Mitsukane
光包 (Mitsukane)
A late-Kamakura tantō master linked to Osafune Nagamitsu and to Rai Kunitoshi; he never signed with the Rai prefix and no long blades by him are known.
Profile
According to tradition, Mitsukane came from the forge of Osafune Nagamitsu, of whom he is said to be a son or a student, and went to Kyoto to study under Rai Kunitoshi; afterwards he settled in Tozu, in Ōmi province. Old books give his birth as 1278 and his death as 1349. He never signed with the Rai prefix and no tachi by him is known. His tantō have a thicker kasane than Kunitoshi's, a dense steel without Rai-hada and a widely hardened bōshi; the early ones, in midare, recall Nagamitsu, and the later ones, in a narrow suguha, follow the Rai manner. The branch that followed his son to Awazu is known as Awazu-Rai.
Monograph
Mitsukane (光包)
What is documented of Mitsukane, two tantō in the official database, and what is tradition, with the level of evidence of each fact.
Read the monograph
Notable works
- Midare Mitsukane: a tantō in midare from his Osafune phase, owned by the NBTHK; a meibutsu of the Kyōhō meibutsuchō.
- Tantō at the Fukuyama Museum of Art, from the Date house, in suguha: important cultural property.