Naotane was born in An'ei 8 (1779) at in Dewa, with the common name Shōji Minobei and the art name . As a young man he went to and entered the school of Suishinshi Masahide, his senior from the same province and the leading advocate of the revival-sword movement, and like his teacher he later served Lord Akimoto. The published sources count him with Hosokawa Masayoshi as one of the two outstanding talents among Masahide's pupils. A blade made at twenty-three is signed Shōji Naotane and dated Kansei 13 (1801), so they place his entry to the school two or three years earlier and his independence near the start of the Bunka era. He signed Daijō from Bunsei 4 (1821), changed the title to no on going up to Kyoto in Kaei 1 (1848), and died in Ansei 4 (1857) at seventy-nine. Where Masahide is regarded as the theorist of the movement, Naotane is called its practitioner, and the published sources say repeatedly that he matured until his technique was judged to surpass his teacher's.
He took up the several traditions in turn, and the published sources name the and manners as his strengths, with much in the work that deserves attention. They state that the finesse of his carries the established reputation of being the first among . In the record itself the is less constant than that reputation suggests. Of forty published descriptions, seven name a outright, and of some kind enters the temper on fourteen. More often his work is a -based with angular , , and mixed in. Long enter and in places pass through to the edge, and the temper leans in reverse, a the published sources read as aimed at the late- masters Kagemitsu and Kanemitsu. The is bright and clear, -dominant with , and the shape recalls a , with at the and a .
The of this work is a tight with fine and . On the finest pieces a rises distinctly, and on one of Bunka 12 it connects in places into the of the temper. The published sources take that revived as evidence of his model. They are equally clear about what marks it as new work. Of a Bunka 13 with a splendid reverse and a distinct , they write that it is unfortunately not a pure , and that the appearing throughout is precisely the difference between the old works and . The enters in , turns pointed and sweeps back with , or runs straight to a .
His is the second face of his record, and the published sources call it rarer than the , aimed at Masamune, Sadamune and . The becomes a large, standing mixed with , and on the strongest pieces a whorled uzumaki- that they name a principal point of interest in his work. Over it lies a mixed with and large , the deep and the thick, gathering coarse and uneven, with and in stripes and long . Of one of Bunsei 13 the commentary finds the uneven and frequent bold and faintly rustic. A smaller, third register survives in the Yamato manner and in . A of Tenpō 5 tempers a with , which the published sources call relatively uncommon for him, and the long sword of a Tenpō 7 crosses an all- Yamato forging with a and .
He worked in and also travelled. Stamps on the tang record work at , in Shinano, at Hisai, at Naniwa and in , and in explaining a of Tenpō 8 the published sources cite another blade of that year naming his pupils Shigetsugu, Shigeyuki and Katsunaga, so that he travelled with his disciples. Much of his carving is by Honjō Yoshitane of the Suishinshi circle, whose added signature on one Bunka the published sources call of documentary value. His Kyoto work of Kōka 5 bears the stamp 都 and is recorded as a companion piece to a made for the Chancellor of the Realm.
Fujishiro ranks him Sai-jo . He has no National Treasures and no Important Cultural Properties. Forty works are on the official record, one , thirty-five , three prewar and a stamped Naniwa and dated Tenpō 8 that is recorded in Honma's inventory of the Imperial collection, all of them signed and most of them dated, from Bunka 2 (1805) to Ansei 4. The prewar - made for Sugihara is judged, in Honma's words, the one to be placed first among his - works, and a Tenpō 5 of the same series is called the right wing of his work. A - forged at Hisai in Tenpō 3 is named a blade of his full satisfaction, and the of Tenpō 8, made for Ōta Masayasu, a figure in iron production, is judged finer than his general output, perhaps for its carefully chosen iron. Others were made for Watanabe Shū of the Tsu domain, and the Tenpō 7 was transmitted in the Sanada family. Because his output was large, forgeries are common, as the published sources warn, and a signed Naotane is far easier to find than a great name. His and blades are still held far more often than traded, and one comes to a private collector only from time to time.