The domain school that turned Kyoto refinement into a dynasty. By order of the Nabeshima lords the first Tadayoshi travelled to study under Umetada Myōju in Keichō (1596), returning to the castle town of Saga to found a workshop that prospered under sustained patronage for generations. Through the great main line — the shodai, the long-lived nidai Ōmi Daijō Tadahiro, and the powerful sandai Mutsu no Kami Tadayoshi — and the soba-Hizen masters Kawachi Masahiro and Dewa no Kami Yukihiro, the school made the komenuka-hada its signature: a tight, rice-bran ji thick with bright ji-nie, carrying a deeply nioi-laden suguha counted among the finest in all shintō.
The The Hizen School (肥前), active 1596–1868 in Hizen Province across 62 documented smiths: 0 Kokuhō (National Treasures), 0 Jūbun, 7 Jūbi, 23 Tokubetsu Jūyō, 468 Jūyō.
Tadayoshi (忠吉) — Mainline · 1596-1632. Jūbi, Tokujū, Jūyō. The first-generation Tadayoshi of Hizen, the published sources record, styled himself Hashimoto Shinzaemon and served as a retained smith of the Nabeshima of Hizen. By domain order in Keicho 1 (1596) he went up to Kyoto together with the carver Munenaga and entered the school of Umetada Myoju, where he studied sword forging while Munenaga learned carving; they returned to their province in Keicho 3 (1598), and Tadayoshi settled in the castle town below Saga, where under the domain's patronage the line flourished greatly. His dated work begins from the eighth month of Keicho 5 (1600) and runs to the eighth month of Kan'ei 9 (1632), the year he died, a working career the published sources reckon at thirty-two years. In Genna 10 (1624) he went up to Kyoto a second time, received the court title Musashi Daijo, and changed his name from Tadayoshi to Tadahiro, altering his clan name from Minamoto to Fujiwara. He is the founder of Hizen-to, and the school he raised under Nabeshima patronage came to dominate the sword-making of Kyushu.
His mainstay is a bright, tight *suguha* tempered upon the fine *jigane* that is the signature of Hizen work. The published sources describe it plainly: "his favored *suguha* is tempered upon a well-knit *ko-itame*, the distinctive *jigane* commonly called *kome-nuka-hada*, and in it he aimed at the manner of the Rai school"[[c:1]]. The temper is a *chu-suguha* or *hiro-suguha* carrying only a shallow *notare*, at times mixed with *ko-gunome*, into which *ko-ashi* and *yo* enter; the *nioiguchi* is deep with finely clustered *ko-nie*, and it tightens to a bright clarity. Yet, the same sources note, the work departs from the Rai originals it looks to: the *nioiguchi* is tighter and brighter, fine *chikei* enter the *ji* abundantly, and the forging "has rather more vigor than the Rai pieces"[[c:2]]. The temper and the steel together carry the recognition.
That steel is the heart of the matter. The forging is a dense, well-knit *ko-itame*, at times with *mokume* mixed in, over which *ji-nie* gathers as the finest particles and lies thickly; fine *chikei* enter intricately and the steel is notably clear. The published sources give it its name as a feature peculiar to his hand, the surface taking on the "distinctive *kome-nuka-hada*"[[c:3]], the fine, bright, rice-bran texture the published sources name only for Hizen work. Upon it the *boshi* runs straight and turns back in a quiet *ko-maru*, the regular finish of a Hizen point. This combination, the clear *konuka-hada* beneath a tight bright *suguha*, is what the published record returns to again and again as the founder's proper manner, the work that places his *suguha* at the head of the tradition.
His early years are another matter, and the published sources read them as a period of copies. The constant formula is repeated almost verbatim from blade to blade: "his early manner comprises a wide range, full of *utsushi-mono*"[[c:4]], naming Naoe-Shizu, old Yamato work, and the Rai and Kamakura masters. In the Naoe-Shizu vein he forges a *ko-notare* mixed with *ko-gunome*, *ko-ashi* entering and *sunagashi* running, the *nioiguchi* slightly tightened, a manner the sources say inherits the *ko-notare* that was Myoju's particular forte and is "commonly called Naoe-Shizu *utsushi*"[[c:5]]. In the old-Yamato vein the *itame* grows larger and flows toward the edge, *kuichigaiba* and *nijuba* mix in with *hotsure* and frequent *sunagashi*, and even the *boshi* finishes with a touch of *hakikake*; of one such piece the sources say it shows "the most archaic manner among Tadayoshi's works, with deep, lingering appeal"[[c:6]], the *hakikake boshi* standing as the exception to the rule that the Hizen point turns back in a quiet *ko-maru*. He admired the Kamakura *tanto* masters as well, above all Rai Kunimitsu, and copied the Bizen Kagemitsu on occasion, one *katakiriba* *tanto* being an *utsushi* of a Kagemitsu transmitted in the Nabeshima house.
