Signed 1360. Lost After the War. Home in 2025. | The Mikazuki Kanemitsu

Two Japanese swords are named after the crescent moon. Episode four told the story of the famous one — the most beautiful sword ever made. This is the other one. It cannot match the Munechika for fame. But it carries things the famous one never had: a signature, a date — the sixth month of 1360, carved into the steel by the smith himself — and a war record. It was chosen by Uesugi Kenshin, one of the fiercest warlords of the Sengoku era, for his personal collection of thirty-five blades. And it outlived everything. The warlord who treasured it. The postwar chaos that scattered Japan's swords across the ocean — this one crossed it, and came home — returning to Japan in 2025, and going on public display in Nagoya the following year. Even the city that forged it: Bizen Osafune, the greatest sword-producing city Japan ever knew, drowned in a single flood in 1590 and never rose again. Told from Japanese records, including the sword's own signature and the Uesugi clan's blade registers. CHAPTERS 0:00 The other crescent moon 0:54 The mystery of the name: yubashiri 1:40 A signature and a date: 1360 2:17 What was Bizen Osafune? 2:27 Geography builds a sword city 3:08 A relay of masters 3:48 The Kenshin legend: "a student of Masamune"? 4:42 Kenshin's thirty-five chosen blades 5:36 It crossed the ocean — and came home 6:27 Standing in front of it 7:43 1590: the flood that ended Osafune 8:39 The steel remains 9:32 Next time: the town where the fires never went out SOURCES & IMAGE CREDITS • Blade by Kanemitsu, shown as a reference — not the Mikazuki Kanemitsu (labelled on screen): Tokyo National Museum / ColBase (https://colbase.nich.go.jp) • Mikazuki Munechika blade photograph (comparison): ColBase — CC BY 4.0 • Portrait of Uesugi Kenshin (Rinsen-ji temple): via Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain) • Portrait of Uesugi Kagekatsu (Yonezawa City Uesugi Museum): via Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain) • Moat of Yonezawa Castle: via Wikimedia Commons (CC0) • "Japanese swords surrendered, August 1945": U.S. Navy photo 80-G-332611, U.S. National Archives (Public Domain) • Tenpō-era provincial map of Bizen (1838): National Archives of Japan • Daihannya Nagamitsu and Kōryū Kagemitsu: National Treasure catalogue photographs, 1950s (Public Domain) • Bizen Osafune Sword Museum: via Wikimedia Commons (CC0) • Sword catalogue "Shōchū Tōken Meibutsu-chō" (1919): National Diet Library Digital Collections (Public Domain) • Photographs of Seki: by the author • Some scene illustrations and diagrams are AI-generated or hand-drawn recreations, labelled on screen. • BGM: "Cinematic Symphony of Steel" — Jimena Contreras (YouTube Audio Library) A NOTE ON THE LEGEND The tale that Kanemitsu studied under the great Masamune appears in the Edo-period sword catalogue with the words "so it is said." No contemporary record confirms they ever met. In this episode, the legend is presented as exactly that — a legend. Katana Lore tells the stories of Japanese swords from Japanese primary sources — the tales you can't find in English. Previous episode — The Mikazuki Munechika:    • This 1,000-Year-Old Sword Has Moons Inside...   Next episode — Seki, the sword town:    • Your Kitchen Knife May Come From a Samurai...   #mikazukikanemitsu #osafune #katana #japanesehistory #nihonto