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  2. Hatakeda
  3. Mitsumori

Hatakeda Mitsumori

光守

Jūyō
Vol. 38, No. 70 · Tachi

Hatakeda Mitsumori

光守

15 ranked works

ProvinceBizenEraKoan (1278–1288)PeriodKamakuraSchoolHatakedaTraditionBizen-denFujishiroJo-jo sakuToko Taikan850(top 11%)TypeSwordsmithCodeMIT132
2Jūyō Bijutsuhin
3Gyobutsu
10Jūyō Tōken

Overview

Mitsumori of the group is a smith of late- , placed by the published reference works around the Shoo era (1288-93). The Jubi-designated Hotta-family carries the judgment plainly: "this Mitsumori is thought to correspond to the smith recorded in the sword-signature books as a -school artisan working around Shoo (1288-93)" (この光守は銘鑑に正応(一二八八~九三)頃の畠田派の刀工とあるもの). The published sources are candid that beyond this his genealogy is not fixed; the record neither his dates nor his line clearly. What anchors him instead is his manner. From his rare signed blades, the writes, the brilliant in which kaeruko-choji is especially conspicuous readily suggests affiliation with the Moriie line, and the way he cuts his signature corresponds to it as well. He is judged close in particular to the second-generation Moriie, and the few signed pieces hold the attribution of the many unsigned ones in place.

His characteristic hand is a flamboyant, -based led by -, the tadpole-headed clove that is the tell. It rises over an mixed with that tends to stand in the grain, with abundant and working into a temper that varies in height and packs into a dense . The recurring smith-level sentence in the published commentary fixes the family idiom in one image: the two representative signed works, the Hotta-family and the Akimoto-family , "both temper a wide of , showing a splendid and ornate manner" (これらは共に焼幅の広い、匂出来の丁子乱れを焼いて華麗な作風を示している). The blades read down from that, their mixed with and pointed teeth, adhering and the bright; on the 50th-session the records that the "clearly manifests his distinctive features" and the bright carries a superior result.

The is an with , in places flowing and standing in the grain, on which fine gathers in dust-like and delicate enter. Across it a vivid stands, named first in nearly every entry and, with the standing grain, the surest thing the published sources point to. The 14th-session , the earliest in the record, sets the note at once: "the tends to flow and stand in the grain, and a vivid appears" (板目やや流れごころに肌立ち、乱れ映りあざやかに立つ). Within the , fine and run, and on the busier blades are scattered along the ; the runs , turning with a pointed tendency and , or settling in . The tends at times toward a slight , a soft, moist quality, yet on the best of them it is bright and clear.

Two registers divide the corpus. The signed register is the most flamboyant: on a closely forged the temper widens into a -based carrying -, - and together, the deep and the bright and clear, with and active. The signature is a large, strongly individual two-character cut in a fine chisel, and on the shortened blades it survives as a , the inlaid plaque, or an , the folded-back skin of the tang. The published commentary notes of one such piece that it is "cut with a fine chisel yet in a large, bold manner, as is usual for this smith." The prime register is the attribution: greatly shortened blades whose make and temper fit his signed work so closely that, in the recurring phrase, the appraisal of Mitsumori is drawn from the aspect of the and the workmanship as a whole. The 24th-session states the reasoning openly, that "the brilliant in which kaeruko-choji is conspicuous accords with the Moriie line, and the manner of signing answers to it too" (蛙子丁子が目立つ華やかな丁子乱れが一見守家系と首肯され、銘振りも相通じるものがある).

Within the group he stands beside his fellow Sanemori, the two read off the idiom of wide -based clove with kaeruko-choji and a bright , the manner that runs the school toward the mainstream. The published sources draw his distinction not by contrast but by what his own blades carry: the kaeruko-choji dense in his temper where the old hands have none, a that stands on nearly every blade, and an read a shade more openly than his fellow's. On the 42nd-session the writes that the , with the tadpole-style clove mixed in over a in which the stands, "well expresses the characteristic features of this smith" (同工の特徴がよく表れている), and even where the lower character of the signature is lost under a , the calligraphy of the surviving "光" and the workmanship leave no doubt of his hand.

Mitsumori is Jo-jo in Fujishiro's grading. Ten of his blades are designated and two more are Bijutsuhin, those two the representative signed works the published sources cite, the Hotta-family and the Akimoto-family . The Hotta is recorded in the Kozan and descended through the Tokugawa shogunal house; both Jubi pieces are now held by the Tokyo National Museum, and one of the signed is, in the 's words, "of note as one of the few signed works of Mitsumori" (数少ない光守の有銘作として注目される). The provenance recorded against his blades runs through the Hotta and Akimoto houses, the Tokugawa shogunal family, the Akimoto family and the Imperial Family. The two museum-held Jubi pieces are patrimony that does not trade; of the rest, ten stand in the tier and the signed examples are scarce, so a Mitsumori reaching open hands is uncommon, a blade a collector may encounter from time to time and with patience rather than at will.

