Osafune Kanemitsu

Kanemitsu was a swordsmith of the Nanbokuchō period who represented the Osafune school of Bizen Province. His forebear was Nagamitsu, whose grandson he was, and he is traditionally said to have been a son of Kagemitsu. He used the title Saemon-no-jō, and because he was active mainly in the Enbun era (1356–1361), he is also called Enbun Kanemitsu. Since antiquity, theories have divided him into a first and a second generation based on changes in his style, but the view that a single smith broadened his range over the course of his career is now the prevailing one. Dated works cluster in the height of the Nanbokuchō period, and he may be called a master smith who embodies the period in which Osafune smithing flourished most.

His style changes markedly between the early and later periods. In the early period, many works are mild: they feature kataochi-gunome hamon in a nioi-based style inherited from his father Kagemitsu, or chōji-ba inherited from his grandfather Nagamitsu, with bōshi returning to a small round form. From around the Enbun era his range changed dramatically. He incorporated the nie activity of the Sōshū tradition into Bizen-den, a style known as Sōden-Bizen, and developed a vigorous manner with nie in both jigane and hamon. His hamon combined gunome with notare, and he forged majestic ō-tachi exceeding three shaku in length. The jigane displays a distinctive utsuri called botan-utsuri, and not a few works bear horimono carving on the blade. Many of the Nanbokuchō ō-tachi were later ō-suriage, drastically shortened and reworked into uchigatana.

Surviving representative works are all designated Important Cultural Property, and no signed work has been confirmed to hold National Treasure designation. Among them, the Fukushima Kanemitsu is held by the Tokyo National Museum; it is a meibutsu listed in the Kyōhō Meibutsuchō and traditionally said to have been worn by Fukushima Masanori. The Ikkoku Kanemitsu is a tachi dated Bunna 4 (1355). Its name derives from a Tosa Domain tradition that it was worth a whole province, and it is held by the Kochi Castle Museum of History. The Ō-Kanemitsu is known for its great length. After passing through the hands of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and others, it was later ō-suriage and given a gold-inlaid inscription by Hon'ami Kōon. It is a meibutsu listed in the Kyōhō Meibutsuchō and is now held by the Sano Art Museum. The Uesugi family transmitted ō-tachi from the Enbun era, and all extant examples are designated Important Cultural Property.

Among Osafune contemporaries of the same era were Tomomitsu, who left an ō-tachi inscribed Jōji 5 (1366) that is a National Treasure, and Chōgi, who was skilled in the Sōshū tradition. Together they supported the flourishing of Nanbokuchō-period Bizen. Kanemitsu was also renowned for superb cutting ability. Works bearing epithets tied to martial anecdotes, such as the Nami-oyogi Kanemitsu and the Kanna-giri Kanemitsu, have been handed down, and in later saidan-kiwame cutting-test certifications he was placed in the saijō ō-wazamono rank. As a smith representing Nanbokuchō-period Bizen, his reputation remains unshaken to this day.