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Sagami
 



 "The Five Schools"
  Sagami

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KAMAKURA ICHIMONJI

ICHIMONJI SUKEZANE
He worked and competed in the strongest flowering of the mid-KAMAKURA bringing and taking, in that environment, the new
styles with fellows SABURO KUNIMUNE and AWATAGACHI KUNITSUNA. To their environment, the true SOSHU style could grow to fruition with coming youngsters, YUKIMITSU, MASAMUNE and NORISHIGE.
Made IKUBI TACHI with KAWAZU and TOGARI having INAZUMA, YO, and ¨CHOJI-UTSURI.
Moved to KAMAKURA to make swords in SHO-GEN 1259 creating the KAMAKURA ICHIMONJI School.
Different sources give improbable dates for his life as born 1204, while dying 1316. 
His wide, lush swords contributed the SOSHU ideal to the mid-KAMAKURA, SOSHU School.
JITETSU is ITAME HADA with JINIE and very strongly standing UTSURI. JINIE will be evenly covering the whole surface.
CHIKEI will be seen and the generally KO-NIE DEKI surface will form much JIBA which interacts with the very
strong UTSURI.
HAMON is OBUSA CHOJI-MIDARE BA in deep NIOI-FUKASHI.  See SUKESANE examples in BIZEN. Examples from his
KAMAKURA period will show extra profuse JINIE AND JIBA. Early signatures from Bizen have large characters, later are small.


___________________________
KAMAKURA ICHIMONJI
_______|______________    
SUKEZANE KEN-CHO 1249 From Bizen to Kamakura SHO-GEN 1259
              |______________ ___________________________ _____________ ____________
       
___|______       _____|______                                _____|_____       ____|______       ___|_____
      
SUKESADA     SUKETSUNA BUN-EI 1264       SUKETOKI      KUNIHIRO      TADAIYE
      
___|____                                                                                                                               SHO-O 1288
     
SUKESADA     SUKEMITSU BUN-PO 1317
       EI-NIN 1295 


SUKETSUNA BUN-EI (f: SUKEZANE): KAMAKURA ICHIMONJI. TOGENJI. Wide
         mid-KAMAKURA SUGATA are seen. JI-NIE and CHIKEI in ITAME has          strong UTSURI. JI-BA stands in OBUSA CHOJI-MIDARE with ASHI and          YO in NIE. He followed his teacher to SOSHU for the          "KAMAKURA ICHIMONJI."          GEN-KYO 1321 SUKETSUNA finds reserve: SUGUHA with ASHI trend          mixes styles. See BIZEN

KUNIHIRO SHO-WA 1312 (f: SUKEZANE): Worked in YAMANOUCHI (see School)
. Also signed with
the KO "wide" HIRO KANJI.

KUNIHIRO SAKU
EMA TOGENJI TAYU KUNIHIRO


SUKESADA BUN-EI (t: SUKEZANE): TOGENJI. Also signed: NORISADA.         Reference describes pieces from EI-NIN 1293 to TOKU-JI          1306. Early: Wide style TACHI, later: late-KAMAKURA          gentle FUNBARI upper. ITAME has JI-NIE and UTSURI.          KO-NIE CHOJI-MIDARE. Fancy OBUSA ICHIMONJI HAMON falls         from style toward the late-KAMAKURA transition when          sedate SUGUHA with ASHI or SUGU CHOJI BA debuts.          Small, two-character MEI. SUKETOKI EI-NIN (t: SUKESADA): Moved to YAMANOUCHI from BIZEN in KA-GEN 1303. SUKENAGA KA-GEN (t: SUKESADA): SUKEYASU SHO-WA (f: SUKENAGA): In BIZEN and SAGAMI. YOSHIYUKI KEM-MU (f: IYEMURA): Learned his craft from the SOSHU         YAMANOUCHI SUKEZANE Group. See BIZEN. MOKUME. KO-CHOJI MIDARE BA.



SUKEMITSU BUN-PO (t: SUKETSUNA): SUKETSUNA style in earlier pieces.
SOSHU YAMANOUCHI JU SUKEMITSU

YOSHIAKI KEM-MU: KAMAKURA ICHIMONJI DEN.

Sukezane - Courtesy Joe Forcine - Steve Velasquez










KOKUHO MEI-BUTSU NIKKO SUKEZANE

KOKUHO NIKKO SUKEZANE 

NAGASA: 71.2cm  SORI: 2.5cm 

A possession of IYEYASU. Following the SHOGUN's death, it was transferred  to the famous TOKUGAWA Shrine, NIKKO TOSHOGU

This is the foremost example of his KAMAKURA period work. Small signature and banners the exaggerated parameters of the Soshu styles being produced at the Kamakura capitol. Note the wide and charged expression to the Yakiba. The KAMAKURA ICHIMONJI mark.

