A dated Entoku 2 records that Bishū Hikobei Tadamitsu forged it on assignment at Iioka-gō in Mimasaka, and the published sources take it as clear evidence of the smith whom they rank highest among the many who signed this name. The places a first Tadamitsu in the Shōō era and counts eight generations down to Eiroku and Tenshō. The earliest work the has examined is a blade dated 3. The famous Tadamitsu, however, belongs to the late , to the forges called , where he stands with Katsumitsu and Munemitsu among the representative smiths. Smiths of the name sign with several common names, Hikobei no Jō, Shuri no , Kurozaemon and Heiemon no Jō among them, and of these the published sources hold Hikobei no Jō, active in Bunmei, Entoku and Meiō, to be the most skilled.
His reputation rests on . One commentary calls him "the master of among the smiths", another says that "within as a whole he is established as skilled in ". On a typical without a personal name, which they read as Hikobei's work, they write that "the is exceptionally clean, and the is well made". The is a tight with fine and , and on a Chōkyō 2 the commentary calls it extremely good. Over it he tempers a or with a bright, tight , , small and , with a little and . The runs straight to a . A Meiō-dated in with and is called typical and smart in every respect, its and very healthy.
He worked the as well. The published sources write that although many of his good works are in , "when he tempers a he is no less skilled than Katsumitsu and Munemitsu". On a of high curvature they note that "the original is also his forte". There the carries a and the temper is an open-waisted deep in , with a bright . Elsewhere the is mixed with and small , and entering freely. One in the Sengoku shape is judged close in feeling to Oei-.
His blades are the field swords of the age. A under two , with strong and a tang short for the blade, is explained as a form made "entirely to suit the one-handed draw-cut". On both faces the devotional carvings appear, a grass , and the deity name . The published sources take these as "the work of a specialist carver attached to the group". One is inscribed with its price, dai senbiki, and the commentary works it out as two hundred and fifty thousand coins, noting that "a thousand hiki was a considerable price for the time". A carries a gold-inlaid cutting-test inscription by Yamano Nagahisa.
Spears and joint works complete the record. The published sources observe that fine spears of the period are few, and that "among work comparatively good pieces are seen from Norimitsu and Tadamitsu"; several of his and ōmi- are designated. A signed jointly by Hikobei and Hikosaburō is called "a typical and representative work of ". Another, made with Kurozaemon, is noted because "a joint work by two smiths both signing Tadamitsu is of interest". Three signed dated Bunmei 10, Bunmei 12 and Meiō 8 are recorded in Honma's inventory of the Imperial collection: a narrow on a with a , a short in , and a thick in with a grass . Honma holds the three to be by one hand, "skilled in both and ". He adds that the two-edged form belongs to the mid- and later and "is especially common in ".
For the collector, Tadamitsu is graded Jō-jō by Fujishiro. His record holds twenty-two blades at , , , and spears, with a of Entoku 3 certified in 1948 to Ide Tokuichi; nearly all are signed and many dated. Recorded provenance is slight, though one Chōkyō 2 names its orderer, Watanabe Shinzaemon. Of the names his is among those met more often, and a dated Hikobei Tadamitsu in his clean is a realistic though not common encounter for a collector of late .