Bizen Ukai School Unsho tachi

UNSHŌ (雲生), 1st gen., Kagen (嘉元, 1303-1306), Bizen – “Bizen no Kuni Ukai-gō-jūnin Unshō saku” (備前国宇甘郷住人雲生作), “Unshō” (雲生), “Bizen no Kuni-jū Unshō” (備前国住雲生), founder of the Un group, he lived in Bizen´s Ukai district (宇甘), there exists a date signature from the second year of Kagen (1304) which bears the information “made at the age of 65” what calculates his year of birth as Ninji one (仁治, 1240), it is said that he signed first with the name Kunitomo (国友) and that he and Kuniyoshi went around Genkō (元享, 1321-1324) to Kyōto to work their for Emperor Godaigo (後醍醐, 1288-1339), they dreamed one night that a hamon turned out to look like floating clouds (jap. kumo/un, 雲), the very next day they hardened such a hamon and because Gotoba had never seen such an interpretation and was very pleased, he granted them the names “Unshō” (雲生, about “born from the clouds”) and “Unji” (雲次, about “those who came from the clouds”), Unshō´s workmanship orientates within the Bizen-mono rather towards the Yamashiro tradition which would support the legend that they worked in Kyōto, densely forged ko-itame with utsuri in combination with a suguha, also a somewhat standing-out ko-itame with a suguha-ko-midare in ko-nie-deki, jō-saku ◎