Narimune signed his with a two-character , and the published sources state that he and Sukemune used no other form. He is one of the Ko- smiths, the first generation of the Fukuoka school that Norimune founded in at the opening of the period. The records place him close to the founder but do not agree on the relation. The commentaries of 1961 and 1963 write that he "is handed down as the second son of Norimune", a entry calls him simply Norimune's son, and both a later commentary and the entry in Honma's inventory of the Imperial collection record him as Norimune's younger brother. The names him with Sukemune, Naomune, Muneyoshi, Munetada, Shigehisa and Sadazane among the early hands set apart as Ko-.
His signed keep the early shape. They are slender, with a small , the high and at the base, and one tang still carries its own curve. Of the signed passed at the seventh session the published sources write that "the slender form with high and is typical of the early period". The temper is quiet and narrow: a mixed with in . On the three raised to before the war it is read as a into which and are mixed. and enter, with and in places, and on one .
The is a that packs well with fine , at times an . One blade is a little , and two carry some . Over it a stands, often faintly. On the designated at the sixty-second session the is mixed with , with fine and a . Its commentary calls it a work in which "the points of interest proper to Ko- can be fully savoured". The runs straight, or with a slight undulation, to a ; on that late the turns in an . The in Honma's inventory shows the plainer side of the same idiom. Its tends to flow, with mixed in, and a with and plentiful and turns showy at the middle of the . The whole is somewhat tired and the soft, yet the commentary calls the cut of the truly good.
Beside the signed stand two judged to him. The published sources accept both as early Fukuoka without hesitation, the shape of each showing the age of the period even after shortening. They caution that the personal attribution cannot be pressed: there are "few decisive points by which it must positively be Narimune". The reading therefore rests on period and school.
The sets the whole group against the school's later brilliance. The Fukuoka school flourished most in the middle period, but the work of the Ko- smiths differs from that ornate manner, and "in shape and in the make of the and the flavour of strongly survives". Honma's commentary gives the measured verdict that his skill does not reach Norimune or Sukemune, yet his work shows the features of the early well. Another commentary finds an archaic flavour in his and in .
Fujishiro rates him Jo-jo , and the Toko Taikan values his work at 1,300 points. His designated record lies wholly in the prewar and tiers. It comprises three signed designated in 1940 and 1942, five blades, three signed and two , and the signed in Honma's inventory. The published sources observe that "the extant of this name number no more than a few". One of the "descended originally from the Tokugawa shogunal house". A was owned at its designation by Date Muneoki. A signed Narimune comes to light only from time to time, and an attributed of his school appears a little more often, though never as a matter of course.