Taima

Taima Kuniyuki is said to have lived in Taima in Yamato Province (present-day Katsuragi City, Nara Prefecture) and to have founded the Taima school. The Taima school is one of the Five Yamato Schools (Senjuin, Shikkake, Tegai, Hōshō, and Taima) that arose in Yamato Province, and its name derives from the ancient temple Taima-dera, which served as the school's base. Its period of greatest prosperity spanned from the late Kamakura period into the Nanboku-chō period, and the founder Taima Kuniyuki is said to have been active from around the Shōō era (1288–1293) to the Shōwa era (1312–1317). Like the other schools of Yamato, the Taima school was a Yamato smithing tradition that made swords for the practical needs of sōhei (warrior monks) attached to temples. Its character as a smithy retained by Taima-dera is also linked to the large number of unsigned works discussed below.

The style clearly shows the essence of Yamato-den. The jigane is a robust forging in which itame-hada flows into masame-hada as it approaches the edge. The hamon is based on suguha mixed with ko-midare and ko-gunome, and features characteristic of Yamato-den appear along the hamon edge, such as nijūba, kuichigai-ba, and uchinoke. Nie readily appear in both the jigane and hamon, and kinsuji and sunagashi appear frequently. Together with the masame-like texture of the jigane, these create a spirited appearance. The shape has a wide mihaba, and many examples show a sound tachi form with ikubi-kissaki. It is considered the most robust and powerful construction among the Five Yamato Schools.

Yamato-den itself is characterized by jigane with flowing masame-hada as its greatest feature, a tradition that richly displays chikei, kinsuji, and other workings in the jigane and hamon, and the Taima school can be said to embody its archetype. Because of its close ties with temples and warrior monks, smiths such as Kunikiyo, Tomokiyo, Tomoyuki, and Aritoshi are known from the Taima school. However, because it was a smithy retained by Taima-dera, most of its blades are unsigned (mumei), and signed (zaimei) works are extremely rare. For this reason, most of the Taima-mono handed down today are mumei-kiwame, unsigned blades attested by later appraisal. The lack of reliably signed surviving examples is also a major characteristic of the Taima school.

It is rated as jōsaku and is highly regarded among the Five Yamato Schools for the robustness of its form and the splendid nie of its jigane and hamon. The founder Taima Kuniyuki is known as one of the few skilled smiths with signed works, and his tachi inscribed "Kuniyuki" (Taima Kuniyuki) is designated a National Treasure and held by the Japanese Sword Museum, which is operated by the public interest incorporated foundation Nihon Bijutsu Tōken Hozon Kyōkai (NBTHK). Taima school works, built on a reliable forging centered on masame-hada and rich in workings, have continued to receive high esteem to this day as a representative style of Yamato-den.