The through-line of his career is the signature itself, which the published sources divide into three forms by period. He cut "Hizen no Kuni Tadayoshi" in five characters, the so-called five-character Tadayoshi *mei*; he signed in eight characters as "Hizen no Kuni junin Tadayoshi saku," the *junin mei*; and after the Musashi Daijo title of Genna 10 (1624) he used the "Musashi Daijo Tadahiro" signature, the rename being a single hand's chronology and not a change of person. The presentation pieces signed "Hizen no Kuni ju Fujiwara Tadahiro" without the title are the *kenjo-mei*, ordered by the Nabeshima, who held the title-signature unnecessary on a blade made for the house. Because the second generation signed the same words before his own title, the published sources separate the two hands by the forms of the characters for Fuji and Hiro. The *kiriba-zukuri* pieces common in his Tadayoshi years, the sources note, become rare under the Tadahiro name. The mei is cut on the *ura*, the practice of Tadayoshi and his line; every one of his recorded works is signed, so the signature is itself part of the appraisal, though the five-character form, imitated by the later Tosa-no-kami and the third-generation Mutsu-no-kami, dates a piece only together with the rest of the workmanship.
The eight Musashi Daijo years, dated from Kan'ei 1 (1624) to the second month of Kan'ei 9 (1632), form a distinct chapter of the record. The published sources observe that after the title "his hamon divide broadly into *suguha* and *midare*, but compared with the Tadayoshi period the *midare* pieces are more numerous and the whole has a certain showiness"[[c:7]]. A *wakizashi* of Kan'ei 8 (1631), among the last of his life, carries a *choji-midare* that the same sources say displays his true ability, and the *nioi* of these years runs deeper than before. His *suguha* changes as well. Set against the later generations, the Musashi Daijo *suguha* "has variety, mixing *kuichigai*-like breaks and *nie* that spill from the edge into the *ji*, bold and full of vigor"[[c:8]]. A *katana* of Kan'ei 8, made at sixty, is read as the finished form of his *chu-suguha*[[c:9]]. The record is candid about the workshop behind these blades. The published sources hold that most work under the Musashi Daijo signature was made by pupils at his side, and they point to signatures running from fine to thick chisel, from which "the existence of substitute makers may be inferred"[[c:10]]. One blade forged by him was even signed with his name by his son after his death. The *kenjo-mei* pieces of these years include one made to a Nabeshima order for a fine *suguha* "with irregularities here and there in the likeness of Shizu", the commission itself preserved as a document.
From him descends the whole Hizen school. His son the second-generation Omi Daijo Tadahiro carried on the *konuka-hada* and the *suguha* to become the most prolific of the Hizen smiths, and the line continued through the third-generation Mutsu-no-kami Tadayoshi and the Tosa-no-kami branch, the published sources noting that the third generation in particular returned in style toward his grandfather the founder, especially accomplished in *suguha* and skilled also at *choji-midare*. Tadayoshi is *Sai-jo saku* in Fujishiro's grading. The weight of designation behind his name runs to one Important Cultural Property, nine Tokubetsu Juyo and a large body of Juyo, one hundred and forty-four blades in the Tokubetsu Juyo and Juyo tiers, with seven prewar Juyo Bijutsuhin pieces and no National Treasures; there are one hundred and fifty-five designated works on record. His blades carry a Nabeshima provenance and pass through notable hands, the recorded transmissions naming the Owari Tokugawa Family, the Satake Family and the Imperial Family among others, and one *katana* having been the sword of Nabeshima Naomoto, lord of the Ogi domain, with a *kinzogan* cutting-test inscription on one and a Myoju *soemei* on another that documents his discipleship. The bulk of what survives is held in long-standing collections and institutions such as the Takamatsu Historical Museum, and most are kept rather than traded; one comes to open hands only from time to time, and as the founder's own work it is a landmark of the Hizen tradition when it does.
