This is a katana by Masamitsu from Bizen province, featuring a nagasa of 67.4cm and a sori of 1.5cm. The hamon is a straight-based notare with pointed elements, ko-choji and ko-midare, in nioi-deki. The jigane is a tightly forged ko-itame, showing a well-refined surface.
NihontoWatchmei · Koto · nagasa 67.4cm · sori 1.5cm
Bizen-den · Bizen · around 1317-1319
Tōken Taikan top 10%
Sanemitsu is transmitted, according to the prevailing view, as a disciple of Nagamitsu within the mainline Osafune school of Bizen Province. His career spans the late Kamakura period, with a dated work bearing a Shokei 2 (1333) inscription establishing his chronological anchor. Signed works are extremely few; on rare occasions examples are encountered bearing such signatures as "Osafune junin Sanemitsu" or "Sakon Shogen Taira Sanemitsu." In both jihada and hamon there are works that approach Kagemitsu; however, among his extant pieces there are also a small number whose dating and artistic rank are in no way inferior to Nagamitsu himself, and on this basis some scholars have advanced the theory that there existed a second generation bearing the same name. The name Sanemitsu further extends into the Muromachi period as an Oei-Bizen smith, evidenced by works dated to the Oei era and joint productions with Morimitsu and Yasumitsu, placing later-generation bearers of this name firmly within the same circle as those prominent Oei masters.
The Kamakura-period Sanemitsu is distinguished by a tightly forged ko-itame-hada with extremely fine ji-nie, delicate chikei, and vividly standing midare-utsuri. His hamon displays rounded, full-bodied choji in the Nagamitsu manner, mixed with gunome and togariba, characteristically nioi-gachi with attached ko-nie; fine kinsuji and sunagashi appear, and the nioiguchi remains bright and clear. In the lower half of certain blades the yakiba becomes distinctly lower and shifts to a more suguha-like tendency, while the nie deepens --- a trait by which his particular manner is recognized. His boshi tends toward shallow notare-komi with ko-maru, differing from the so-called sansaku-boshi seen in works by Nagamitsu, Kagemitsu, and Chikakage. The Oei-period Sanemitsu works in the characteristic group style: itame intermingled with abundant mokume producing a standing texture with chikei, the hamon featuring koshi-hiraki gunome and choji with a somewhat thrusting boshi, and the emergence of sakizori in the blade form.
Among Osafune works of the late Kamakura period, Sanemitsu's particular manner is consistently recognized as closely allied to the output of smiths in the orbit of Nagamitsu, yet the compact and restrained quality of his choji and the distinctive treatment of the boshi establish an identifiable individuality. The NBTHK has noted that his overall workmanship closely resembles the calmer class of works by his master, and his pieces are praised for their refined, densely forged ko-itame and bright nioiguchi. Among the various smiths of Osafune, Sanemitsu is comparatively less frequently encountered, and his surviving works --- whether from the Kamakura or Oei period --- are valued both as fine examples of the school and as material of high documentary value for understanding the breadth of his capabilities.
Where Sanemitsu stands among comparable artisans: across all of nihontō, and within tradition, era, and period. The tiers (Foremost · Leading · Major · Notable) weigh official designations from the NBTHK and Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs, together with historical honors of lasting repute such as the Sansaku and Meibutsu-chō.
Select a lens to see how it's measured.
Bizen-den · Bizen
Phase: Ko-Osafune古長船· 1238–1335
257 pieces on the market now
Three smiths working at the village of Osafune across the second half of the thirteenth century set the terms for every Bizen blade that followed: Mitsutada the founder, his son Nagamitsu, and the closely related Sanenaga, the Sansaku triumvirate whose work opens this phase. Their window runs from the mid-Kamakura period into the early fourteenth century, when leadership passed to Nagamitsu's son Kagemitsu, the third-generation head whose dated tachi, naginata, and tanto carry the phase to its close around the Kenmu years. The setsumei repeatedly fix Kagemitsu by genealogy and date, citing pieces inscribed from Gen'o 1 (1319) and Genko 1 (1321) through Shochu and Kenmu (1325 to 1334); these ubu or lightly shortened, date-bearing blades are what give the founding chapter its firm chronological spine and separate it from the workshop-broad output of the later Nanbokucho and Oei generations. This is the orthodox mainline before the school fanned out: the generation that built the standard, not the ones that later reinterpreted it. The constructional signature of the phase is a tightly packed ko-itame, at times mixed with mokume, carrying fine ji-nie in dense particles, fine chikei, and a vivid midare-utsuri that the examiners single out again and again; one Kagemitsu tachi even pushes the utsuri toward a striped, Aoe-like dan-utsuri with reverse-slanting dark bands. Against the Ko-Bizen root, with its standing jifu-utsuri and thicker ha-nie, this phase reads as more refined and more tightly controlled in the ji. The temper marks the phase's internal turn.
Where Nagamitsu and Mitsutada favored flamboyant choji-midare, Kagemitsu pulls the hand inward to a suguha-based temper carrying ko-gunome, ko-choji, and angular elements, often with a reverse (saka-gakari) tendency, in a nioi-dominant, bright nioiguchi; the setsumei credit him specifically with perfecting kata-ochi gunome, the dropped-shoulder pattern repeatedly named as his completion. The boshi is the gentle sansaku-boshi, a shallow midare-komi or notare turning back in ko-maru. None of this is the powerful nie, scattered tobiyaki, and Soshu-den drama of the later Soden-Bizen, nor the open gunome and pointed candlewick boshi of the Oei revival; it is calmer, nioi-bound, and date-anchored. A collector separates this phase by its named masters and the kantei points the setsumei make explicit: kata-ochi gunome and the sansaku-boshi read Kagemitsu, while reverse-slanting jihan-utsuri and certain boshi forms let the examiners assign proxy daimei hands such as Chikakage and the collaborator Kagemasa, the latter named in a Shochu 2 (1325) joint tachi dedicated to Chichibu Shrine. Tanto are a discriminator in their own right, surviving in number for Kagemitsu where they are scarce for Nagamitsu, including the kanmuri-otoshi and hira-zukuri pieces with devotional bonji and kurikara carvings. Provenance present in the sample carries weight: a Kagemitsu tachi transmitted in the Chikuzen Kuroda family with its old scabbard, an orikaeshi-mei katana recorded in the Shimazu line, and tanto and tachi held in the Imperial collection where Kagemitsu is ranked beside Yoshimitsu, Shintogo Kunishige, and Samonji. These are the works that define the founding core against everything Osafune later became. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Mitsutada光忠 | 1238-1239 | 61 |
| Nagamitsu長光 | 1274-1304 | 255 |
| Kagemitsu景光 | 1303-1336 | 144 |
| Kanemitsu兼光 | 1323-1370 | 237 |
| Sanenaga眞長 | 1299-1309 | 64 |
Bizen in the Kamakura period
Kamakura was Bizen’s summit. Tradition places Ichimonji smiths among Go-Toba’s goban kaji, Mitsutada founded the Osafune line at mid-century, and orders flowed from the court and the warrior government alike. No province holds more National Treasure blades.
We could not find an authenticity certificate on the seller’s listing. Japanese swords and fittings are normally papered by the NBTHK (or the NTHK). Without one, the attribution is the seller’s own assessment and has not been independently verified — treat it with caution and ask the dealer about certification before buying.
