Kamakura Ko Mihara Katana mounted in Koshirae with Tokubetsu Hozon Certificate
The Ko-Mihara school was founded by Masaie during the Kamakura period, Works by Ko-Mihara have strong Yamato influence and also some Bizen influence. Masaie is thought to be the founder of the Ko Mihara school . It is very rare to see any signed works by Masaie or Masahiro, and there are very few swords that are dated.
The Mihara School forge was located at Kokubunji Temple in Bingo Province, The school is divided into three periods: Up until the Oei era (1394), the work of this school is named Ko Mihara then Chû Mihara from the Oei era (1394) to Eikyo (1429) and followed by Sue Mihara for swords forged later until the Edo period.
There is also an interesting theory about the Mihara school Fujishiro Sensei stated he believed that this school is probably much older.
It is also commonly accepted that Mihara School was influenced by Yamato and Aoe. We can see very similar characteristics in Komihara blades.
Bingo Province (備後国, Bingo no kuni) was a province of Japan on the inland sea side of western Honshu, comprising what is today the eastern part of Hiroshima prefecture. It was sometimes grouped together with Bizen and Bitchu Provinces as Bishū (備州). Bizen’s original center was in the modern city of Okayama. From an early time Bizen and surrounding provinces was one of Japan’s major centers for sword making .
