Kantei

The finest jigane of Osafune

Work and style

A jigane held to be the finest of the school and a calmer hardening than his father’s: the keys to recognising him.

On this page
  1. Kantei keys
  2. In the museum records
  3. Did he invent the katai-ochi gunome?
  4. The Koryū Kagemitsu, up close

Kantei keys

Sugata
Tachi with funbari and a high koshizori, without the curve dying away towards the tip, of normal width and kissaki for the end of the Kamakura period. Many tantō, rare in his father’s work, of normal width and length and often with a furisode nakago; also naginata, ken and ko-dachi AT
Jihada
Very dense ko-itame, with a crisp midare-utsuri; held to be the finest jigane of the Osafune school AT
Hamon
Fewer ups and downs than in Mitsutada and Nagamitsu: suguha with ko-notare, suguha with ko-chōji, ko-gunome and katai-ochi gunome (片落ち互の目, katai-ochi gunome), a gunome with one sloping side AT
Bōshi
In the Koryū Kagemitsu, a somewhat pointed ko-maru HD
Nakago
In the Koryū Kagemitsu, shortened (suriage), 17.3 cm long and with three mekugi-ana; in the tachi with Kagemasa, intact (ubu), with a single mekugi-ana and a kurijiri tip HD
Mei
備前国長船住景光 (Bizen no kuni Osafune-jū Kagemitsu) or 備州長船住景光 (Bishū Osafune-jū Kagemitsu) HD

In the museum records

The official record of the Koryū Kagemitsu describes a chū-suguha with ko-chōji and gunome, plenty of ashi and, overall, sakaashi, with a tight nioiguchi, and a somewhat pointed ko-maru bōshi. That of the Tokyo National Museum, in ColBase, speaks of a very compact ko-itame and of a suguha with slanting ashi, and points out in the hardening some semicircular shapes with one angular side, frequent in Kagemitsu and his pupils.

The record of the Koryū Kagemitsu in e-Museum sums it up like this: he differs from his father Nagamitsu in being less showy, but the brilliance of his jigane is remarkable.

Did he invent the katai-ochi gunome?

The sources disagree: the Japanese Wikipedia article on Kagemitsu says he is considered its creator; the one on the Kenshin Kagemitsu, that his father Nagamitsu created it and he perfected it.