Bishu Osafune Masamitsu

[hxv]

Hi,

 

I have been reading up on Bishu Osafune Masamitsu, and here is what I have found so far:

 

1. Hawley listed two generations of Masamitsu, but Fujishiro thinks they are one and the same.

2. Masamitsu was a student of 2nd generation Kanemitsu.

3. Fujishiro ranks Masamitsu as Josaku.

4. Nihonto Koza has 1 tanto and 1 kodachi of Masamitsu's.

5. Nihonto Zuikan has 1 sword by Masamitsu.

 

I have been a little baffled because there is so little I can dig up on him compared to other smiths of the Kanemitsu school who were his contemporaries, given that he ranks Josaku and swords by him have gone Juyo. Also, I read somewhere that technically, Masamitsu is not considered part of Kozorimono. However, I have seen (picture only) a NPO-NTHK shinsa worksheet listing him as "Kozori Bizen Masamitsu," and the actual certificate says "Den Bishu Osafune Masamitsu" (mumei sword).

 

I would appreciate any information you have on Masamitsu, his extant works and their desirability, etc.

 

Regards,

Hoanh

[takakage]

In the 676 nbthk monthly magazine.

 

Shijo Kantei To No 674 ( in the 2013 March issue)

 

The answer for the Shijo Kantei To No. 674 in the March issue is a tachi by Osafune Masamitsu dated Eitoku 2

 

 

 

This tachi has a standard width, and the widths at the moto and saki are different. The blade is slightly thick for the width, there is a high koshizori, the tip has sori, and there is a chu-kissaki. This kind of shape is seen often from the late Nambokucho era,and approximately after the Eiwa era. Some of Masamitsu’s works are similar to late Nambokucho time Kosori work, but when compared with those, his jihada and hamon are brighter. Masmitsu’s jihada are itame mixed with mokume and nagarehada, and the hada is visible. There are ji-nie, chikei, midare utsuri, and often different color jifu appears. The hamon are based on a shallow ko-notare, mixed with ko-gunome, ko-choji, and ko-togari, and the yakiba are low or narrow for the mihaba. The entire hamon is small, and there is a nioiguchi and ko-nie. The boshi are midarekomi, and tips are sharp. Around the Joji era, his few early works are in the Enbun-Joji style, and are large tanto and hira zukuri wakizashi. The hamon are kataochi-gunome or notare mixed with gunome, which are similar to his teacher Kanemitsu’s style, and of his older fellow students Motomitsu and Tomomitsu. Masamitsu is famous as a student of Kanemitsu along with Motomitsu and Tomomitsu. Motomitsu and Tomomitsu’s active period was around the Enbun and Joji eras. Masamistu’s dated works are before and after the Joji period into the early Muromachi Oei era. Thus Masamitsu’s active period was later than the other two senior smiths. His teacher Kanemitsu’s latest date was during the Joji period which was Masamitsu’s earliest working period. His elder students Motomitsu and Tomomitsu’s last dates were around the Oei era. Looking at the late Nanbokucho period, the main Bizen smiths last signed eras (the last dated examples do not always coincide with the end of the smith’s career) were Joji for Motoshige, Koryaku for Chogi, and Oei for Omiya Morishige. Many of the Bizen dates moved up to Eiwa, Koryaku, Eitoku, Shitoku, Kakei, Ko-o, and Meitoku, and the tachi shapes changed to become narrower. Choji’s Koryaku era tachi are narrow, but without other style changes. Morikage’s work from the end of the Nanbokucho period have a narrow shape with small hamon which is similar to Kosori work. Also, there are many Bizen smiths who are not belong to famous schools and do not have a clear school style (similar to this Masamitsu work), and people called all of these smiths Kosori smiths. Overall, at the end of the Nanbukucho period, Bizen swords became narrower, and at the same time, the mainstream schools’ characteristics gradually disappeared and smaller hamon become popular. During Masamitsu’s early career, his work was silmar to that of Kanemitsu, Motomitsu, and Tomomitsu. But during the late Nanbokucho period, when his teacher and fellow students’ influrence become less, he produced many Kosori style blades, and this could be the trend of the times. In voting, most people voted for Masamitsu. Beside him, Kosori smith names such as Moromitsu, Hidemitsu, and Iemori came up. As I explained, Kosori work is very similar to Masamitsu’s work and it is difficult to decide on names of individual smiths. From this viewpoint, Kosori smith names were treated as correct answers.

