A long dated the fourth month of Kagen 2 (1304) carries the signature Kurozaemon no Jo Hisanobu , and that inscription settled a question in the history of the Ryokai school. Ryo Hisanobu was the son of Ryokai, the founder of this offshoot in Yamashiro, and his dated works, of Kagen, Tokuji and Engyo, place him at the very end of the period, almost level with his father. The published sources describe his work as a close to his father's, and add in nearly every paper that signed examples are extremely few. A in the Tokugawa Art Museum, they note, is inscribed as the work of Hisanobu, son of Ryokai, dated Tokuji 3, which confirms the relationship.
The Kagen revealed his personal name. The published sources explain that an older under national designation (重文), signed with the name Kurozaemon had been read as Ryokai's sole work, the name taken for the father's own, and that the appearance of this blade made clear that the earlier is a joint work of Ryokai and his son Hisanobu. For that reason they call it a precious blade of great significance, and of very high value as documentary material as one of the few signed works of the smith. It is long and broad, deep in with and a small , carved with and on the and and on the , and its and show the features of the smith well.
His is a or that flows and leans to , in places standing a little, with fine and, on five of his six blades, the whitish of the Ryokai school. On one the rises straight from the before joining the above. The temper is a chu- or , or a mixing with a little and , and entering, , the fraying into , and the clouding in places. One shows in its lower half. The runs straight to a . Of a signed the published sources write that the whole shows the features of the Ryokai school well.
His designated work divides into signed and attributed blades. The signed , slender and in a strong wa-zori, and with its well preserved, is called precious as one of his few signed works, its manner recalling his father. An of fine , with and abundant and the good, is judged a particularly fine piece among those attributed to him. A small signed dated Engyo 3 (1310), recorded in Honma's inventory of the Imperial collection, stands apart: across a packed and a with , the tempered in as on Kunitoshi. That text accepts the without doubt, but finds the tight- hard to read at once as Ryokai work and leaves open whether it is an old retemper.
The published sources set his against Kunitoshi, the parent of the line. On an they write that the and at the edge of its fine are somewhat lonelier than Kunitoshi's, and with its clouded , and calm straight they find the Hisanobu attribution correct. They close on that blade as a calm fine that still shows minute activity. Against his father the distinction lies less in any feature than in the signature, since the papers describe the son's work as close to the father's.
Fujishiro grades him Jo-jo , and the Toko Taikan values him at 800. Six designated works stand on record: five , of which three are signed, and the Engyo of the Honma inventory. No provenance owners are recorded for his designated blades. Signed Hisanobu is rare, and is valued as documentary evidence as much as for itself; the blades, signed or attributed, appear on the market only from time to time.