The Ōmiya group came to Bizen from Kyoto — Kunimori is said to have moved from Inokuma-Ōmiya in Yamashiro and put down roots at Osafune — and worked there from the late Kamakura through the Muromachi. Its representative smith, Morikage, cut bold long signatures in reverse-chisel strokes; around him the school built a brilliant, florid temper of gunome, ko-gunome, and "open-hipped" koshi-biraki, run through with kinsuji and sunagashi over a midare-utsuri ground. Set beside the mainline Osafune masters, Ōmiya work reads a touch rougher and more rustic — and that vigor, in both ji and ha, is exactly its appeal.
The The Bizen Ōmiya School (大宮), active 1288–1450 in Bizen Province across 35 documented smiths: 0 Kokuhō (National Treasures), 2 Jūbun, 3 Jūbi, 4 Tokubetsu Jūyō, 108 Jūyō.
Phase 1 · The Bizen Ōmiya School (大宮) · 1288 – 1450
Morikage (盛景) — Mainline · 1356-1390. Jūbun, Jūbi, Tokujū, Jūyō. Morikage worked at Osafune in Bizen through the height of the Nanbokuchō period, cutting long, dated signatures such as Bishū Osafune Morikage on tachi, naginata and tantō across the Ōan, Jōji, Eiwa and Kakei years. He is the central figure of the Bizen Ōmiya group, a line traced in the published sources to the remote ancestor Kunimori, who is said to have moved to Bizen from Inokuma Ōmiya in Yamashiro Province in the Kamakura period. Works by the early Ōmiya smiths Kunimori and Sukemori are extremely rare, and within the Nanbokuchō group it is Morikage who left by far the largest body of work and the highest reputation. The NBTHK's published commentary states it plainly, that among the smiths of the line in this period "Morikage left the largest number of works and is also the most skilled"[[c:1]]. His Fujishiro grade is Jō-jō saku.
His characteristic hand is a *Sōden-Bizen* temper built not on the clove-flower of mainstream Osafune but on a *ko-notare* base. Into that undulating line he sets *gunome*, angular elements and a pointed tendency, with *ashi* and *yō* entering well, *ko-nie* adhering, and fine *sunagashi* and *kinsuji* running through the *ha*. The published sources read the temper as distinctly his own. On a converted-naginata of Tokubetsu Jūyō rank they note that the *notare* does not become broadly undulating in the manner of Kanemitsu but keeps short foothills and somewhat angular crests, features that, they say, clearly articulate Morikage's individual character. A quiet tell recurs across his work: the *nioiguchi* tends to a subdued *shizumi* rather than the bright, showy temper of the leading Osafune names of his day.
The *jigane* is the constant beneath that range. Over a standing *itame* mixed with *mokume*, the grain often opening, he lays a fine *ji-nie*, *chikei* entering finely, patches of *jifu* in the steel, and a Bizen *midare-utsuri* that stands on his signed and unsigned blades alike. The strength of the *nie* in both *ji* and *ha* is what the judges call the mark of *Sōden-Bizen* in his work. The *bōshi* runs *midare-komi*, finishing in a pointed or small-round turnback with *hakikake*, and the carvings range from a plain *bō-hi* through *futasuji-hi* to *bonji* and a *sankō-ken* on the finest pieces.
What the published sources stress above all is the breadth of his range. They describe it as wide, encompassing work in which *notare* predominates, a florid and changeful *midare* with *chōji* and *gunome* mixed in, work centred on angular *gunome*, and even a *suguha* in an Aoe manner. The dated, signed pieces are the spine of this picture, since they fix his hand to specific years from the Ōan era onward, while the *suguha* register stands at its quiet extreme. Of one signed *tachi* of Eiwa 2 the commentary remarks that, at a glance, it presents "exactly the kind of *suguha* manner that calls Aoe and the Unrui smiths to mind"[[c:2]], holding it among the very best of his output and a blade that makes his diversity readily understood. A modern scholarly question hangs over the name itself: on shared workmanship and the reverse-chisel forms of his signature characters, the published sources record a theory, now widely entertained, that this long-signature Morikage may belong instead to an Osafune collateral line connected to Chikakage and Yoshikage, and that the smiths who cut bold, large two-character signatures may be the true Ōmiya hands. The matter is left open for further study.
The larger face of his surviving record is the *o-suriage mumei* katana attributed to him. These are wide-bodied, the *sori* shallow and the *kissaki* extended in the archetypal Nanbokuchō shape, the *hamon* a *ko-notare* mixed with *gunome* and at times small *chōji*. The published sources affirm them as unmistakable *Sōden-Bizen*, then place Morikage by contrast: his bright *midare-utsuri* and subdued, *chōji*-mixed temper hold him apart from Kanemitsu, whose temper is broader, and from the box-shaped large *midare* of the Chōgi group. Yet the kinship to Chōgi is real and acknowledged. The commentary on one Tokubetsu Jūyō katana, noting how the Ōmiya line tends to be overshadowed by Kanemitsu and Chōgi, says outright that "his workmanship resembles Chōgi and stands beside it"[[c:3]]. He belongs, in short, to the front rank of Nanbokuchō Sōden-Bizen, a maker whose attribution rests on era, school and these careful distinctions rather than on a single flamboyant trait.
