can also see numerous differences in the mei execution between the examples of Sendai Kunikane I have (with relevant parts) and this here. 
 

But very valid comments have been made about the tameshimei - unlikely and what not ... 

 

It could be that indeed that OP nakago was modelled somewhat after the sword Jussi posted (and there are different tagane techniques between the two) ...

 

 

[Hoshi]

Very interesting find Jim. 

 

The Habaki itself is a piece of art. All should be sent to Shinsa in Japan to get a clear picture. I'm in the shoshin camp based on gut feeling alone (with the tameshigiri part as a romantic exaggeration...)

 

I think you have here something very special. 

[Mark]

Takes me back...........  I never held this sword but i remember seeing it at the Chicago show a long time ago from across a table when i was walking bye. I remember the Habaki and remember it was a navy sword.   That must have been 30 years ago?  I have seen thousands of swords since and owned more that a thousand  yet i still remember this sword.  Strange how things stay with you, i can't remember what i did last week but recall this sword.

[Peter Bleed]

I'm still having fun with this sword. Thank you Jim! and I also appreciate the oshigata presented by Jussi and Michael. They convince me of the unusualness of Jim, Kunikane.It just ain't right IMHO

But yes, it is proudly presented. And yes it has all the bells and whistles. And there are stories about the Kunikane smiths working closely please the Date daimyo.... And there sure seems to be lots of evidence that late KKs were involved in - ahhh - dressing up swords by their ancestors.

To put all this together, I have to wonder IF (!) somebody like the 13th generation (it look pretty fresh to my eye) could have signed this sword - which had been made, then tested and dolled up with that great habaki  - years earlier. It might even be by the sho-dai and family records might have let the carver really know that the crest and the full titles signature were "right" for this sword.  The question I'd ask, is whether or not the tameshigiri-mei would survive that kind of "ato mei."

What an interesting sword!

Peter

 

 

[Kanenaga]

It's been my understanding that the kuyo mon, as depicted on this sword, is most strongly associated with the Hosokawa daimyo of Higo province.  I can't think why this should appear on a sword purporting to be by an early generation Kunikane. However, I have noted that Kunikane blades, especially the early ones, command a high price at DTI, so perhaps are worthy of counterfeiting.

[Jim Manley]

Thanks to all for the fantastic dialog. If my translation of the cutting test mei was a fumbling mess I apologize and it only makes me more pleased that this has spawned such interest and discussion. A part of my theory was of course that the cutting test was done by Jiro Yoshimune. I simply Google searched that name and up popped "Tokugawa Yoshimune" and the accompanying  data.  Perhaps a bit of misplaced optimism but it did pull my theory timeline together nicely.  

Jim

[Shugyosha]

5 hours ago, Kanenaga said:

It's been my understanding that the kuyo mon, as depicted on this sword, is most strongly associated with the Hosokawa daimyo of Higo province.  I can't think why this should appear on a sword purporting to be by an early generation Kunikane. However, I have noted that Kunikane blades, especially the early ones, command a high price at DTI, so perhaps are worthy of counterfeiting.

 

I have to say Kajihei came to mind but couldn't find any reference to him counterfeiting Kunikane.

[SteveM]

This to me looks like a particular kind of kuyō called ja-no-me kuyō (hollowed circles instead of solid circles).

https://kamon.myoji-yurai.net/kamonDetail.htm?kamonName=蛇の目九曜

 

The habaki is signed

越前大掾源長常　－ Echizen Daijō Minamoto Nagatsune. Family name was Ichinomiya. 

It is certainly an exquisite habaki. The sword looks nice too. 

 

 

 

[PNSSHOGUN]

On 12/21/2020 at 8:37 AM, Shugyosha said:

There’s something about the tameshi Mei that I find unconvincing also. If this was done by an important personage, then why is it a kinpun mei rather than inlaid and why is there no name of the person who supervised the test or other attendee as witness? 

Also, the test cut “tsuri-do” performed on a hanging body is very rare and apparently so difficult that only a couple of generations of the Yamada family could do it (quote Markus Sesko’s book on tameshigiri). So for a 13 year old to do what experienced and practised testers could not stretches its credibility for me. 

 

If you look closer the cutting test is inlaid in gold as usual, does not look like Kinpun Mei at all.

 

@Jim Manley can we please see the Kai Gunto mounts as well?

[Jean]

Changed all the « Kunekane » in « Kunikane » (Title included)