 

explanation by Hinohara Dai

[hxv]

Thank you Patrick for the most excellent info. That is very illuminating.

 

Regards,

Hoanh

[JDinMT]

In Markus Sesko's ,very helpful book, Koto-kantei there is a tanto on pg 191 from Bishu Osafune MasaMitsu with the oshigata and write up as well.

 

John D.

[hxv]

Thank you John. I do have that book but forgot to crack it open. Terrible me Will do so right away.

 

Hoanh

[paulb]

Dear Hoanh,

I am not sure if it will help much or confuse, but there does seem to be some inconsistency when trying to label Masamitsu's work. I think this may be because as mentioned in the NBTHK journal it changed through the course of his career. The NBTHK describe his work as being similar to kozori although the kozori term seems to be used to group together those smiths working in the Nambokochu period but who dont quite fit in to established other schools of the time. others tend to link him more closely with Yasumitsu.

I have only seen one sword attributed to Masamitsu in hand. It was O-suriage with a shumei and high level NTHK papers. It was a truly beautiful piece and it is one Bizen blade one I would gladly have in my collection. The workmanship was outstanding, the activity and ko-nie beautiful. All in all a very fine work.

[Tokaido]

Dear Hoanh,

I once owned a Masamitsu Tachi some years ago (>10 years).

It was ubu, signed and dated Meitoku 1 (1390) and therefore showed a clearly different shape than the mid-Nambokucho type.

Some data:

nagasa 687 mm

sori: 21 mm

sakihaba: 16.5 mm

motohaba: 28mm

sakikasane: 3.6 mm

motokasane: 7 mm

 

This blade was a very slender blade, but also polished down considerably. The nakago was much thicker than the polished part (more than 1.5 mm thicker!)

It had a remarkably high shinogi! Regretable the remaining boshi was only a pencil line thick it had been reshaped unfortunately.

Anyway, this sword showed no tiredness, a clear utsuri AND very fat chikei in the hada.

The hamon did not look like the typical "boring" Kozori blades of the time but contained a good deal of ko-notare, ko-midare, koshibiraki, ko-gunome, ko-choji,

ha‑nie, sunagashi, kinsuji, ko-ashi and tobiyaki. The habuchi had the nice "soft" look of a good Bizen-To of earlier times.

Unfortunately my photo skill wasn't that good, but I like to post some of the old pics. The blade was exhibited in Solingen 1984 and I copied the oshigata from the catalogue.

I did not manage to get a clear shot of the mei, but the oshigata on the Tokubetsu Hozon Kanteisho was even worse due to the patination and the very thin strokes of the mei.

 

 

Anyway, I think a Masamitsu blade is an interesting addition to any Bizen Collection.

 

Greetings

Andreas

[hxv]

Paul, thank you for your comment. It's very helpful, not at all confusing.

 

Andreas, thank you for sharing the oshigata and info. It looks like a wonderful sword. The boshi is an annoyance, but not atypical for swords of that era. Wish I could see close up pictures... It looks like my question came 10 years too late

 

Regards,

Hoanh

[Guido]

Here's one from my collection. As the paper states, it's of typical workmanship for Masamitsu, and although Mumei, therefore papered without "Den".

[Guido]

The Hada and Hataraki can be seen much better in this close-up:

[paulb]

Thank you Guido,

I had forgotten about this sword. it is good to be reminded of it. It looks to be a beautiful piece of work

Best Regards

Paul

[hxv]

Guido, beautiful sword and beautiful pictures. Thank you.

 

Regards,

Hoanh

[Jean]

Hoan,

 

Forum Search button:

 

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8192&p=67320&hilit=masamitsu#p67320

 

Info from Guido on this smith

[hxv]

Thank you Jean for the search link. It's very informative and entertaining (for lack of better expression).

 

Regards,

Hoanh