For the collector Morikage is an attainable name among the great Nanbokuchō hands, though one to be met with patience. He has no National Treasures; his designated record runs instead through two Important Cultural Properties, three Tokubetsu Jūyō and a long Jūyō roll, eighty-nine blades in the Tokubetsu Jūyō and Jūyō tiers in all, with one further Jūyō Bijutsuhin from the prewar designations. His provenance is that of the daimyō houses, his blades carried in the Nabeshima of Hizen, the Uesugi, the Date and the Hisamatsu-Matsudaira, with one piece recorded in Imperial keeping. The published commentary singles out individual works in the strongest terms, calling one converted naginata "an outstanding example among his works of that form"[[c:4]]. Because most designated blades stay in long-held collections, a signed and dated Ōmiya Morikage comes to light only from time to time, and a privately held one is a notable thing for a collector to encounter, a securely documented witness to the broad and skilled hand at the centre of the Ōmiya school.
Moritsugu (盛繼) — Mainline · 1308-1311. Jūbi, Jūyō. Smith of the Bizen Ōmiya School.
Morishige (盛重) — Mainline · 1394-1428. Jūyō. Smith of the Bizen Ōmiya School.
Sukemori (助盛) — Mainline · 1288-1293. Tokujū. Smith of the Bizen Ōmiya School.
Morikage (盛景) — Mainline · 1299-1302. Jūyō. The earliest blade gathered under this Morikage attribution is a shortened tachi signed with a large, boldly chiselled two-character mei near the tip of the tang. The reference books list a Morikage of Osafune working in the Enbun era, but the published sources hold that this one is no later than the close of the Kamakura period, "the most time-ascending work among those of the Omiya line's Morikage"[[c:1]]. They add that surviving works of his are extremely few, that its ji and ha "differ from the later same-school and same-name works"[[c:2]], and that it is "of remarkable documentary value"[[c:3]]. Morikage is the representative smith of the Bizen Omiya group, a line the published sources trace to the remote ancestor Kunimori, said to have moved to Bizen from Inokuma Omiya in Yamashiro.
That early tachi keeps a finer measure than the rest. Its *jigane* is a *ko-itame* mixed with *mokume*, tending to stand, with *ji-nie* and a *midare-utsuri*. The temper is a *ko-midare* mixed with *gunome* and *choji*, the *nioiguchi* inclined to brightness with *ko-nie*, *ashi* entering thickly and *kinsuji* here and there, and the *boshi* swells, runs in with a *notare* and turns in a small round.
The other blades belong to the Soden-Bizen of the Nanbokucho period. They are wide katana with a shallow *sori* and an extended *kissaki*, most of them *o-suriage* and unsigned, with a *bo-hi* cut through on both faces. Their *jigane* is an *itame* mixed with *mokume*, the grain tending to stand, with *ji-nie* and *chikei* and a *midare-utsuri* rising. One such katana the published sources judged "Morikage of the Omiya group, among the so-called Soden-Bizen"[[c:4]], on its imposing shape and its *gunome-midare* mixed with pointed elements. On another, a *ko-notare* mixed with *gunome* over a standing *itame* with *midare-utsuri*, they wrote that "though unsigned, one of Morikage's manners is well discerned"[[c:5]], and they called its heavy, powerful build and its very sound ji and ha welcome.
The published sources stress the breadth of his range. In their account it takes in work based on *notare*, a changeful florid *midare* mixed with *choji* and *gunome*, work built on *kataochi-gunome* or on angular *gunome*, and a *suguha* in the Aoe manner. A katana signed with a folded-over long mei, Bishu Osafune Morikage, carries a *notare* mixed with *gunome* with fine *sunagashi*, and its *jigane*, thick in *ji-nie* and frequent in *chikei*, bright and clear, is called "the best-forged among his works"[[c:6]]. The florid extreme is an unsigned katana whose broad, *nioi*-prevalent *choji* temper rises so high that some heads reach the *shinogi*, where "the Omiya group's character is well shown"[[c:7]]. A converted naginata, thick and with a large point, mixes *gunome*, *ko-gunome*, *choji* and pointed elements, and of it the sources write that "Morikage's points of interest are well displayed"[[c:8]].
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 Osafune 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 Omiya 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 Juyo, two signed and four unsigned, and none holds a higher rank. The early signed tachi 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 Omiya 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.
Morokage (師景) — Mainline · 1429-1441. Jūyō. Smith of the Bizen Ōmiya School.
