Sword (Katana), Signed "Rai Kunimitsu" (with Inscription "Polished by Umetada")

Rai Kunimitsu, active at the end of the Kamakura period (1185-1333), was a swordsmith of the Rai School in Kyoto. Even within the Rai School, he made a wide range of swords, varying from slender, classical blades to broad, magnificent ones. His temper lines also varied from the basic straight temper line (J., suguha), characteristic of the Rai School, to narrow straight (J., hoso-suguha) and wide straight (hiro-suguha) temper lines. This katana blade, featuring Rai Kunimitsu's representative style, is broad with a wide, straight temper line in which dots (J., yô, literally, leaves) and streaks (J., ashi, literally, legs) cross the temper line perpendicular to it and near the cutting edge of the blade. The blade was a long sword (J., tachi), but in the Edo period (1615-1868), the swordsmith Umetada Myôjû (1556-1631) shortened the tang and made it into this katana blade.

— Museum description: Kyoto National Museum (CC BY 4.0), via ColBase / Japan Search.