The Uda school traces its origin to the late period, when the monk Kunimitsu migrated from Uda District in Yamato Province to Province. Kunitsugu is a name borne by several generations within this lineage; reference works record the first as a brother of Kunifusa, active around the Enbun era (1356-1361), and the line continued through at least the Tenbun era (1532-1555). The school flourished particularly during the period, producing a substantial body of work across long swords, , and .
The Kunitsugu reveal a consistent Uda character: an that tends toward standing grain (), sometimes mixed with or , often with a slightly blackish tone to the . The tempering favors mixed with and , laden with clustered , frequent , and intermingled . A -period (, 23rd Session) displays "an forging with a tendency toward " and "a whitish ," with mixed with showing "abundant activities -- and , well-formed , and ." A of the Oei to Shocho era (, 15th Session) presents "the typical manner of Uda work from that time," with deep and thick .
The school's designated corpus includes a dated Bunmei 17 (1485) -- a rare signed spear predating the common -period proliferation of such weapons -- which the deems "valuable as important material for research into the Uda school." Across blade forms and periods, the Uda Kunitsugu works maintain a robust, -laden aesthetic tempered by the provincial vigor of their origin.