Other smiths
Morishige (盛重) — Mainline · 1429-1441. Smith of the Bizen Ōmiya School.
Morikage (盛景) — Mainline · 1394-1428. Smith of the Bizen Ōmiya School.
Morishige (盛重) — Mainline · 1528-1532. Smith of the Bizen Ōmiya School.
Morishige (盛重) — Mainline · 1319-1321. Smith of the Bizen Ōmiya School.
Morishige (盛重) — Mainline · 1336-1392. Morishige of the Omiya group of Bizen is represented on the official record by a single tachi, designated Juyo Token at the 24th session in 1976. The blade is *o-suriage*, and only five characters of its signature survive, cut off below the first character of the name. The published sources make the attribution from the hand of those characters: 「磨上げて「盛」以下が切れているが、銘振りからして大宮派の盛重と鑑せられる」 (although shortened, with the signature cut off below the first character of the name, the style of the inscription identifies it as Morishige of the Omiya school).
The same entry sets out the group's origins. 「大宮派の祖は国盛といい、もと山城猪熊大宮の住人で、のち鎌倉時代の文応頃に備前に移住したと伝える」 (the founder of the Omiya school was Kunimori, originally of Inokuma Omiya in Yamashiro, who is said to have moved to Bizen around Bun'o in the Kamakura period). They continue 「此の派は南北朝に入って最も栄えており、盛景・盛重らがよく知られている」 (the school flourished most in the Nanbokucho period, and Morikage and Morishige are well known among its smiths). The tachi is accordingly placed in the Nanbokucho period.
It is a *shinogi-zukuri* tachi with *iori-mune*, a deep *sori* and a *chu-kissaki*. The jigane is *itame*, flowing toward the edge, with a faint *midare-utsuri*. The hamon is a *koshi-hiraki gunome-midare* mixed with *choji*, breaking into a large pattern with *ashi* and *yo*. The *boshi* is *midare-komi*, pointed at the tip as it turns back, and *bo-hi* are cut on both faces, *kaki-nagashi* on the *omote* and *kaki-toshi* on the *ura*.
The published sources judge 「この太刀は同派の作風をよく示した一口である」 (this tachi shows the style of the school well). With one designated work, Morishige's manner on the official record is that of this blade: an Omiya temper of large *gunome* and *choji* over a flowing *itame* with *midare-utsuri*.
Morishige (盛重) — Mainline · 1469-1487. Smith of the Bizen Ōmiya School.
Morisuke (盛助) — Mainline · 1394-1428. Smith of the Bizen Ōmiya School.
Nobuhide (延秀) — Mainline · 1211-1213. Smith of the Bizen Ōmiya School.
Nobuyoshi (信良) — Mainline · 1362-1368. Smith of the Bizen Ōmiya School.
Nobuzane (信眞) — Mainline · 1234-1235. Smith of the Bizen Ōmiya School.
Arishige (有重) — Mainline · 1356-1361. Smith of the Bizen Ōmiya School.
Arishige (有重) — Mainline · 1381-1384. Smith of the Bizen Ōmiya School.
Arishige (有重) — Mainline · 1345-1350. Smith of the Bizen Ōmiya School.
Iemitsu (家光) — Mainline · 1492-1501. Smith of the Bizen Ōmiya School.
Kageyoshi (景良) — Mainline · 1389-1390. Smith of the Bizen Ōmiya School.
Kunimori (國盛) — Mainline · 1240-1243. Smith of the Bizen Ōmiya School.
Kunimori (國盛) — Mainline · 1293-1299. Smith of the Bizen Ōmiya School.
Kunimori (國盛) — Mainline · 1356-1361. Smith of the Bizen Ōmiya School.
Morokage (師景) — Mainline · 1444-1449. Smith of the Bizen Ōmiya School.
Narimori (成盛) — Mainline · 1345-1350. Smith of the Bizen Ōmiya School.
Nobuhide (延秀) — Mainline · 1302-1303. Smith of the Bizen Ōmiya School.
Norifusa (則房) — Mainline · 1199-1201. Smith of the Bizen Ōmiya School.
Suehito (末人) — Mainline · 1375-1379. Smith of the Bizen Ōmiya School.
Tomomori (友盛) — Mainline · 1156-1159. Smith of the Bizen Ōmiya School.
Tsugumori (次盛) — Mainline · 1278-1288. Smith of the Bizen Ōmiya School.
Tsugumori (次盛) — Mainline · 1338-1342. Smith of the Bizen Ōmiya School.
Tsugumori (次盛) — Mainline · 1362-1368. Smith of the Bizen Ōmiya School.
Tsunetake (恒建) — Mainline · 1211-1213. Smith of the Bizen Ōmiya School.
Tsuneto (恒遠) — Mainline · 1211-1213. Smith of the Bizen Ōmiya School.