Rai Kuniyuki

Rai Kuniiyuki was a swordsmith who worked in Yamashiro Province (present-day southern Kyoto Prefecture) during the mid-Kamakura period, and is positioned as the substantive founder of the Rai school, a prominent smithing lineage representative of Kyoto. The Rai school's legendary founding ancestor is said to be Rai Kuniyoshi, but no extant signed works by him have been confirmed, and Kuniiyuki is the earliest smith from whom we can determine the school's characteristic style through surviving examples. He is transmitted in tradition to have borne the common name Tarō, and some accounts hold that he was a disciple of Ayaōji Sadatoshi. Regarding the origin of the character "Rai" (来), accounts such as those in the Sugawara-bon edition of the Meizukushi transmit that his ancestor was a craftsman who came from Koryŏ in the Korean peninsula, and that the name "kōrai" (高麗, Koryŏ) underwent sound change to become "rai" (来). It should be noted that Kuniiyuki himself inscribed his signature in two characters as "Kuniiyuki" and did not use the "Rai" character for the surname.

His style is characterized by rare short swords and the preponderance of superior tachi. The tachi display a graceful sugata with slightly wide blade width and moderate sori that curves at the mid-blade, with little difference between the blade's width at the tang end and at the tip. The jigane features works with tightly-packed small-itame jihada and works with large nihada; in either case the jinie clings thickly, and this refined, moist jihada is called "Rai jihada." The hamon divides into works of calm demeanor mixing suguha and chōji, and brilliant works centered on chōji-midare, with the distinctive "warabi-te chōji" displaying a geese-foot aspect being especially recognized as a hallmark of this smith. A refined elegance characteristic of high-quality Kyoto work permeates the whole.

The most renowned representative work is the National Treasure "Akashi Kuniiyuki" (Tachi, inscribed Kuniiyuki). It is called by this name because it was passed down in the Matsudaira house of Akashi in Harima Province, with a blade length of approximately 76.6 centimeters; it exhibits the school's characteristic style of moderate sori and lustrous jigane while possessing an elevated refinement, and is a rare example featuring ornamental relief carving in the fuller area; it is currently preserved by the Nihon Bijutsu Tōken Hozon Kyōkai (Tōken Museum, Tokyo). This is the only work by Kuniiyuki designated as a National Treasure. In addition, there survive the Important Cultural Property "Tachi, inscribed Kuniiyuki" in the collection of the Tōken World Foundation, and the tachi known as the beloved sword of Date Masamune called "Habaki Kuniiyuki" (preserved in the Sendai City Museum), among others. The "Habaki Kuniiyuki" was presented by Kanpaku Toyotomi Hideyoshi to Masamune in the 17th year of Tenshō, and its name is said to derive from the fact that it is accompanied by a habaki (blade collar) made by Kuniiyuki.

The Rai school also developed greatly in terms of its lineage. Kuniyoshi, transmitted as Kuniiyuki's son, succeeded him, but regarding the two-character "Kuniyoshi" and the three-character "Rai Kuniyoshi," due to stylistic differences, there are both theories that they are the same person and theories that they are different individuals; in the separate-person theory, the two-character Kuniyoshi is understood as Kuniiyuki's son, with Rai Kuniyoshi (Magotarō) viewed as his successor—a dominant view, yet the matter remains unsettled. After Rai Kuniyoshi came Rai Kunimitsu and Rai Kunitsugu, who carried on the lineage, and it is transmitted that Rai Kunimura went down to Kyushu and became the founder of the Enju school. The Rai school divided popularity and renown with the Awatagucci school, also of Yamashiro Province; from the mid-Kamakura period onward it showed vigor surpassing it, growing into a representative school of the Yamashiro tradition among the Five Traditions. Rai Kuniiyuki, who laid this foundation, was highly valued by later generations for his graceful sugata, lustrous jigane, and refined workmanship, and today his name endures as a master smith ranked among the supreme craftsmen.