It is said SHINTOGO associated with HASE-DERA Temple in YAMATO 
and started the HASEBE. Thin and wide TORIIZORI. O-ITAME has 
MASAME toward the MUNE, - a HASEBE mark. CHIKEI. HAKO-like paired
O-GUNOME and HYOTAN "Gourd" GUNOME compete within an undulating 
GUNOME O-MIDARE line. INAZUMA hides in HAKIKAKE SUNAGASHI while 
KINSUJI drifts like loose strands of silk. Complex forms may 
appear delicate. TOBI straddles grain lines in the JI where 
YUBASHIRI is found. Strong NIE within NIOI. ASHI falls. 
MIDARE BOSHI coordinates deep KAERI.
                                   __________________
                                   SHINTOGO KUNIMITSU SHO-AN 1199
                                     ___________|____
"The Ten Students"                   HASEBE NAGAMITSU GEN-O 1319
HASEBE KUNISHIGE(1) KEM-MU 1334        See AWATAGUCHI KUNITOMO
        |_______________ _____________     
________|_______     ___|____      ___|____  - Three Brothers -
HASEBE KUNISHIGE 2)  KUNIHIRA      KUNINOBU 
        - EN-BUN 1356 -               | BUN-WA 1352
         ________________ ____________|____________________
________|_______      ___|____    ____|____             ___|____      
HASEBE KUNISHIGE(3)   NOBUYUKI    SHIGENOBU(1) KA-KEI   MUNENOBU      
To SETTSU O-EI 1394   EI-WA 1375  ____|____       1387   SHI-TOKU 
__________    _______             SHIGENOBU(2)               1384
SHIGEMITSU    NOBUIYE                O-EI 1394
 O-EI 1394     MEI-O 1492

NAGAMITSU GEN-O (t: SHINTOGO KUNIMITSU): SABURO. KO-MOKU. SUGUHA.

"The Ten Students"
KUNISHIGE(1) KEM-MU (t: MASAMUNE): CHOBE. Tradition tells us his
        line was from HATSUSE in YAMATO, however, as HASEBE was
        his school, this could be a misnomer that passed into 
        reference. It mixes with another long held notion that 
        KUNISHIGE was of SENJUIN or TAIMA roots and then fell 
        into the SHINTOGO KUNIMITSU, HASEBE fold. Sword making 
        and study at GOJO BOMON INOKUMA Gate, YAMASHIRO. Wide and
        thin (a SOSHU marker), slightly curved sword body. 
        Elongated CHU-KISSAKI. IHORI-MUNE or MARU-MUNE. KO-MOKUME
        becomes MASA toward the MUNE. NIE-FUKASHI GUNOME-MIDARE
        resides as a NOTARE undulation, - SOSHU style. SUNAGASHI
        and KINSUJI are HAKIKAKE brushed through competing GUNOME
        rises. HYOTAN "Gourd" and other double GUNOME forms 
        inhabit the wall of jumbled mounds. Flared YUBASHIRI-like
        TOBI-YAKI hug grain lines and paint HITATSURA to the 
        upper. HAKIKAKE sweeps TOGARI or MARU from a MIDARE-KOMI
        BOSHI wherein  a bay or trough may dip for the HA. Also a
        deep KAERI-FUKASHI might contain a bump or widening. This
        key and lock BOSHI pattern, if present, may be very 
        subtle.

        Note: Published OSHIGATA and technicals have long 
        established two NAMBOKUCHO KUNISHIGE MEI. Judgment of 
        MU-MEI or ZAI-MEI between the 1st and 2nd KUNISHIGE can 
        be difficult. The definer favoring KUNISHIGE(1) is clear
        moisture of surface-steel and TOBI-YAKI in the upper. 
        KUNISHIGE(2) throws TOBI in the lower.
 Tokubetsu Juyo Hasebe 


KUNISHIGE(2) EN-BUN (f: KUNISHIGE 1): CHOBEJIRO. From TEI-WA 1345
        at GOJO BOMON INOKUMA Gate. O-AN 1368 is his outside
        career limits. Earlier pieces are the SOSHU, slightly 
        undulating GUNOME HA. The HAMON broadens with time to 
        O-GUNOME MIDARE. After the BUN-WA, we see HIRA-TSUKURI 
        TANTO and O-TANTO. An O-AN 1.8 SHAKU WAKIZASHI exists. 
        ITAME has MASAME toward the MUNE. Standing HADA may 
        appear rough, and showing strongly dappled BO-UTSURI. 
        His ASAKI KO-NOTARE of GUNOME with TOBI-YAKI set the  
        pattern for HASEBE smiths. O-GUNOME MIDARE might seem to
        splatter from the compact undulation  which moves under
        TOBI and MUNE-YAKI, rivaling HIROMITSU for the SOSHU era
        HITATSURA-BA crown. MARU-BOSHI with deep turnback. KUNI
        frame may contain the radicals, TAMA "Jewel" or 
        O "King." 

ODA NOBUNAGA's favorite sword. A Family Treasure of the KURODA, it was owned by KURODA JOSUI (formally YOSHITAKA) who married into the KODERA and defended HIMEJI against their long landlords, the AKAMATSU. He joined the call of NOBUNAGA seeing his former Lord, KODERA NORIMOTO boat another course and lose HIMEJI in HIDEYOSHI's drive down the coast. In 1600 he supported TOKUGAWA in KYUSHU - and then retired. 

