Osafune Arimitsu

Profile

Arimitsu (在光) was a swordsmith of Osafune in Bizen province, working in the Bunmei era (1469-1487). He belongs to the group the reference works call Sue-Bizen (末備前), the Osafune smiths of the second half of the Muromachi period. The registers list several smiths of this name at Osafune through the sixteenth century; one of his successors, of the Eishō era, is credited with the title Izumo no Kami. He signed Bishū Osafune Arimitsu and, in the longer form, Bishū Osafune Fujiwara Ason Arimitsu. His work is described with a mokume hada and with hamon ranging from suguha to gunome-chōji and ko-midare, in the usual Osafune manner of his day.