Tadayoshi (忠吉) — Mainline · 1660-1686. Tokujū, Jūyō. Mutsu no Kami Tadayoshi is the third generation of the Hizen main line at Saga, the eldest son of the second-generation Ōmi no Daijō Tadahiro. Born in Kan'ei 14 and called Shinzaburō, he received the title Mutsu no Daijō in Manji 3, became Mutsu no Kami in Kanbun 1, and died in Jōkyō 3 at fifty, seven years before his father. The Tadayoshi name came to him because, after the death of Tosa no Kami Tadayoshi, that house returned it to the main line. The published sources explain the comparative scarcity of his work by a short career and by his service for his long-lived father, his works being few "because he served as a substitute maker for his father"[[c:1]].
His characteristic manner is a *chū-suguha*, the temper the published sources call the one "he most excelled in"[[c:2]]. It is tempered with deep *nioi* and well-adhered *ko-nie*, small *ashi* entering, fine *kinsuji* and *sunagashi* running through it, and a bright, clear *nioiguchi*. The *sugata* is typically long, wide and thick, with a deep *sori* and an extended *chū-kissaki*, heavy in the hand. The judges read this shape as his grandfather's rather than his father's, "calling to mind not the father but rather the grandfather, the first-generation Tadayoshi"[[c:3]]. The *bōshi* is a *ko-maru* that turns back deeply and stops firmly toward the *mune*, and the published sources single this out: "the ko-maru of the bōshi is deeper than in the first and second generations"[[c:4]].
His reputation rests above all on the *jigane*. A *ko-itame* packed tightly, with *ji-nie* fine and thick, takes on the rice-bran *komenuka-hada* of Hizen, and *chikei* enter finely to give it strength. The published sources call his forging "the strongest and most refined of the upper three generations"[[c:5]] and name it his true hallmark, "the excellence of his forging is his true hallmark"[[c:6]]. On one Tokubetsu Jūyō katana they go further, finding the fine activity of a *suguha* edge "to the degree of surpassing the first generation"[[c:7]].
The record falls into distinct groups that the published sources themselves draw. An early group is placed by the shape of the *nakago* tip, judged "an early work of this smith from the iriyamagata tip and the manner of signature"[[c:8]]; even these already show the strong *jigane* and the deep *bōshi*. Beside the *suguha* stands a *chōji-midare* register. His own *chōji* mixes *gunome*, angular and pointed elements, small in pattern and with some rise and fall, and "small tobiyaki at the heads are often seen"[[c:9]]. On some *wakizashi* he tempered his father's *ashinaga-chōji*, and on one tachi the pattern is "to be mistaken for the chōji-midare of his father Ōmi"[[c:10]]. Dated works are scarce: the published sources state that "dated works by this smith are extremely rare"[[c:11]], and they treat his Kanbun 2 and Enpō 4 blades as documents of his signature.
Part of his record carries his father's name. Five blades signed Hizen no Kuni ju Ōmi no Daijō Fujiwara Tadahiro are judged by the NBTHK to be his work, each concluding that "this sword is perceived to be a substitute work of the third-generation Tadayoshi"[[c:12]]. The evidence is his own hand: a *chōji* smaller and livelier than the father's orderly *ashinaga-chōji*, *ji-nie* finer and thicker with more prominent *chikei*, a deeper *bōshi*, shallow *katte-agari* file marks and the chisel of the signature. The published sources value them as material "for knowing the work of the third generation as substitute maker for his father the second-generation Tadahiro"[[c:13]]. He is also the maker of a rare *gassaku* with the second-generation Masahiro, which the published sources call unique: "a joint work of the third-generation Tadayoshi and Masahiro is not seen apart from this sword"[[c:14]].
Two further judgments shape his record. A rare katana signed only with the five characters Hizen no Kuni Tadayoshi is attributed to him rather than to the founder, by the chisel of the signature, the position of the *mekugi-ana* and the workmanship; the published sources note that "the five-character Tadayoshi signature of this smith is extremely rare"[[c:15]]. They also caution that the main line signs katana on the *ura* in the tachi-mei position, so that a signature in the katana-mei position "calls for particular care regarding authenticity"[[c:16]].
Fujishiro grades him Jō-jō saku. He has no National Treasures or Important Cultural Properties on record; his standing rests on nine blades in the Tokubetsu Jūyō rank and some fifty in the Jūyō, with two blades in the Imperial collection. Several of the Tokubetsu Jūyō katana are called his finest workmanship, one of them "transmitted in the Nabeshima family in the domain era"[[c:17]], the house his line served. Signed blades of Mutsu no Kami survive in real numbers and a Jūyō example reaches the market from time to time, while his finest *komenuka* *suguha* katana come to light only rarely and are a landmark when they do.