SHINOGI-TSUKURI, IHORI-MUNE, wide mid-KAMAKURA TACHI SUGATA. A bold BO-HI  spines the strong IKUBI-KISSAKI. 


Classic full SUGATA of the mid-KAMAKURA, it mimics the prior extension  of SUGATA parameters from the mid-HEIAN, SAMPIRA JIDAI, and fore-runs the  even more exaggerated SUGATA of the coming NAMBOKUCHO. - SOSHU had these  swords to copy. 

Strongly defined ITAME HADA with JI-NIE stands under MIDARE-UTSURI. 

Deep NIOI-FUKASHI and KO-NIE O-CHOJI MIDARE BA pushes TOGARI pinnacles  and falling ASHI through rivers of SUNAGASHI and YO. 

MIDARE-KOMI BOSHI finds a brushed head at the SAKI. 

URA BO-HI drops to the butt of the tang. Two holes, SURIAGE NAKAGO is  signed against the MUNE.

            TACHI-MEI: SUKEZANE












































BUNKAZAI SUKETSUNA

BUNKAZAI SUKETSUNA 
NAGASA: 74.5cm  SORI: 1.97cm 

This sword had been JUYO BIJUTSU-HIN,"JU-BI" and was awarded BUNKAZAI when  the former distinction was changed following WWII. 

A beautiful URA-MEI TACHI in the style of his teacher, SUKEZANE. His work-period is BUN-EI 1264, solidly into SUKEZANE's time in KAMAKURA and therefore appropriate in presentations of the KAMAKURA ICHIMONJI.

It was  made SURIAGE in the time of HIDEYOSHI. 

Old-style small "Twin Flowers" SAKA-GUNOME and CHOJI figures are strafed  with KINSUJI and SUNAGASHI. 

BOSHI is HOSO Swept KINSUJI to a slight KAERI at the SAKI. 

Two MEKUGI-ANA O-SURIAGE NAKAGO is signed along the MUNE at the very  bottom.
            TACHI-URA MEI: SUKETSUNA


______________________
SABURO KUNIMUNE

SABURO KUNIMUNE:IKUBI TACHI. Can be smooth KO-MIDARE in the MONOUCHI expanding to a GUNOME-like CHOJI-MIDARE where the tops have somewhat even height. See Bizen Saburo Kunimune
Traditional theory had KUNIMUNE a student to SHINTOGO, however  comparisons have disagreed. Present understanding sets his  line:       _______       NAOMUNE KA-O 1169 (see School)       ____|___       KUNIZANE SHO-AN 1171           |_______________ _________________ _______________  _________|___   _________|___   ___________|___   _________|____  TARO KUNIZANE   JIRO KUNISADA   SABURO KUNIMUNE   SHIRO KUNIYASU    1st brother     2nd brother       3rd brother      4th brother KUNIMUNE(1) JO-EI (f: KUNIZANE 1): SABURO KUNIMUNE. 3rd son of          KUNIZANE of KO-BIZEN NAOMUNE School was born: JI-SHO 1,          1177 and died: BUN-EI 7, 1270. Lived in NITTA-SHO WAKI in
BIZEN. A contemporary of OSAFUNE MITSUTADA and HATAKEDA
MORIIYE. Teachings say MORIIYE and KUNIMUNE are similar but
KUNIMUNE will lack MORIIYE's HA-HADA.          KUNIMUNE BIZEN swords should be expected from JO-EI 1232 to          SHO-GEN 1259, although logic tells us his career probably         began earlier. See KO-BIZEN NAOMUNE Invited by the HOJO, SUKEZANE, KUNIMUNE and AWATAGUCHI KUNITSUNA
brought the new foundations for the new SOSHU style. MASAMUNE was
born when these men worked their fully flowered KAMAKURA careers.
                  KAMAKURA ICHIMONJI SUKEZANE                      SABURO KUNIMUNE                        AWATAGUCHI KUNITSUNA

BIZEN SUKEZANEs' SAGAMI Sword School has become known as the
KAMAKURA ICHIMONJI. The true SOSHU School masters, which include
the MASAMUNE, fall from SHINTOGO KUNIMITSU, which are considered
descendants of the AWATAGUCHI KUNITSUNA Group. YAMASHIRO style roots.
However, these men had installed the style vision for KAMAKURA and
the SOSHU School starting in SHO-GEN 1259 and forward.
BIZEN SABURO KUNIMUNE brought a mature mastery and must be considered,
along with the other BIZEN stylists, such as SUKEZANE, an equal with
the KUNITSUNA line.
Note: All three groups have been loosely called KAMAKURA ICHIMONJI,
but the term properly refers to the SUKEZANE group, alone. The few existing swords tell us SABURO KUNIMUNE must have been a temporary KAMAKURA resident. His KAMAKURA endeavor allows a  style change to be recognized. Normally, these pieces would be  assigned as the work of a 2nd or 3rd generation, however his long life and the rarity of examples has left scholarship to place two style periods for KUNIMUNE(1):                             Early KUNIMUNE - Before SOSHU                             Later KUNIMUNE - After SOSHU SABURO KUNIMUNE made TANTO and TACHI. TACHI have an elongated IKUBI-KISSAKI that may appear somewhat stout after KEN-CHO 1249. KUNIMUNE SUGATA will show a healthy NIKU. Note: 1st generation special mark: NIOI-FUKASHI. - A tightly defined line labels  KUNIMUNE(2). Also: SHIRAKE Steel is his noted special color.
Follow appraisal points to determine origin. Pieces in KAMAKURA
/SOSHU style are extremely rare. One will see an especially exuberant
expression in all the great masters as they focused their craft on
the new SOSHU style. See SUKESANE.

