Osafune Norimitsu
長船則光 (Osafune Norimitsu)
Name borne by several Osafune smiths in Bizen; the best-known line worked in the middle and later 15th century.
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Norimitsu (則光) is a name carried by several Osafune smiths in Bizen from the late Kamakura period to the end of Muromachi; tradition holds that the first was a pupil of Nagamitsu. The best-documented line worked in the mid-15th century and, alongside Sukemitsu (祐光) and Toshimitsu (利光), ranks among the main smiths of the Eikyō-era school, the intermediate step between Ōei Bizen and Sue-Bizen. Its best-known member is Gorōzaemon no jō (五郎左衛門尉), whose dated blades reach into the Bunmei era (1469–1487); joint works with Katsumitsu are attributed to him. They signed Bishū Osafune Norimitsu or Bizen no kuni Osafune Norimitsu, often with a date. Their katana tend to be somewhat short, with moderate sori and some sakizori; the hada is a fine itame with mokume and utsuri, the hamon a nioi-based gunome-midare, and the bōshi midare-komi with a short turn-back. The Nagahama Castle History Museum holds a katana by Norimitsu signed and dated 1464.
Swords available
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Osafune Norimitsu
Katana of the Osafune school, in Bizen, signed 備州長船則光 (Bishū Osafune Norimitsu) and dated 1454. It keeps an uchigatana koshirae with lacquered saya and, according to the original seller, papers for both blade and mounting. Blade of the Osafune school, in the province of Bizen, from the Norimitsu line in the middle of the Muromachi period. It measures 67 cm of nagasa with 2.3 cm of sori, in shinogi-zukuri with iori-mune and a medium kissaki. The original seller describes an itame hada tending towards masame, with ji-nie and nie-utsuri, and a gunome hamon mixed with ko-chōji, sunagashi and ko-nie; the bōshi turns back in a slightly pointed komaru, and the blade is declared sound in both ji and ha. The nakago is ubu, with kurijiri end and katte-sagari yasurime, and four mekugi-ana can be counted in the photographs, three of them plugged. It is signed 備州長船則光 (Bishū Osafune Norimitsu) and dated 享徳三年二月日 (Kyōtoku sannen nigatsu hi). It comes with an uchigatana koshirae whose lacquered saya shows an ajiro weave, an iron tsuba with a dragon, nanako fuchi-kashira with gold rims and fox menuki, together with a gilt double habaki. According to the original seller, the blade holds Tokubetsu Hozon Tōken and the mounting Hozon Tōsōgu.
75.3/100
€25,550
