A dedicated to the shrine of Amaterasu Omikami and dated Kan'ei 22 (1645) carries the signature by which the published sources tell the founder of the Kunikiyo line from his successors. They call it extremely valuable as documentary material and splendid in its workmanship, and they point to the character 國 in its signature: in the founder's hand the two crossed strokes inside the enclosure run parallel, unlike the second generation and later. Yamashiro no Kami Fujiwara Kunikiyo is said to have come from Matsumoto (some texts say Matsushiro) in Shinshu, the son of the third-generation Shimada Sukemune, and to have been called Kichiemon at first. He went up to Kyoto to study under Kunihiro and there changed his name to Kunikiyo. After Kunihiro's death he served the Matsudaira house of Takada in Echigo and followed his lord to Fukui in . He received the title Yamashiro Daijo in the second month of Kan'ei 4 (1627) and advanced to Yamashiro no Kami the following year, with permission to cut the chrysanthemum crest.
Of the smiths who carried that title through several generations, the published sources state that the first had the highest skill and the second came next. The generations kept one style and signed so alike that some works are hard to tell apart, and for that reason the texts name the founder piece by piece. A is called one of his superior works, and spears from his hand are rare. A is called simply the first generation among same-name successors of the third and fourth generation. A in kata- and kata- construction is appraised as his, the features of Kunikiyo clearly shown in its and . A signed with the priest's name nyudo is called a work of his late years, a typical piece, and very rare in its signature.
The published sources say he was best at , though works in are also found. In the a with small is tempered over an that stands slightly and flows in places, gathered, the somewhat tight with , the running straight and turning back in an . On a carved the becomes shallowly with a little , well covered in , running, the flowing beneath it the texts read as his.
Most of his designated blades, however, carry the the texts always add. A wide with a gold-inlaid futatsu-do-otoshi cutting test is tempered in mixed with , the turning angular toward the , deep in , the thick with coarser mixed in, the slightly frayed, and abundant and the subdued. The published sources say this recalls the typical work of the second-generation Yasutsugu, bold and powerful, and call it a piece that shows the founder's skill to the full, outstanding among his work. A forged of nanban-tetsu carries a large with and deep and is called a fine example among the first generation's works, and another shows a blackish, coarse-textured under a thick with .
The is the northern steel the published sources name : an in which stands out, the open, the whole steel taking a blackish cast. On a dated Kan'ei 21 (1644) the forging is tight, with and well-applied , and the steel is dark. Several blades declare in their signature that they were forged of nanban-tetsu, the imported steel. A with a Kan'ei 6 (1629) cutting-test inscription is placed by the texts just after he became Yamashiro no Kami, a superior work with more spirit than his usual output. Carvings recur, Myoo and the among them, and the texts find them well executed. The note on the adds a scholar's reservation: although the common view counts him among Kunihiro's pupils, works that compel a necessary relationship to Kunihiro are exceedingly rare among those examined.
Fujishiro rates him Jo-jo . His designated record holds thirteen blades, one and two swords in the Imperial collection, and the dedicated to Amaterasu Omikami records his tie to that shrine. Signed and , and often dated, inscribed with nanban-tetsu or carrying a cutting test, the founder's blades are few beside the long run of the name. Because the generations sign so alike, the published sources' piece-by-piece attributions and the 國 tell are what a collector relies on, and a blade by the first Kunikiyo comes to the market only from time to time.