SUGATA  Early: Narrow blade - thick KASANE         Later: Wide blade - thin KASANE Steel   Early: Tight KO-MOKUME with CHIKEI appearing.         Later: KO-MOKUME has O-HADA and MIDARE-UTSURI. HAMON - his YAKIBA WILL undulate in height. Early work shows tall
KAWAZU reaching from jumbled KO-CHOJI while round TOBI-YAKI of
different size dot along the HABUCHI.       YAKIBA styles find BUN-EI 1264 times: Undulations are less dramatic
than the KEN-CHO 1249 era.      Later work the MONOUCHI may seem deserted, or restrained of
pattern. GUNOME pushes into uneven mountain ranges that support
an easily followed horizon. All work in KO-NIE and particularly
notable KUNIMUNE trait: NIOI-FUKASHI. YAKIBA Recap - Before SOSHU: KAWAZU from KO-CHOJI with TOBI-YAKI dotting. After SOSHU: joins together in an uneven, mountainous CHU-width. BOSHI - MIDARE-KOMI BOSHI to small KO-MARU.             Early might be complex HOSO-width MIDARE with TOBI or             SHIMA-BA to small KO-MARU near the MUNE. Later swords may            show CHU-SUGU with KO-MARU. MEI: Two-character MEI is balanced and open. Thick strokes lay       straight-standing horizontal and vertical lines. KUNI center      pole separates three diagonal interior strokes on the left       from two on the right, all five slant parallel like falling       rain. All five have sharp ends that point to the pole.




Juyo Saburo Kunimune of Kamakura Jidai







Juyo Saburo Kunimune of Kamakura Jidai
Nagasa: 70.7cm
Sori: 2.7cm
Moto-haba: 2.7cm
Saki-haba: 1.75cm
Nakago: 22.7cm


Saburo brings the Soshu Concert in Kamakura
. His rarest Hamon - Soshu style places this piece to Kamakura town, specifically.

One of the founders of Soshu style, this Kunimune Tachi shows strong Koshiba: the large "Mountain" found in the lower. This is an important aspect for scholarship as we see Koshiba in some works of his Yamashiro peers, such as Awataguchi Kunitsuna.
The Koshiba on this piece draws links with his roots during Kunimune's foray to the Hojo capitol at Kamakura.


Strong Tachi-sugata hoists Ji-nie over a boisterous O-Mokume, Itame mix.


Streaming Kinsuji and Sunagashi. Chikei grasps Sunagashi and Inazuma arcs into the Ji
Exuberant Soshu Kinsuji, Sunagashi and arcing Inazuma found in all areas.
Billowing Ko-Nie,
Mura and Ara-Nie throughout the spread of Soshu O-Midare Ba.

Ubu Kijimomo "Pheasant Leg" Nakago.
Signed Two-character Tachi-Mei:
                                    Kunimune

Courtesy of Tim O'Neal




Notes on KAMAKURA Style
RAI: Refined and distinctive SUGUHA
They also incorporate the popular OSAFUNE GUNOME, taken up by the
AWATAGUCHI but popularized of the RYAKU-NIN powerhouse three: 

     HATAKEDA MORIIYE - OSAFUNE MITSUTADA - SABURO KUNIMUNE 

OSAFUNE: MITSUTADA's brilliant undulating GUNOME-CHOJI BA
is irresistibly infectious. Generations of workers proudly take their 
turns holding the same seats at the same table.

FUKUOKA: JUKA and OBUSA KAWAZU CHOJI-MIDARE BA
FUKUOKA pulls out all stops to grab and hold the prize

SOSHU: Stealing BIZEN's undulating GUNOME, they forge fantastic steel 
into fantastic structures. 
Beginning NAMBOKUCHO: KAMAKURA's breakup sends SOSHU undulating GUNOME
patterns out the  HOKURIKU through the North and radiating with students, from SA's CHIKUZEN, in all directions through the South. NAOTSUNA to the West.                          ______________________


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