Jūyō Bunkazai Nobukuni

Nobukuni (信国), activity period around Kenmu era (建武, 1334-1338), Yamashiro province, signature variant: Nobukuni (信国). Nobukuni was the son of Ryō Hisanobu (了久信) who was active around Enkyō-era era (延慶, 1308-1311). According to other sources he was the son of Kunihisa (国久) who was the younger brother of Hisanobu. The oldest extant dated Nobuluni sword is from the third year of Enbun (延文, 1358) and is attributed to the 2nd gen., this would support the 1st generation ́s assumed artistic period of Kenmu, Nobukuni is listed as one of the „Sadamune no Santetsu“, he takes over the Sōshū style of Sadamune (貞宗) and combines it with Yamashiro elements, we know excellent and aesthetically arranged horimono like bō-hi, bō-hi with futasuji-hi, ken-maki-ryū or bonji, the tip of his ken is pointed and looks acute and its upper part is deeper and broader cut then the lower part, this Sōshū-kind of horimono distinguishes him from the carvings of his Yamashiro colleagues, the jihada is mokume with ji-nie, the hamon is a chū-suguha mixed with ko-midare, the bōshi follows the hamon and the tip of the bōshi often tends towards the mune, tantō of Nobukuni are similar to Rai Kunimitsu (来国光) but not that many are extant, it is said that he worked either in Kyōto ́s Horikawa (堀川) or Shinanokōji (信濃小路), he is considered as founder of the Nobukuni school but because there are no authentic signatures extant some count the below mentioned 2nd gen. as actual 1st gen. of the school, jōjō-saku