Sixty years of war between two courts drove blades long and broad, and Osafune met the demand: Kanemitsu and Chōgi led forges serving the provincial warriors who did the fighting, while Sōshū influence arrived with the armies to create Sōden-Bizen.
This katana is attributed to Nagamori, a swordsmith of the Nanbokucho period associated with the Chogi school of Bizen Osafune. It exhibits the powerful proportions characteristic of the Nanbokucho period, with a broad mihaba and an extended o-kissaki. The blade features a highly expressive itame hada mixed with mokume, a chōji-midare hamon with abundant internal activity, and striking utsuri throughout the ji.
NihontoWatchmumei · Osafune · Nanbokucho · nagasa 69.2cm · sori 1.4cm
Osafune (Bizen), Chōgi line · Bizen · around 1346-1370
Fujishiro Jo saku · Tōken Taikan top 23%
2 pieces on the market now
A tantō dated the fifth month of Shōhei 5 (1350) anchors the career of Nagamori of Bizen Osafune. Of his Shōhei-dated work the published sources write that it "raises the previous upper limit of his dates, and is valuable material for the study of Nagamori"[[c:1]]. Nagamori has been transmitted since old times as a son or pupil of Chōgi (Nagayoshi). His dated blades run from Shōhei 5 (1350) and Shōhei 8 (1353) through Shōhei 22 (1367) and the Kentoku years, to the lately surfaced Eiwa 4 (1378) and Kōō 1 (1389). They place him in almost the same years as Chōgi rather than a generation behind, and like his teacher he signed overwhelmingly with Southern Court era names. A Chōgi tantō dated Jōwa 6, the equivalent of Shōhei 5, is Chōgi's earliest dated piece, so the two stand together at the head of the dated record. One Tokubetsu Jūyō wakizashi goes further, noting that he "may even be seen as slightly earlier than Chōgi"[[c:2]].
His hand is Bizen work carried into the Sōshū manner of the Chōgi line. The temper is a gunome-midare whose waists open in the Chōgi manner, mixed with chōji, ko-gunome and angular, pointed elements, wide and varied in its line. Ashi and yō enter, ko-nie adheres, and fine yubashiri and tobiyaki are mixed through it. Kinsuji and sunagashi run in the ha, and the nioiguchi is bright and clear. The published sources grant the affinity with Chōgi in the opened waists and the variety of the temper, and then settle the attribution on one distinction: his midare resolves into somewhat smaller patterning than the teacher's. Of one blade they write that "in the way the midare becomes somewhat smaller in pattern, the attribution to Nagamori is convincing"[[c:3]]. They read this as a manner falling a little short of Chōgi and Kanenaga in vigour and technique.
He forges an itame mixed with mokume, the hada standing a little and flowing in places, with ji-nie laid on thickly in fine particles and chikei entering well. The published sources name the strong nie of ji and ha as the Sōshū-den character of the Chōgi line, and it gives his jigane its depth. A midare-utsuri stands over it, often only faintly, and the published commentary notes that among blades of this type "there are some on which no utsuri appears at all"[[c:4]]. The bōshi runs in midare and turns back in a ko-maru, at times rising to a pointed tip with hakikake; on the signed pieces it runs up and turns back long. Bō-hi is carved through on most of the shortened katana, and the signed tantō carry su-ken and gomabashi.
His record falls into two groups. The first is a small body of ubu signed and dated work, mostly tantō and short tachi or wakizashi, with a long signature on the omote and a date on the ura. Its peak is the Shōhei 16 wakizashi in the Tokubetsu Jūyō, a wide, elongated hira-zukuri tempered in a large gunome-midare with deep nioi and abundant nie, which the judges read as showing the Sōshū-den. They call it "one of the foremost among Nagamori's works"[[c:5]]. A Shōhei 21 tantō recorded in Honma's inventory of the Imperial collection belongs to the same group. Its entry observes that his signature is close to the Osafune work of the period and differs from Chōgi's, and that "surviving works are very few, and await further study"[[c:6]]. The second and far larger group is the ō-suriage mumei katana, wide in body with an extended or large kissaki in the Nanbokuchō shape, attributed to him by the smaller-patterned reading of the Chōgi style. The published sources stress that beside the opened gunome he leaves a varied small ko-gunome midare, shallow notare and even suguha-toned work, and they call him "a smith of comparatively broad range"[[c:7]]. That breadth, with so few signatures to set against it, is why the mumei attributions turn on so fine a point.
Within Nanbokuchō Osafune he belongs to the Chōgi group, beside Kanenaga and the other Sōshū-den hands of the school, and the comparison the judges draw most often is with Chōgi himself. His midare-utsuri and the brightness of ji and ha keep him a Bizen smith. The thick ji-nie, abundant chikei, kinsuji and sunagashi place him within the Sōshū manner of the Chōgi line, while the smaller scale of his midare and a slightly gentler force separate him from the master. One blade is praised for a bold and splendid air, its midare varied and showy and rich in activity, an excellent work convincingly attributed to him.
