The earliest blade gathered under this Morikage attribution is a shortened signed with a large, boldly chiselled two-character near the tip of the tang. The reference books list a Morikage of working in the Enbun era, but the published sources hold that this one is no later than the close of the period, "the most time-ascending work among those of the line's Morikage". They add that surviving works of his are extremely few, that its and "differ from the later same-school and same-name works", and that it is "of remarkable documentary value". Morikage is the representative smith of the group, a line the published sources trace to the remote ancestor Kunimori, said to have moved to from Inokuma in Yamashiro.
That early keeps a finer measure than the rest. Its is a mixed with , tending to stand, with and a . The temper is a mixed with and , the inclined to brightness with , entering thickly and here and there, and the swells, runs in with a and turns in a small round.
The other blades belong to the of the period. They are wide with a shallow and an extended , most of them and unsigned, with a cut through on both faces. Their is an mixed with , the grain tending to stand, with and and a rising. One such the published sources judged "Morikage of the group, among the so-called ", on its imposing shape and its mixed with pointed elements. On another, a mixed with over a standing with , they wrote that "though unsigned, one of Morikage's manners is well discerned", and they called its heavy, powerful build and its very sound and welcome.
The published sources stress the breadth of his range. In their account it takes in work based on , a changeful florid mixed with and , work built on or on angular , and a in the manner. A signed with a folded-over long , Bishu Morikage, carries a mixed with with fine , and its , thick in and frequent in , bright and clear, is called "the best-forged among his works". The florid extreme is an unsigned whose broad, -prevalent temper rises so high that some heads reach the , where "the group's character is well shown". A converted , thick and with a large point, mixes , , and pointed elements, and of it the sources write that "Morikage's points of interest are well displayed".
A modern question hangs over the name. The published sources record a newer theory, drawn from shared workmanship and from the reverse-chisel cutting of his signature characters, that the long-signing Morikage belongs instead to an collateral line connected with Chikakage and Yoshikage. On that view the smiths who cut bold, large two-character signatures such as Morikage and Moritsugu would be the true smiths in Kunimori's line. The sources leave the matter open and call for the old account to be re-examined.
Six designated works stand on record under this code, all at , two signed and four unsigned, and none holds a higher rank. The early signed was handed down in the Hisamatsu family. Because such blades stay in long-held collections and the sources count his surviving early work as extremely few, an Morikage of this rank comes to light only from time to time, and a signed example is a notable thing for a collector to encounter.