Tadahiro (忠廣) — Mainline · 1633-1693. Tokujū, Jūyō. Tadahiro, called Heisakuro, was the legitimate son of the first-generation Hizen Tadayoshi and the second head of the main line at Saga. He was nineteen when his father, by then Musashi no Daijo Tadahiro, died in Kan'ei 9 (1632). The published sources credit both his own talent and the disciples his father had trained, who carried the young head of the house, and his dated work survives from Kan'ei 10. On the twenty-second day of the seventh month of Kan'ei 18 (1641) he received the title Omi no Daijo, and he worked until his death at eighty-one in Genroku 6 (1693). That career of more than sixty years left, in the words of the published sources, more works than any other Hizen smith[[c:1]].
His work falls into two manners, suguha and choji-midare, and the published sources hold him highly accomplished in both, with suguha his greatest specialty[[c:2]]. It is a comparatively straight *chu-suguha* of deep *nioi* with *ko-nie* adhering thickly, at times tinged with a shallow *notare* and a little *ko-gunome*, *ashi* and *yo* entering well, fine *kinsuji* and *sunagashi* running through it. In places the *nioiguchi* thickens into a band, and it stays bright and clear. The *boshi* runs straight to a *ko-maru*. The *sugata* has the balanced curvature of Hizen work, and on some blades it is broad, long and heavy, with a touch of *funbari* at the base.
The *jigane* is the Hizen *komenuka-hada*: a tightly forged *ko-itame* with no looseness, *ji-nie* laid dust-fine and thick, fine *chikei* entering, the steel clear. On his best blades the published sources describe forging of unmatched quality and both *ji* and *ha* clear and brilliant. He was also the first Hizen smith to add the soemei shinkitae saku, "made of truly forged steel", and the published sources observe that this begins with him among Hizen smiths[[c:3]]. Blades bearing it are often of especially fine forging.
His work divides by period as well as by manner. Before the title he signed every blade Hizen no kuni ju Fujiwara Tadahiro, the same form as his father's presentation signature, and the published sources separate the two hands by the strokes of 藤 and 廣. Many of these early blades are dated; after the title dated pieces become rare, so the Shoho, Keian and Enpo dates on record are prized. The early work is read as the vigor of youth, showing an unconstrained boldness beside his later production[[c:4]], and some of it comes close to his father's Musashi no Daijo work, which the published sources attribute to his father's collaborators still working beside him. His choji-midare runs through both periods. In choji the published sources rank him above even the first generation[[c:5]]: a wide temper of choji with gunome, the heads comparatively even so that the cloves stand shoulder to shoulder, long *ashi* entering thickly and *nie* gathering in the valleys. They call it the so-called Hizen long-legged choji[[c:6]]. A Tokubetsu Juyo katana dated the very day he received his title, its chu-suguha written in an archaic manner after Rai work, is read as a commemorative piece[[c:7]]. A small tanto by him, carved probably by Yoshinaga, was aimed at old work such as Rai Kunimitsu[[c:8]].
Within the Hizen main line his long career joins the founder to the later generations. He trained many pupils, and the published sources record that the third-generation and fourth-generation Tadayoshi served as his substitute makers and signers[[c:9]]. Joint works with his son Mutsu no Kami Tadayoshi, each signing one side of the tang, survive in comparatively large numbers. On some of these the published sources judge the forging and temper to be largely the son's hand. His deep-nioi suguha over the komenuka-hada became the measure by which later Hizen work is read.
Fujishiro ranks him Jo-jo saku. He has no National Treasures or Important Cultural Properties on record. His standing rests on 131 blades in the Tokubetsu Juyo and Juyo tiers, three of them Tokubetsu Juyo. The published sources call one of these work outstanding among his production[[c:10]], forceful and bold in both ji and ha. Recorded provenance runs through the Imperial Family and the Nabeshima house his line served. One katana was the personal sword of the domain lord Nabeshima Katsushige[[c:11]], and a naginata blade survives in its Nabeshima family mounting for a woman of the house. Because he was so prolific, signed Omi no Daijo Tadahiro blades appear on the market with some regularity. A papered Juyo example is within reach of a patient collector. A Tokubetsu Juyo blade, or one of the dated pre-title pieces, appears only from time to time.
