Kazusa no Fujiwara Kaneshige, who also signed Kazusa no Kami, is the second generation of the Kaneshige line, and the published sources settle his identity first: "Izumi no Kami Kaneshige and Kazusa no Kaneshige are different men, probably son or pupil". The old account made them one smith who changed his title out of deference to his lord Tōdō Izumi no Kami; signed and age-stated works show Kazusa no born in Kan'ei 3, and "his work begins around Meireki, and the and Enpō years are his period of activity". He was thus a contemporary of Nagasone Kotetsu, and on one the published sources even judge that "the long-held view that Kazusa no Kaneshige was Kotetsu's teacher seems correct".
His temper is the . Over a -toned base he runs round-headed linked in series like rosary beads, with thick entering, deep , thick , and , and a bright . The published sources describe the rhythm exactly: he tempers one and then two, again and again, "repeating one, two, a fixed rhythm is seen, and this is the great point of appreciation of this smith". They hold that the manner grew from his predecessor's, that he "inherited the style of the first-generation Kaneshige, raised its completion further and established his own domain". Among his works a with a gold-inlaid cutting test by Yamano Kaemon Nagahisa dated Manji 4 already bears a complete , which they set ahead of Kotetsu's; that his manner then "exerted a great influence is not hard to imagine".
Beside the proper runs a broader register of with thick . The published sources describe its character simply: "the characteristic style of with thick entering, well covered in ", and they place him among the smiths of his day who, "resembling the Hōjōji group, tempered a in the so-called manner". A joint work signed with Sukekuro Kanetsune and carrying a cutting test in the name of the Hōjōji smith Masateru is read as close to both, "its workmanship looking like the Hōjōji group and also like Kazusa no ". The is a tight , standing slightly in places, with that is at times dust-fine and . The is the typical - form of ordinary width, clear taper, shallow and a slightly compact , and the runs straight to a swept at the tip.
His hold a particular place. Of the Manji 4 piece the published sources write that it is "a typical and representative work among his works", adding that "that his include especially fine works tells of the character of the age". He also worked away from , some blades bearing the added inscription "made at Anotsu in Seishū".
The published sources treat the boundary between the two generations as open. Recent comparison of the signatures, they report, "places the generational change in the Keian era", holds that the second generation also signed Izumi no Kami in his early years before alternating Kazusa no Kami and Kazusa no , and goes so far as "to point to of the second-generation Kaneshige by Sukekuro Kanetsune", transmitted as his son; they close that "further research is awaited".
Fujishiro grades him Jō , and his designated record lies in the tier. Several of his blades carry the gold-inlaid tests of the great cutters, among them a 11 test by Maejima Hachirō Tomotsugu. For a collector a signed of his comes to light from time to time and is the natural point of comparison with Kotetsu, while the Manji 4 stands as a document of the temper's origins.