Kantei

Two renderings of one hand. The corpus is dominated by ohsuriage mumei pieces attributed to Mitsumori by elimination (the prime register), beside a rare signed register carrying the gaudiest sack-clove and double-flower choji (the Hotta and Akimoto exemplars). The signed pieces anchor the attribution of the mumei ones.

Mitsumori is a Hatakeda smith of late-Kamakura Bizen, placed by the published sources around the Shoo era (1288-93). The reference books do not fix his genealogy, but his manner is read as close to the Hatakeda line and shares much with the second-generation Moriie. Signed work is scarce; he is known almost entirely through ohsuriage mumei tachi and katana attributed to his hand, and through a small set of representative signed pieces, the Hotta-family tachi and the Akimoto-family orikaeshi-mei wakizashi, both wide flamboyant nioi-based choji-midare. The recognition keys are a kawazuko-choji-laden choji-midare over a standing itame with a vivid midare-utsuri, and a bright nioiguchi.

Diagnostic discriminators

unique vs Ko-Bizen (Tomonari / Masatsune)

75% of his works · 5.4× vs Ko-Bizen (Tomonari / Masatsune)

50% of his works · 1.4× vs Hatakeda Sanemori (SAN143)

Observation by phase

Prime Hatakeda manner: kawazuko choji-midare over a standing itame (mumei-kiwame register)

An itame, often with mokume mixed in and tending to stand, carries dust-fine ji-nie, chikei and a vividly standing midare-utsuri. Over it he tempers a choji-midare led by kawazuko-choji with gunome and pointed teeth mixed in, the temper wide and high-low in places, ashi and yo entering, nioi-primary with ko-nie, kinsuji and sunagashi running fine and tobiyaki scattered at times; the nioiguchi is bright. The boshi runs midare-komi with a pointed tendency and hakikake, or settles in ko-maru. Almost all are ohsuriage mumei, the attribution to Mitsumori drawn by elimination from the close fit of temper and overall make to his signed work.

Sugata 姿
Jigane 地鉄
Hamon 刃文
Bōshi 帽子

Signed register: the gaudiest sack-clove and double-flower choji (the Hotta and Akimoto exemplars)

Signed pieces (niji-mei / gaku-mei / orikaeshi-mei) carry the widest, gaudiest choji with sack-clove and double-flower clove; the ohsuriage mumei pieces are the same hand read down to a quieter choji-midare.

His scarce signed work is the most flamboyant. Over a ko-itame the temper widens into a nioi-based choji-midare carrying sack-clove and double-flower clove, ashi and yo working, the nioiguchi deep and bright. The signature is a bare two-character mei, large and cut in slender chisel; on shortened blades it survives as a gaku-mei (the inlaid plaque) or an orikaeshi-mei (the folded-back tang skin). The published sources name two representatives, the Hotta-family tachi and the Akimoto-family orikaeshi-mei wakizashi.

Hamon 刃文
Scholarship

The published sources are explicit that his genealogy is not recorded in the meikan; the attribution rests on the close fit of his manner to the Hatakeda line and the second-generation Moriie, anchored by the few signed pieces.

Designations

Kokuhō—
Jūyō Bunkazai—
Jūyō Bijutsuhin2
Gyobutsu3
Tokubetsu Jūyō—
Jūyō Tōken10

Elite Standing

0.34 across 15 designated works

Top 7% among smiths

Provenance

11 documented provenances across certified works by Mitsumori

Provenance Standing

4 works held in elite collections across 11 documented provenances

Top 12% among smiths

Raw score: 2.37 / 10

Blade Forms

Distribution across 15 ranked works

Signatures

Signature types across 15 ranked works

Currently Available

Hatakeda School

Other artisans of the Hatakeda school

  1. 1.Moriie守家34designated
  2. 2.Moriie守家27designated
  3. 3.Sanemori眞守3 for sale57designated
  4. 4.Moriie守家14designated
  5. 5.Morinaga守長4designated
  6. 6.Morishige守重7designated
  7. 7.Moritoshi守俊1 for sale1designated
  8. 8.Morishige守重1designated
  9. 9.Iesuke家助2designated
  10. 10.Sanemori真守2designated