The name Yoshikane is found among both the Ko-Bizen group and the Ko-Ichimonji group, and distinguishing between them has long required careful attention to workmanship and signature style. As the NBTHK has observed, "pieces in which choji is especially prominent are regarded as products of the Ichimonji school," while those with quieter tempering may suggest Ko-Bizen origins. The present maker is identified with the Ichimonji lineage, active during the Kamakura period in Bizen Province. One blade carries an origami by Hon'ami Kochu dated the eleventh month of Hoei 1 (1704), valuing the work at thirty mai of gold and attributing it to "Bizen Province Yoshikane," while another bears the authentication of Hon'ami Koson in shusho (red inscription) -- appraisals the NBTHK has judged reliable.
Yoshikane's workmanship centers on a ko-choji-midare temper base, with ko-midare and gunome mixed in, ashi and yo entering frequently, and ko-nie forming alongside sunagashi and traces of kinsuji. The nioiguchi may show a subdued shizumi tendency, and around the monouchi the yakihaba can widen with tobiyaki appearing. Distinct midare-utsuri is a consistent feature across his productions and serves as one of the principal grounds for Ichimonji attribution -- a diagnostic criterion that separates this Yoshikane's hand from that of the Ko-Bizen smith of the same name, whose works tend toward quieter temperwork without the vivid utsuri pattern. The kitae is itame-hada with a flowing tendency, the grain standing somewhat with thick ji-nie and chikei appearing. The boshi is typically straight, turning back in maru or ko-maru, though one piece finishes with notare-komi and hakikake. His blades, though all greatly shortened, retain characteristics of their original form -- somewhat high koshizori, traces of funbari at the base, and proportions ranging from ko-kissaki to chu-kissaki that speak to the generous tachi sugata of the Kamakura period.
All of Yoshikane's designated works survive as o-suriage mumei or orikaeshi-mei katana, their tangs bearing evidence of significant shortening with as many as five mekugi-ana. Despite this, the NBTHK notes that the jigane and hamon are "comparatively kenzen (sound and well-preserved)" and the workmanship is "consistent with early Ichimonji." One piece retains its orikaeshi three-character signature reading "Yoshikane saku," providing direct physical evidence of authorship. Another preserves a black-lacquered uchigatana koshirae -- a mounting that speaks to the blade's continued use and esteem across the centuries. That these greatly shortened blades have been recognized as Juyo on the strength of their forging and temperwork alone, without recourse to original signatures, testifies to the distinctiveness of Yoshikane's hand within the broader Ichimonji tradition.
