Rai Kunitsugu

[Sebuh]

Hi all, we all know of the Rai school and their members. Rai Kunitoshi, Kunimitsu, Kuniyuki, and Ryokai. I consider myself to be somewhat of a new student in this hobby after maybe a year, or at least closing in on a year in the hobby. We hear a lot from the Rai school mostly focused around the following members. Yet I never have heard much about Rai Kunitsugu, despite him being one of Masamune's Jittetsu. 

 

Is there a reason for this? have I simply not read enough? looked around enough? is his work just not as superb as compared to the others in Rai? is he forgettable? any answer would be appreciated. Helping out what could maybe be a case of newbie nativity. Hoping this isn't too silly of a question to be asked, still working up my confidence to post as much in this forum 

 

Thank you all!

Edited December 24, 2025 by Sebuh

[eternal_newbie]

It's not so much that he's obscure or lesser, more that a) his work is much rarer than Kunimitsu and Kunitoshi, and b) as a hybrid style (Yamashiro Rai with heavy Soshu flavor) he doesn't really fit the template of the "archetype" or "exemplar" of the Rai school, so when talking about good examples of Rai work people tend to refer to Kunimitsu or Kunitoshi (who hew more to the classical Rai tradition).

 

Incidentally, Dmitri Pechalov has a good writeup on Kunitsugu (as well as the other Jittetsu) at his website: https://nihonto-museum.com/blog/rai-kunitsugu and Darcy's old website has another writeup, with a bit more investigation into Juyo statistics compared to the other Rai big names: https://web.archive.org/web/20211025161444/https://yuhindo.com/rai-kunitsugu-katana/

[nulldevice]

An excerpt from Hiroi Yuichi:

Quote

 

Kunitsugu, according to Kotō Meizukushi, was Kuniyuki's daughter's child—Kuniyuki's grandson. He is said to have later studied under Sōshū Masamune and is called "Kamakura Rai." His distinctive position among Rai smiths is known from his background and style. That Kunitsugu was a major Rai smith goes without saying, but examining his style, it is distinctly un-Kyoto-like, with Sōshū-den deeply infused—seemingly due to period influence—which connects to his being one of the Masamune Jittetsu (Ten Brilliant Students). Indeed, both chronologically and stylistically, this Jittetsu theory is acceptable. Senior Rai Kunimitsu also shows nie-deki midare, but Kunitsugu's works have even stronger nie with yubashiri and chikei mixed, with brilliant nioi-guchi—showing a completely new style not seen in the Rai school.

 

Rai Kunitsugu's signed works include both tachi and tantō in reasonable numbers. Representative tachi fall into two types: normal body and kissaki with high curvature and funbari; or wide body with chū-kissaki and somewhat shallow curvature. Forging is itame or flowing itame with visible grain, but all have excellent ji-nie with chikei mixed; hamon is hiro-suguha-chō with ko-midare mixed, or chōji with ko-midare and gunome mixed, with abundant ashi and yō, excellent nie, sunagashi and kinsuji—showing Sōshū-den well in ji and ha.

 

Tantō are more numerous than tachi, including wide and long pieces, flat pieces, or slightly curved pieces. Forging is tightly-packed ko-itame, somewhat visible grain, or with fine chikei; almost all have fine, thick ji-nie, sometimes with yubashiri; hamon is mostly ko-notare, gunome-mixed midare with ko-midare, shallow ō-notare, or suguha; overall wide yakihaba with excellent nie, sometimes sunagashi and kinsuji. Thus, both tachi and tantō having nie-laden ji and ha is Rai Kunitsugu's characteristic.

 

Signatures are positioned above mekugi-ana toward mune on tachi, below mekugi-ana near nakago-jiri on tantō, with three large characters. The second and third strokes of "Rai" differ from Rai Kunitoshi and Rai Kunimitsu—important to know.

 

 

 

[nulldevice]

Here are 2 Tokubetsu Juyo examples of signed Kunitsugu work, a tanto and a tachi

 

 

 

[ROKUJURO]

13 hours ago, Sebuh said:

.....what could maybe be a case of newbie nativity......

Yes, we are all born as newbies!

Or did you mean "naivety"?

[Jacques]

Quote

have I simply not read enough?

That's right.

[Sebuh]

17 hours ago, eternal_newbie said:

It's not so much that he's obscure or lesser, more that a) his work is much rarer than Kunimitsu and Kunitoshi, and b) as a hybrid style (Yamashiro Rai with heavy Soshu flavor) he doesn't really fit the template of the "archetype" or "exemplar" of the Rai school, so when talking about good examples of Rai work people tend to refer to Kunimitsu or Kunitoshi (who hew more to the classical Rai tradition).

 

Incidentally, Dmitri Pechalov has a good writeup on Kunitsugu (as well as the other Jittetsu) at his website: https://nihonto-museum.com/blog/rai-kunitsugu and Darcy's old website has another writeup, with a bit more investigation into Juyo statistics compared to the other Rai big names: https://web.archive.org/web/20211025161444/https://yuhindo.com/rai-kunitsugu-katana/

 

Thank you Rohan, appreciate it!

[Sebuh]

16 hours ago, nulldevice said:

An excerpt from Hiroi Yuichi:

 

 

Thank you! very valuable information 

[Sebuh]

9 hours ago, ROKUJURO said:

Yes, we are all born as newbies!

Or did you mean "naivety"?

 

second time you’ve caught my typos.. 

[Sebuh]

4 hours ago, Jacques said:

That's right.