Die Provinz vor dem Namen
A Katana Signed Hizen Kunihiro
A katana in an old black mounting, its hilt wrapped in black over pale rayskin. The tang is signed Hizen Kunihiro, 肥前国広. Kunihiro is a familiar name at the beginning of the Shinto period, and it belongs to more than one smith. Here the province stands before it.
Die Klinge
The blade is shinogi-zukuri and has a shallow curve. The tang is ubu. The ground is a close, even grain, the Hizen hada. The hamon is suguha with sunagashi, worked in nie.
Der Name
Kunihiro is a name with several bearers. The Tokyo National Museum holds a wakizashi signed simply 国広 by Horikawa Kunihiro, of the Momoyama period, and a tanto of the Kamakura period by a Soshu Kunihiro (Cultural Heritage Online). On its own, a name of two characters does not settle which Kunihiro is meant.
On this tang the name does not stand alone. Hizen, in the northwest of Kyushu, was ruled from Saga by the Nabeshima, and from the early seventeenth century it had its own school of smiths around Tadayoshi. Indexes of smiths list a Kunihiro of Hizen in the Shoho era (1644 to 1648), named as a pupil of Hirosada of that school. The signature recorded for him is longer, with his residence in the province and the clan name Fujiwara. Whether the shorter signature on this blade is his, or that of another Kunihiro in Hizen, is a question for shinsa.
Before the signature was read in full, the collection had placed the blade in Hizen from its grain and its hamon. The two now agree.
Die Montierung
The koshirae is old and black, a working mounting rather than a display piece. The wrap of the hilt is ito lacquered black over white rayskin, with large menuki of flowers beneath it. The tsuba is of dark iron in a lobed shape, carved with blossoms in relief, a work of the Bushu Ito school. The fuchi is worked with a dragon outlined in gold.
Blade and mounting share a tone, restrained and dark. Whether they were made together cannot be read from the photographs.
The Katana Signed Hizen Kunihiro
Katana. Signiert Hizen Kunihiro (肥前国広). Shinogi-zukuri, Hizen-Hada, Suguha mit Sunagashi in Nie-deki. Ubu-Nakago. Shinto. Ohne Papier. Alte schwarze Koshirae mit lackierter Tsuka-Ito, Eisentsuba der Bushu-Ito-Schule. Privatsammlung, erworben in Europa, zuvor in einer europäischen Sammlung.
In the collection
- Type
- Nihonto › Katana
- School
- Hizen
- Period
- Edo-ZeitEdo-Zeit › Frühe Edo-Zeit
- Blade period
- Shinto
