Slightly Cursed Kanemitsu

[Francis Wick]

I would be most grateful for thoughts and input on this katana. I posted a note some time ago when I first bought it but have since then had a heck of a time receiving it. Without being too boring about the subject , the auctioneers was first hacked and I nearly paid $3500us to scammers, finally it was sorted out and sent only to be stuck in customs in Canada where it was nearly seized. The shipper put in the customs documents “ not a sale “ and customs used this to fine me $2000 and threaten to seize it. A lawyer later no fine no seizure and surprisingly no taxes or duties ?! 
 

anyway I now have it 

 

A katana signed Bizen Osafune Kanemitsu

 

machi okuri by about 1 inch

 

kissaki bit shortened 

 

no fatal flaws

 

nagasa 27 1/4 inches

 

Sori 1 inch

 

rest in cm:

Mihaba 3.4 cm

yokote 2.2 cm

kasane 0.9 cm thick

yokote thickness 0.5 cm

 

Large burl wood grain and hamon mostly wider and straight with some areas of slight sanbonsugi 

 

I tried to get pics but my pics are crap my apologies 

 

Francis 

 

Any ideas on age etc ?

 

thank you 

Edited Sunday at 05:04 PM by Francis Wick
Misspelt Slightly Autocorrect

[klee]

Hi @Francis Wick

 

Bizen Kanemitsu worked in the Bunmei

 

Does the sword have papers ? 

 

Bizen smiths tend to have good, even, consistent mei strokes but this one seems a bit off based on the pic.

 

The hada also looks extremely pronounced in that pic. Might have been acid etched at some point and/or improperly cleaned/polished

[Francis Wick]

Just now, klee said:

Hi @Francis Wick

 

Bizen Kanemitsu worked in the Bunmei

 

Does the sword have papers ? 

 

Bizen smiths tend to have good, even, consistent mei strokes but this one seems a bit off based on the pic.

 

The hada also looks extremely pronounced in that pic. Might have been acid etched at some point and/or improperly cleaned/polished

Thank you Klee

 

my pics are pretty terrible my apologies. That already gives me an idea of where to start looking for other examples. No papers I just bought it from Estateofmind auctions in New York a month ago . It was a WWII bring back the days has the name of the Japanese officer and his unit and the GI that brought it back 

[klee]

Hi @Francis Wick

 

I might have made an error and it might be a different "kane" kanji on the blade. I ll see what I can find in Sesko

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Sunday at 06:36 PM by klee

[nulldevice]

17 minutes ago, klee said:

Hi @Francis Wick

 

I might have made an error and it might be a different "kane" kanji on the blade. I ll see what I can find in Sesko

 

 

 

 

 

I believe it’s the Nagamitsu line of Kanemitsu smiths that this Mei is purporting to be. 
 

I agree that the hada looks like it’s been “enhanced” and not in a good way. There were many generations of smiths signing Kanemitsu and many signed Bishu Osafune Kanemitsu. 

 

[Francis Wick]

31 minutes ago, nulldevice said:

I believe it’s the Nagamitsu line of Kanemitsu smiths that this Mei is purporting to be. 
 

I agree that the hada looks like it’s been “enhanced” and not in a good way. There were many generations of smiths signing Kanemitsu and many signed Bishu Osafune Kanemitsu. 

 

Thank you so much. The hada just looks weird because of my crappy pics in good light it’s ok not etched fortunately. I think the Mei is original and contemporary to the sword. Obviously a later Kanemitsu as it is signed on the Omote , not tachi mei but katana mei . If it was kamakura or nambokucho it would have been tachi mei 

[Hoshi]

Hello, 

 

Sorry to hear about your misadventures. 

 

It is indeed a "cursed" sword. 

 

The inscription is not genuine. 

 

Regarding age, difficult to tell. The hada has been acid etched and deviates completely from what you would expect from the Bizen Osafune school. It could be anything  - Given the sugata and the hada, my guess is probably Shinshinto during the phase where they experimented with rather unseemly forms of O-hada, but it is not a high confidence call. Most likely, this is a shinshinto blade made to deceive, or later. You see these types of swords frequently, appearing without papers, on sites such as YJP. The gamblers that are fooled by of these swords on YJP, or elsewhere, often then seek out auction houses to flush away their mistakes to the next person.  

 

For "Big name" smiths, it's best to work with reputable dealers. Sometimes they'll appear on the NA market. 

 

You win a few, you lose a few, such is life. 

 

Good luck in your pursuits, 

 

Hoshi

Edited Sunday at 08:25 PM by Hoshi

[Francis Wick]

3 hours ago, Hoshi said:

Hello, 

 

Sorry to hear about your misadventures. 

 

It is indeed a "cursed" sword. 

 

The inscription is not genuine. 