Fujishiro grades Nagamori Jō saku. He has no National Treasure and no Important Cultural Property. His record runs through one Tokubetsu Jūyō and thirty-nine Jūyō blades, forty across the two tiers, with the Shōhei 21 tantō recorded in Honma's inventory of the Imperial collection, forty-one works on record in all. Of recorded whereabouts, two are held by the Tokyo and Kyoto National Museums. A mumei katana of Jūyō rank carries a silver-inlaid ownership inscription of Fukushima Kamon-no-suke and an incised note by Tagaya Eishi, who wrote that he bought it with his stipend, wore it always, and bade his descendants keep it. Because authenticated signatures are extremely rare, the dated pieces are valued as evidence as much as objects. A signed Nagamori comes to market only seldom. The mumei katana attributed to him appear more readily, Chōgi-line Sōshū-den blades of bright steel and varied temper within the reach of a patient collector, and a documented signed example is a notable thing to encounter.
Where Nagamori 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.
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Years he was demonstrably active, proven by signed-and-dated blades
Bizen-den · Bizen
Phase: Sōden-Bizen相伝備前· 1330–1394
214 pieces on the market now
The Soden Bizen school encompasses the group of Nanbokucho-period Osafune smiths in Bizen Province whose work absorbed the technical influence of the Soshu-den, producing a distinctive synthesis that stands apart from both orthodox Bizen and pure Sagami practice. The school divides into two principal lineages: the Kanemitsu group, representing the direct main line of Osafune that descends from Mitsutada through Nagamitsu and Kagemitsu; and the Chogi group, a collateral branch whose members carried the Soshu idiom to its most expressive extremes within Bizen. Kanemitsu, the chakuryu heir of Kagemitsu, pioneered the broad, relaxed notare-based midare that defines the mature Nanbokucho Osafune manner, while Chogi -- described by the NBTHK as the smith "who departs furthest from Bizen" among Bizen makers -- pushed nie-dominant forging to a level that rivals the output of the great Sagami smiths themselves. Together with disciples and contemporaries including Tomomitsu, Motomitsu, Masamitsu, Yoshimitsu, Kanenaga, Nagashige, and Nagamori, they constitute one of the most prolific and technically accomplished groups in the history of Japanese swordsmithing. The school's collective technical identity is anchored in a shared jigane of itame-hada mixed with mokume, with fine ji-nie adhering thickly, chikei entering well, and midare-utsuri standing out -- a persistent Bizen hallmark that survives even in the most Soshu-inflected work. The sugata overwhelmingly reflects the grand Nanbokucho taihai: wide mihaba with little taper between base and tip, and an extended chu-kissaki or o-kissaki conveying martial vigor. Within this shared framework, two distinct temperaments emerge.
" Yoshimitsu likewise inherits the small-pattern tendency, producing ko-gunome mixed with ko-choji whose restraint the NBTHK praises as "upper rank" Soden Bizen. The Chogi lineage, by contrast, emphasizes powerful nie in both ji and ha: Chogi's flamboyant large-scale midare weaves together gunome, choji, togariba, and koshi-hiraki forms with tobiyaki and yubashiri scattering freely, while kinsuji and sunagashi streak through the hardened edge. " Nagashige, now thought to be Chogi's elder brother rather than his junior, works a gentler, smaller-patterned midare yet with nie so strong as to "even surpass Chogi," while Nagamori occupies an intermediate position, his "somewhat smaller patterning" accompanied by rich internal activity. The historical significance of the Soden Bizen school lies in its demonstration that the Soshu influence, far from merely displacing Bizen conventions, catalyzed an extraordinary expansion of the Osafune repertoire. " The NBTHK's evaluative language across the school converges on consistent themes: the forging is "meticulous" and "excellent-quality," the nioiguchi "bright and clear," and the finest examples display a kenzen condition that attests to the soundness of Bizen steel at its peak. The abundance of dated inscriptions -- from Kanemitsu's forty-five-year span through Masamitsu's four-decade career extending into the early Muromachi period -- provides an unusually well-documented chronological framework, with later works by Masamitsu and Yoshimitsu pointing toward the subsequent development of Oei Bizen. Within the broader canon, the Soden Bizen school stands as the fullest realization of the creative possibilities that emerged when two of Japan's greatest forging traditions met and merged. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Mitsutada光忠 | 1238-1239 | 60 |
| Nagamitsu長光 | 1274-1304 | 254 |
| Kagemitsu景光 | 1303-1336 | 142 |
| Sanenaga眞長 | 1299-1309 | 68 |
| Kanemitsu兼光 | 1323-1370 | 235 |
Bizen in the Nanbokuchō period
Sixty years of war between two courts drove blades long and broad, and Osafune met the demand: Kanemitsu and Chōgi led forges serving the provincial warriors who did the fighting, while Sōshū influence arrived with the armies to create Sōden-Bizen.
A Hozon-certified blade judged to show notably superior workmanship and a better state of preservation. The bar is higher: re-tempered blades and most unsigned Muromachi/Edo works are excluded.
The NBTHK (Nihon Bijutsu Tōken Hozon Kyōkai, the Society for the Preservation of Japanese Art Swords) is a public-interest incorporated foundation founded in 1948 and supervised by Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs (Bunkachō); it is based at the Japanese Sword Museum in Tokyo. Its expert panels physically examine each submitted work (shinsa) and issue a certificate (kanteishō) ranking it by artistic and historical merit. NBTHK papers are the most widely recognized standard of authentication for Japanese swords and fittings.
NBTHK official siteTo facilitate this, we offer a three-day inspection period. To initiate a return, you must notify us within three days of the package being delivered. Once we confirm your request, you have seven days to ship the item back to us. The item must be returned in its original condition, including all accompanying documents, certificates, and packaging materials. The buyer is responsible for covering the shipping costs and insurance for the return shipment.
¥3,500,000
