From Osafune to Kyoto
According to tradition, Mitsukane left the forge of Osafune Nagamitsu (長光, Nagamitsu), in Osafune, went to Kyoto to study with Rai Kunitoshi (来国俊, Rai Kunitoshi) and then opened his own workshop in Ōmi Province. He was not a Rai smith by origin. He is said to have been Nagamitsu’s fourth son, hence the name Heishirō, perhaps by a concubine. Sesko reasons that, if he studied in Osafune around the Tokuji era (1306–1308), perhaps he was not a son but a pupil who joined as an adult, or his year of birth is not correct.
Two chronologies
- Old books such as the Kotō Meizukushi Taizen say that he was born in 1278, that he studied with Nagamitsu around the Tokuji era, that he became a pupil of Rai Kunitoshi at 29 and that he died in 1349, aged 72.
- Others, such as the Kokon meizukushi, say that he reached Kyoto around the Bunpō era (1317–1319), which would suggest a mistake of “29” for “39” years.
- Sesko compares this with the dates of Kunitoshi, born in 1240 and alive at least until 1321: Mitsukane would have learned from a master aged about 67 or 77, who ran the workshop with the help of his sons Kunimitsu and Kunitsugu.
Both versions place his work in the late Kamakura; neither can be checked.
In Ōmi: Tozu, Chūdō and Awazu
- After studying in Kyoto he settled in Tozu (戸津, Tozu), in Ōmi.
- One tradition says that he forged at the Konpon-chūdō of the Enryaku-ji, on Mount Hiei, and that this is where the nickname Chūdō-Rai (中堂来, Chūdō-Rai) comes from. Others see in “Chūdō” the Chūdō-ji district, in Kyoto.
- The Tokyo National Museum, in its record, mentions that Konpon-chūdō tradition as the origin of the name Chūdō-Rai Mitsukane.
- His son and some pupils moved to Awazu (粟津, Awazu): that branch is the Awazu-Rai (粟津来, Awazu-Rai).
In the Rai school
The Japanese Wikipedia names him, together with Ryōkai, among the smiths of the Rai school, besides Kuniyuki, Kunitoshi, Kunimitsu and Kunitsugu.