 

Regarding age, difficult to tell. The hada has been acid etched and deviates completely from what you would expect from the Bizen Osafune school. It could be anything  - Given the sugata and the hada, my guess is probably Shinshinto during the phase where they experimented with rather unseemly forms of O-hada, but it is not a high confidence call. Most likely, this is a shinshinto blade made to deceive, or later. You see these types of swords frequently, appearing without papers, on sites such as YJP. The gamblers that are fooled by of these swords on YJP, or elsewhere, often then seek out auction houses to flush away their mistakes to the next person.  

 

For "Big name" smiths, it's best to work with reputable dealers. Sometimes they'll appear on the NA market. 

 

You win a few, you lose a few, such is life. 

 

Good luck in your pursuits, 

 

Hoshi

Thank you for the opinion Hoshi 🙏🏽

[ROKUJURO]

A 15th century sword blade with a KASANE of 9 mm might be a very rare thing.

[Robert S]

Wow, what an epic!  As a fellow Canadian, I take this as a major cautionary tale.  When you have to involve lawyers, things have gotten out of control!  So far I've been lucky bringing nihonto in from Japan and the USA, but fingers crossed.  I always ensure that the seller lists the full sales price on the paperwork, to ensure that no confusion occurs.  I'd sooner pay the tax than hire a lawyer!

 

Hoshi has far far more expertise than I.  I do, however, ahem, have some experience with acid etched hamon .  Hoshi may well be right about this, but it a completely different effect than the acid etch on the sword that I have - with mine the edge of the etched area is extremely sharp, too sharp, actually, where-as with this one the edge of the hamon is distinctly blurry.  It could be that it was an acid etch on a dampened sword, but it almost makes me wonder if the hamon was done in the traditional way, but by someone with little experience and in a hurry, such that they didn't carefully define the edge.  The almost harsh reveal of the jihada also suggests possible poor quality polishing - the jihada should be visible, but this is a bit extreme.  If it is Shinshinto, this degree of harshness in the jihada is not a great sign.

[Francis Wick]

12 minutes ago, Robert S said:

Wow, what an epic!  As a fellow Canadian, I take this as a major cautionary tale.  When you have to involve lawyers, things have gotten out of control!  So far I've been lucky bringing nihonto in from Japan and the USA, but fingers crossed.  I always ensure that the seller lists the full sales price on the paperwork, to ensure that no confusion occurs.  I'd sooner pay the tax than hire a lawyer!

 

Hoshi has far far more expertise than I.  I do, however, ahem, have some experience with acid etched hamon .  Hoshi may well be right about this, but it a completely different effect than the acid etch on the sword that I have - with mine the edge of the etched area is extremely sharp, too sharp, actually, where-as with this one the edge of the hamon is distinctly blurry.  It could be that it was an acid etch on a dampened sword, but it almost makes me wonder if the hamon was done in the traditional way, but by someone with little experience and in a hurry, such that they didn't carefully define the edge.  The almost harsh reveal of the jihada also suggests possible poor quality polishing - the jihada should be visible, but this is a bit extreme.  If it is Shinshinto, this degree of harshness in the jihada is not a great sign.

Thank you Robert

 

I personally don’t think it’s shinshinto as the nakago is very old and the mei is very deeply naturally rusted and smoothed , it’s not made to look that way. It’s an old sword. It may have been wiped with acid some time I’m not sure through , if you look at it under normal light you don’t see the same effect as in the pics. I didn’t have to pay for a lawyer and all my paperwork was true and accurate so it was one phone call and it was sorted, just a lot of stress. He was happy to do it for no fee, but nevertheless next time I’m not letting the shipper fill anything in !

[Francis Wick]

23 minutes ago, ROKUJURO said:

A 15th century sword blade with a KASANE of 9 mm might be a very rare thing.

Yes indeed pretty thick. The Hoshi I think has been a bit reshaped it looks like it was made shorter by a few mm probably to get rid of a big chip. Machi okuri also means it was refitted later to newer fittings. Not something a shinshinto blade would usually be subjected to ….? 

[The Forest Ninja]

I will say Canadian Customs is weird at times. 

 

I've purchased the same type of items fom Japan (mostly JNats) almost monthly for almost 2 years from the same vendor.

Sometimes, I've had to pay no Import Fee despite most times I did despite of the value of the items.

 

 

Edited Monday at 03:10 AM by The Forest Ninja

[ROKUJURO]

1 hour ago, Francis Wick said:

......The Hoshi I think has been a bit reshaped.....

It look me a moment to guess what you may have meant. BOSHI would have been closer, but probably you meant KISSAKI?

[vajo]

I like this sword.

Nice itame hada and beautiful gunome midare hamon.

This sword needs a good polish to see its beauty.

I belive its late muromachi.

Kissaki was slightly reshaped but nothing to fear off. 

