Dewanokami Yukihiro, the first generation of the name, was born in Genna 3 (1617) as the second son of Hashimoto Yoshinobu, with the common name Kurobei. His elder brother was Kawachi no Daijo Masahiro, which made him a grandson of the first-generation , and he worked at Saga on the collateral line of the school that the published sources call Soba-, beside the main house rather than within it. He received the title Dewa Daijo in Shoho 5 (1648), was promoted to Dewanokami in 3 (1663), and died in Tenna 2 (1682) at the age of sixty-six. The name passed through several generations, and the published sources are careful on the point: of one they write that "there were several generations of the same name; this is the work of the first".
Within the group his manner is known above all for a showy , and an early paper says simply that he tempers "particularly flamboyant within the school". On his finest a broad carries a mixed with , angular and round-headed elements and -like forms, here and there boxy, the pattern large and florid. Long enter vigorously and the runs deep, with adhering thickly. Long and run through the edge, and the is bright. The published sources single out the vertically elongated with long as "something often seen in the first-generation Yukihiro" that "clearly manifests this smith's distinctive traits". On two outstanding they note that the and stand out beyond his usual work, and on one of them -like lends a further charm.
The is that of : a tightly forged with dust-fine laid thickly and fine entering, which on several blades the sources call a refined . On one they note a of slightly blackish tone together with a straight at the base below the , and they treat both as "one of the points of interest of Soba-", rather than as faults. A second opens with the same straight . The runs straight to a , on some blades an , often with and at times a deep turnback.
Beside the he commanded the school's traditional straight temper. A carries a clean over tightly packed , its bright and clear. A shows a -based temper over , with an angular near the base suggestive of a . A in , deep in with thick , is called a comparatively uncommon example for him, yet "work that could be mistaken for the of the main line". One reverses the usual arrangement, with and above and a -like shallow below; the sources call this unusual within the tradition, though the upper half is still the at which he excelled.
Separate from the is the Aranda-. He is said to have gone to Nagasaki in Keian 3 (1650) to learn Dutch forging under the Dutch smith Hisatsugu and Yakushiji Tanenaga, in essence a method of processing imported nanban-tetsu, and many of his blades carry the supplementary inscription "made with Dutch forging." He customarily cut the character on the tang, and in rare cases the full form . One such lacks the Aranda inscription, which the sources take to mean that it was not made by that method. His nearest comparison in the record is his own brother: one large, florid is said "at first sight to call to mind rather the work of his elder brother Masahiro", and another almost to recall a masterwork by Masahiro. His son, the second-generation Dewanokami Yukihiro, first signed Yukinaga, styled himself Tobanojo, and took the Dewanokami title in Jokyo 1 (1684), two years after his father's death.
Fifteen of his works are designated , and none stands in a higher tier; Fujishiro ranks him Jo . Dated pieces are few. A 8 (1668) , made at fifty-one and bearing the Aranda inscription, is called "valuable source material", and a long dated Enpo 6 (1678) was made as an offering to the Daijingu, a large work without any breakdown in or . Current owners are not recorded for these blades. Signed works by him do reach the market from time to time, though, as with most designated swords, they are far more often held than traded.