A signed Uda Kunimune carries the date Bunmei 11 (1479) on the reverse of a tang that has only very slightly been moved up at the , and the published sources call it valuable material for research into the smith and his school, sound in both and . Kunimune is one of the core names of the Uda school. That school, the published sources record, was founded around the Bunpō era at the end of the period, when Ko-Nyūdō Kunimitsu moved north from Uda District in Yamato to , and it flourished thereafter through the period. The first-generation Kunimune is held to be Kunimitsu's son and the younger brother of Kunifusa. The name then continued through several generations, from the period through the late and into the era. A signed Uda Kunimune is therefore appraised on shape and the character of and , and the published sources read each blade as the school manner of a period rather than as one man's hand.
Under every blade lies the on which the appraisal turns. It is an that flows and tends to stand, at times with , mixing in toward the edge, adhering and intermingling. This Yamato-derived steel is what returns an Uda blade to its school. Through the temper, run on four of his five signed blades. The more active blades carry a mixed with , and a pointed tendency, entering and well adhered.
The earliest of the signed blades is an with a fine-chiselled four-character , which the published sources read as the work of the Kunimune and "a work of Yamato temperament". Its flows into with and , the runs in a connected line with pointed elements, enter frequently, and the is swept, closing in a and tempered down long. The record values it as a rare survival, observing that ", signed of this period are few, and it is good reference material".
The quiet face of the name is the Yamato root, seen most plainly on a signed with customary and a carving. Its is a with toward the edge, adhering and entering. The temper is a with a somewhat tight and , hardened down toward the , and the runs straight to a . The published sources find that the forging in which flowing mingles "well expresses the Yamato tradition", and that the blade "on the whole shows the characteristics of Uda work well".
The active face belongs to the generations. On the Bunmei-dated the is wide and, from the middle upward, reaches the ; around the the temper becomes -like, and the is a strong in with , tempered down long. A judged from its shape and workmanship to date from about the Bunmei era mixes , , and pointed elements, with slight and . Its carving is fine: long above a on the , and above a on the . The published sources call it a fine piece "with a bright and well adhered, showing well the character not only of the smith but of the whole school". A small signed recorded in Honma's inventory of the Imperial collection carries the line later still. With its , thick and long tang it is "almost like ". It is placed around Eishō to Tenbun, and its mixes under a -like with . The same entry adds that the older generations sign with a small , which matches the fine chisel of the against the larger signatures of the blades.
Kunimune's official record is small and wholly signed: four blades, a , a , a and a , and the in Honma's inventory, five designated works on record. Fujishiro rates him Jō-, and the Tōkō Taikan places him at 300. He has no National Treasure, no Important Cultural Property and no , so his standing rests on -ranked work and on its value as research material: a dated , an signed of the generation and a late together mark the span of the name. No provenance or present holder is recorded for his blades. For a private collector a signed Uda Kunimune in the tier appears only from time to time and with patience. His blades reward the student of how the Yamato tradition was carried into the northern provinces.