 

Edited Monday at 08:06 AM by vajo

[Francis Wick]

10 hours ago, ROKUJURO said:

It look me a moment to guess what you may have meant. BOSHI would have been closer, but probably you meant KISSAKI?

Hi yes my apologies apparently my autocorrect doesn’t like Japanese sword terminology I meant to say boshi but like you point out it should read kissaki 👍🏻

[Francis Wick]

6 hours ago, vajo said:

I like this sword.

Nice itame hada and beautiful gunome midare hamon.

This sword needs a good polish to see its beauty.

I belive its late muromachi.

Kissaki was slightly reshaped but nothing to fear off. 

 

Thank you ,I also think late muromachi possibly the Kanemitsu of Bunmei like Klee pointed out in the chart he so kindly provided. What makes the nakago look a bit weird is a machi okuri of about an inch. Together with purchase cost and a polish it will be pushing $7k ,likely a bit much for it ,but I like the shape and that it is signed so I’ll probably get it fixed up . It has plenty meat for a polish so even if the surface was etched it might polish ok. Thanks for the input 🙏🏽

[Francis Wick]

11 hours ago, The Forest Ninja said:

I will say Canadian Customs is weird at times. 

 

I've purchased the same type of items fom Japan (mostly JNats) almost monthly for almost 2 years from the same vendor.

Sometimes, I've had to pay no Import Fee despite most times I did despite of the value of the items.

 

 

The oddest thing about customs here is that I’ve been asked a few times to provide proof that things are “ culturally safe “ . I was questioned about this sword because of the cover that had the name of the officer in it . They wanted me to prove it was “ at least 100 years removed from its country of origin “ I’ve had this too importing Maori and Northwest coast artifacts too. It’s not even customs , they hand it off to an unnamed department of “ cultural protection “ and if you look it up they don’t seem to exist. Only in Canada . 

[Jacques]

IMHO this sword is a kazu-uchi mono pretty tired (look at the machi).

[Francis Wick]

18 minutes ago, Jacques said:

IMHO this sword is a kazu-uchi mono pretty tired (look at the machi).

Thank you Jacques. It is still very thick with little surface wear. I don’t think it has had a huge amount of polishes. The blade is almost 1cm thick at the machi. No open grain anywhere. Whether it was mass produced I won’t be able to say I guess it depends on smith and period more than anything 

[Lewis B]

Machi looks fine to me. The background doesn’t help see the hamachi 

[Francis Wick]

8 minutes ago, Lewis B said:

Machi looks fine to me. The background doesn’t help see the hamachi 

Sorry I can try some better pics 😣 thank you !

[Francis Wick]

[Francis Wick]

[Francis Wick]

Think the original machi was here 

[Robert S]

On 11/24/2025 at 7:07 AM, Francis Wick said:

The oddest thing about customs here is that I’ve been asked a few times to provide proof that things are “ culturally safe “ . I was questioned about this sword because of the cover that had the name of the officer in it . They wanted me to prove it was “ at least 100 years removed from its country of origin “ I’ve had this too importing Maori and Northwest coast artifacts too. It’s not even customs , they hand it off to an unnamed department of “ cultural protection “ and if you look it up they don’t seem to exist. Only in Canada . 

Haven't run into that wrinkle yet!  I'd love to know what Act and Regs cover that requirement!  I'll have to do some digging.

[Jacques]

Ok, the machi is in better condition than I thought. however, I don't see why it would be machi-okuri.

[Lewis B]

Some thoughts on the topic here. 

 

[Jussi Ekholm]

I would agree with the view that Jacques has on this. I would think it would most likely be late Muromachi Bizen sword, wheter actually someone named Kanemitsu that I cannot say. However I would think the sword is in original state. I tried to do quick sketch with paint how I would expect it to look originally in fittings if it would have been machi okuri at your line, of course it is just a rough sketch to give an idea that I have in my mind. To me the hole placement looks perfectly normal now in current state, if it would have been machiokuri then the original hole would have been unusually close to the machi.

.

 

I do have some amazing resources on Bizen swords, however I have not been able to find a reference signature of any late Muromachi Kanemitsu. I am extremely grateful for this thread as I tried to search them and ended up discovering absolutely massive Nanbokuchō naginata by Kanemitsu that I was not aware of before. Finding items like that in Japan makes me very happy. One "cursed" thing about smith lineages where there are extremely famous ones is that then many later generations can fall into obscurity.

[Francis Wick]

19 hours ago, Robert S said:

Haven't run into that wrinkle yet!  I'd love to know what Act and Regs cover that requirement!  I'll have to do some digging.

Thank you Robert

im not even sure there is an existing act to govern these things. The guy who has challenged me on imports more than once is the same person every time and won’t tell me who he works for. It’s all a bit nebulous and strange . I think it’s good to ensure that people don’t steal things from others or own things that are banned or illegal but this seems to be more of a form of harassment than anything else.