A particularly strong NAMBOKUCHO SUGATA: Wide, slightly curved, broad O-KISSAKI and BO-HI. The HI lays on the SHINOGI, resolving to its back in a slope, its point just in line with the YOKOTE. Ghostly YUBASHIRI apparitions burst from eruptions in the lower to ride a maelstrom through the JI. The HAMON walks the HA on the OMOTE through flung debris and a YAKIBA that appears as a fire-ravaged structure that simply expurgated into the air. The upper is tame: Only solar-flares leap in miniature. Crowded ASHI drop and run through the whole HAMON, opening jumbled GUNOME and crumbling its churning KO-NOTARE line. 
BOSHI: YUBASHIRI cling to TAMA-like TOBI that sail into the bay of a deep URA. The MIDARE OMOTE is CHU-width with a few dotting TOBI.

        Presently mounted as a KATANA. KINZOGAN-MEI "Signature imitated in gold" 
         by HONAMI KOTOKU:
                  KURODA CHIKUZEN-no-KAMI - on the URA
                  HASEBE KUNISHIGE   HON-A(cao) - on the OMOTE

KOSHIRAE: MOMOYAMA Period UCHIGATANA mounts of AO colored (bluish green) and gold SAME SAYA by NOBUIYE.

BUNKAZAI HASEBE KUNISHIGE NAMBOKU-style OTANTO

NAGASA: 37.3cm 
  SORI:   .7cm

HIRA-TSUKURI, MITSU-MUNE. Wide, thin blade with little SORI. Elongated, 
WAKIZASHI-length, NAMBOKUCHO OTANTO. A long SUKEN rises along the MUNE 
from the Lotus.

Running ITAME-HADA has thick JI-NIE and CHIKEI.

HAMON of KO-NOTARE with GUNOME-MIDARE BA in NIOI and KO-NIE. There are 
ASHI, YO and KINSUJI.

MIDARE-KOMI BOSHI shows a TSUKI-AGE that is KO-MARU at the head and a 
long falling KAERI.

SOSHU influenced NAKAGO pulls quickly to small KURIJIRI. With two 
MEKUGI-ANA and his clearly placed MEI:

HASEBE KUNISHIGE

KUNIHIRA EN-BUN (f: KUNISHIGE 1): ITAME with MASAME toward the 
        MUNE has JI-NIE. NIE-DEKI O-MIDARE, GUNOME-MIDARE mix 
        with an undulating line in his HITATSURA BA. SUNAGASHI
        and KINSUJI run and drift. Simple HORIMONO forms.

KUNINOBU BUN-WA (f: KUNISHIGE 1): Second son. Some reference 
        states he was KUNISHIGE(2). Or that he later changed his
        name to KUNISHIGE. Others dispute it. The NAKAGO and MEI
        are not similar. KUNINOBU made FUNAZOKO-GATA 
        "Boat-bottom" NAKAGO that pulls to a  small KURIJIRI. His
        KUNI has the normal interior radical and strokes are thin.
        The MEI has a smooth and gently ordered perpendicularity,
        among several points. Generally, KUNINOBU blades are 
        thinner. Made TACHI, small TANTO and O-TANTO. ITAME HADA
        becomes MASAME near the MUNE, the expected HASEBE mark.
        The HITATSURA style of the 1st riddles the upper with 
        TOBI. ASHI and YO court while KINSUJI and SUNAGASHI swim
        together. FUNAZOKO-GATA "Boat-bottom" seems cropped by a
        small, round KURIJIRI. 
        Five character MEI: HASEBE KUNINOBU.

SHIGENOBU KA-KEI (t: KUNINOBU):  Made wide KATAKIRI BA TANTO with
        MITSU-MUNE. ITAME HADA with MASAME along at the MUNE 
        (HASEBE style). SUNAGASHI runs through an uneven NIE 
        GUNOME-MIDARE line. MIDARE BOSHI. HORIMONO: BONJI and 
        grass-style KURIKARA in a frame. 2nd SHIGENOBU in O-EI.

NOBUYUKI EI-WA (f: KUNINOBU): Worked to O-EI 1394. ITAME HADA.  
        GUNOME-MIDARE in an uneven NOTARE roll  - SOSHU style. 
        HITATSURA BA.

MUNENOBU SHI-TOKU (f: KUNINOBU): GOJO JU. HASEBE traveler. A 
        TANTO maker, KUNINOBUs' second son finds his way to 
        YAMATO, KAWACHI, SAGAMI and OWARI. He made wide, thin 
        blades in running ITAME HADA with MASAME at the MUNE,
        HASEBE style. An uneven NOTARE line displays O-GUNOME
        MIDARE HA with MUNE-YAKI defining a KUNINOBU style 
        HITATSURA BA of angular forms. ASHI and YO crowd while
        brushed SUNAGASHI runs. HAKIKAKE sweeps a MIDARE BOSHI 
        that plies an O-MARU course.

KUNISHIGE(3) O-EI (f: KUNINOBU): ROKUROZAEMON. Frm/KEN-TOKU 1370.
        Late NAMBOKUCHO smith who transferred and worked the O-EI
        at SHI-TENNO-JI Temple in SETTSU. He made HIRA-TSUKURI 
        KO-WAKIZASHI. Signed with the TAMA radical inside his KUNI
        frame, but the main definer is O-EI style. His 
        predecessors' HITATSURA falls here to NIE-KUZURE GUNOME-
        MIDARE with ASHI that has an altogether more smooth 
        feeling. MEI has thick strokes but will not tend to fill
        the area as does KUNISHIGE(2).