National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

Although naginata (a pole sword) are believed to have been used since the Heian period, few of them now exist that were created before the Kamakura period when Kagemitsu produced them actively. Kagemitsu, who was a swordsmith of the Osafune school that prospered through the medieval period in Bizen no Kuni, worked actively in the late Kamakura period. This naginata clearly demonstrates Kagemitsu's characteristics: a midareutsuri (an irregular pattern that looks like a reflection of hamon) on the fine-grained (koitame) ground metal, a suguha (straight)-type hamon with kochoji (a daphne pattern) and a sakaashi (slanted extensions of martensite/troostite crystals extending from the hamon to the cutting edge) in the blade area.