Kantei

Bibliography and credits

Sources

The sources consulted on 4 October 2026, by type, with their link. There is no article of its own on Norimitsu in Wikipedia or in Kotobank: what is known comes from his katana of 1459, from the NBTHK and from the studies of late Bizen.

On this page
  1. Sources

Sources

Agency for Cultural Affairs and museums

  1. 文化遺産オンライン (Bunka Isan Online): the Norimitsu katana of 1459
  2. ColBase, National Museums of Japan: the Norimitsu katana (F-20269), with its photos

NBTHK and studies

  1. NBTHK Sword Journal no. 803 (December 2023): the work of Norimitsu and his period
  2. Markus Sesko, “Kantei 1 – Sugata #6”
  3. Markus Sesko, “Kantei 3 – Hamon & Bōshi”
  4. Markus Sesko, “A brief outline of the changes in workmanship of the later Bizen tradition”
  5. Markus Sesko, “The great flood of the Yoshii River”
  6. Markus Sesko, the blades of the NBTHK kantei competition, 1998–2024
  7. Japanese Sword Index, “Judging sharpness”

Encyclopaedias

  1. Japanese Wikipedia: the Norimitsu katana of 1459, 刀〈銘備前国長船住左衛門尉藤原朝臣則光…〉 (katana mei Bizen no kuni Osafune-jū Saemon-no-jō Fujiwara no Ason Norimitsu)
  2. Japanese Wikipedia: 長船派 (Osafune-ha)
  3. Japanese Wikipedia: 刀剣の業物一覧 (Tōken no wazamono ichiran)
  4. English Wikipedia: List of Wazamono
  5. Japanese Wikipedia: 九州・沖縄地方の重要文化財一覧 (Kyūshū Okinawa chihō no jūyō bunkazai ichiran)

Image credits

  1. The Kurosaka katana: the blade from both sides, the point, the temper with the bōhi and the tang with its inscription (kurosaka-hoja-a.jpg, kurosaka-hoja-b.jpg, kurosaka-kissaki.jpg, kurosaka-hamon-horimono.jpg, kurosaka-nakago-a.jpg, kurosaka-nakago-b.jpg, kurosaka-mei-a.jpg, kurosaka-mei-b.jpg)

    Tokyo National Museum, via ColBase. Licence: ColBase terms of use, which allow free use with the source cited.