Osafune Yasumitsu

Osafune Yasumitsu and the Ōei Bizen "Three Mitsu"

Osafune Yasumitsu was a swordsmith who was active in Osafune, Bizen Province (present-day Osafune-chō, Setouchi City, Okayama Prefecture), during the early Muromachi period, in the Ōei to Eikyō years (circa 1394–1440). He is one of the leading masters of the "Ōei Bizen" school. Together with Osafune Morimitsu and Osafune Moromitsu, Yasumitsu is known as the "Ōei no Sanmitsu" (the Three Mitsu of Ōei), and he embodied the highest standard of Bizen swords in the early Muromachi period.

"Ōei Bizen" is the collective name for the group of Osafune swordsmiths of Bizen who were active mainly in the Ōei years (1394–1428). Following the three great masters of the Kamakura to Nanboku-chō period, Nagamitsu, Kagemitsu and Kanemitsu, they formed a second golden age. Of the Three Mitsu, Morimitsu is the most celebrated, but Yasumitsu also receives a comparable reputation. He is one of the swordsmiths who raised the technical tradition of the Osafune school to its peak in the Ōei period.

Yasumitsu is said to have had a first generation, who used the title Uemon-no-jō, and a second generation, who used the title Sakyō-no-suke. The second generation succeeded the first around the Eikyō years.

Style and Characteristics of Ōei Bizen

Yasumitsu's blades display the typical style of Ōei Bizen. They reflect the sword forms of the Ōei years, a transitional period from the bold ōdachi style of the Nanboku-chō period to the kodachi and uchigatana of the Muromachi period. The blade width is somewhat narrow, and the overall form is elegant, with saki-zori.

The jigane is a raised-grain forging with mokume mixed into itame, and bō-utsuri and midare-utsuri appear. Ji-nie is finely deposited, giving a substantial finish. The hamon is dominated by gunome with an open lower section, forming a bright hamon edge with variation between moto and saki. Some works have a restrained suguha, and all of these hamon are nioi-based yakiba. The bōshi often has a pointed tip that turns back, though there are also examples that turn back in a small ko-maru shape.

Major Works and Evaluation

Among Yasumitsu's works are several tachi designated as Important Cultural Properties. These include the tachi with the mei (signature) "Bishū Osafune Yasumitsu / Ōei nijūyonen nigatsu hi" at Futarasan Shrine (1417), a tachi at Nangū Taisha, and a tachi at Kakegawa Shrine that is held by the Kōchi Castle Museum of History, among others. The Kyoto National Museum holds a wakizashi with the mei "Bishū Osafune Yasumitsu, Ōei jūrokunen jūgatsu hi" (1409).

The Historical Significance of Osafune Yasumitsu in Ōei Bizen

Osafune Yasumitsu, together with Morimitsu and Moromitsu as the "Three Mitsu" of Ōei Bizen, is a master who embodied the second golden age of Bizen swords, following Nagamitsu, Kagemitsu and Kanemitsu of the Kamakura and Nanboku-chō periods. He maintained a high technical standard at Osafune, the Bizen sword-producing center, during the early Muromachi period, a time of political upheaval, and he holds a firm place in the history of Japanese swords. In the technical lineage of the Osafune school, Yasumitsu is indispensable as a swordsmith who admirably embodied the transition from the bold style of the Nanboku-chō period to the elegant style of the Ōei period.