Roots— where this lineage descends from
61smiths0Kokuhō7Jūbun7Jūbi10Tokujū137Jūyō
Other smiths of this phase— students & parallel lines
A Ryōkai smith who studied under the Sōshū master Sadamune, the first Nobukuni founded a Kyoto line that flourished from the Nanbokuchō into the Muromachi. The school spoke in two voices at first — an orthodox Rai suguha and a notare temper inherited straight from Sadamune — before the Ōei masters Genzaemon no Jō and Shikibu no Jō brought a third: a spirited gunome-chō midare, pairs of gunome linked by low notare and lit with sunagashi and kinsuji. Nobukuni blades are as celebrated for their carving as their steel — bonji, suken, and vajra-hilted ken cut in crisp relief. Through them the Sōshū current ran into the Kyoto mainstream.
The The Yamashiro Nobukuni School (信国), active 1356–1490 in Yamashiro Province across 61 documented smiths: 0 Kokuhō (National Treasures), 7 Jūbun, 7 Jūbi, 10 Tokubetsu Jūyō, 137 Jūyō.
61 smiths · 0 Kokuhō · 7 Jūbun · 7 Jūbi · 10 Tokujū · 137 Jūyō
A Ryōkai smith who studied under the Sōshū master Sadamune, the first Nobukuni founded a Kyoto line that flourished from the Nanbokuchō into the Muromachi. The school spoke in two voices at first — an orthodox Rai suguha and a notare temper inherited straight from Sadamune — before the Ōei masters Genzaemon no Jō and Shikibu no Jō brought a third: a spirited gunome-chō midare, pairs of gunome linked by low notare and lit with sunagashi and kinsuji. Nobukuni blades are as celebrated for their carving as their steel — bonji, suken, and vajra-hilted ken cut in crisp relief. Through them the Sōshū current ran into the Kyoto mainstream.
The The Yamashiro Nobukuni School (信国), active 1356–1490 in Yamashiro Province across 61 documented smiths: 0 Kokuhō (National Treasures), 7 Jūbun, 7 Jūbi, 10 Tokubetsu Jūyō, 137 Jūyō.
61 smiths · 0 Kokuhō · 7 Jūbun · 7 Jūbi · 10 Tokujū · 137 Jūyō