Norimune is celebrated as the founder of the Fukuoka school in Province, active from the late into the early period. He is further distinguished as one of Emperor Go-Toba's personal swordsmiths (goban kajishi). Extant signed works by Norimune are extremely few, lending exceptional importance to those that survive. His position marks the inception of the lineage, and the observes that his style "shows almost no difference from work," placing him at the precise transitional moment between the older tradition and the emerging idiom.
Norimune's characteristic is slender with pronounced , evident , and a compact — an "unmistakably graceful silhouette" in the language of the designating body. The is a closely packed with fine and distinct , the notably more intense than typical work. The is built on a -based foundation mixed with and , with abundant and , , , and occasional — altogether displaying "the archetypal style of the early masters." If anything distinguishes Norimune from predecessors, it is that the -ba is "somewhat more prominent" and the more vigorous. The cautions that flamboyant - pieces sometimes bearing Norimune attributions are mid- works and "are not products of the early school." Likewise, the common appellation "Kiku-" applied to Norimune is expressly noted as an error unsupported by extant evidence.
Signed, examples in sound condition are singled out as "representative works," and the finest specimens are described as standing among "the twin peaks" of his oeuvre. Norimune's importance resides not merely in rarity but in his role as the wellspring of the Fukuoka tradition — a smith whose restrained yet technically accomplished manner established the foundation upon which the school's later, more exuberant style would be built.