Munetsugu (宗次) — Mainline · 1596-1615. Tokujū, Jūyō. The first-generation Iyo no Jo Minamoto Munetsugu was called Sakai San'emon, and his family is said to have served for generations as priests of the Tenmangu shrine at Nagase village, the birthplace of Tadayoshi. He forged at Nagase-machi in the castle town of Saga and later moved to Isahaya in Hizen. The published sources make him a pupil of the first-generation Tadayoshi and set him beside that founder as "the very pioneer of early-modern Hizen smithing"[[c:1]]. A genealogy of the Iyo no Jo line kept by his descendants places his Iyo no Jo title in Keicho 11, and a surviving work dated Keicho 12 that already bears the title bears it out.
Within the Hizen group he is the exception, and the published sources say so plainly. Hizen swords in general temper the boshi straight and turn it in a small round ko-maru; nearly all of his enter midare-komi and sweep back in hakikake, at times flame-like, so that his work is "not to be confused with other Hizen swords"[[c:2]]. His hamon is a gunome-midare mixed with ko-notare, angular elements and pointed togariba. Ashi and yo enter freely, the nioi is deep and the nie thick, with rough nie gathering in places. Sunagashi runs through nearly every blade and long kinsuji enter many of them. Above the temper appear tobiyaki and yubashiri, and on some pieces muneyaki.
The jigane is an itame that tends to stand, mixed with mokume and flowing grain. The ji-nie is extremely fine and thick, the chikei enter finely and abundantly, and on several blades the steel takes on a slightly dark tone. The forms are broad and robust, often with little taper and a long chu-kissaki or an o-kissaki, and one commentary finds an archaic flavour in the forging itself. Even the tang belongs to the portrait. Perhaps with the Soshu tradition in mind, the texts suggest, he thinned the flesh on the edge side to give a tanago-bara form, and against the usual Hizen practice of signing the ura he cut a bold long signature in a distinctive hand on the sashi-omote.
The published sources name his model as Soshu-den and above all Shizu, "the Shizu manner he most excelled in"[[c:3]]. Within that manner his work runs across a range. On some blades the temper is kept to a smaller, calmer pattern, yet the jiba remain thickly covered in nie, and the small tobiyaki and yubashiri-like effects above the temper carry an old flavour. At the other end stands a broad wakizashi of the Juyo 70th session, its large midare, flame-like boshi and strong nie described as bold and powerful, burning with a fierce intensity. A hira-zukuri wakizashi with a hitatsura-like temper departs further still, and the texts ask whether he took Soshu Tsunahiro as its model. Dated works are very rare. The earlier commentaries regretted that none were known, and a katana dated Kan'ei 7 is valued for exactly that reason.
His place in the school follows from this. Among the Hizen smiths he is the one who "devoted his passion to re-creating the Soshu-den"[[c:4]], where the main line settled into a refined suguha. The name ran for several generations. The published sources read the generation off the tang, assigning blades with reverse sujikai file marks to the second generation, who worked first under the name Muneyasu before taking the Iyo no Jo Munetsugu title.
Fujishiro rates him Jo saku, and fourteen of his blades stand in the Tokubetsu Juyo and Juyo tiers, two in the former and twelve in the latter. The summit of that record is a Tokubetsu Juyo katana dated Kan'ei 11 whose inscription tells its own commission. Nawa Sotan, of the lineage of Nawa Doen, a senior retainer of Tokugawa Yorinobu of Kii, applied part of the silver that the third shogun Iemitsu bestowed on the capital during his visit that year to have Munetsugu forge it. The published sources call it the finest work of his lifetime, its order inscription and date both rare and of great documentary value. Beyond that sword, provenance is not recorded for his blades. For a private collector a signed Munetsugu in the Juyo tier is a realistic, if occasional, encounter, an individual early Hizen hand that surfaces from time to time and rewards patience, while his Tokubetsu Juyo works appear only rarely.
Tadakuni (忠國) — Mainline · 1673-1681. Jūyō. The second-generation Harima no Kami Tadakuni of Hizen is known through three signed katana designated Juyo Token in 1964, 1992 and 1995. The published sources record that he was the son of the first-generation Tadakuni, used the common name Danzaemon, first signed Harukuni (治国), and took the name Tadakuni after his father retired. His dated works run from the eighth month of Enpo 5 (1677) to the second month of Jokyo 2 (1685), and his period of activity is placed in the Jokyo and Genroku eras; surviving works are described as rare. On most of his tangs he cut a chrysanthemum crest on the *omote* and a crab-and-peony crest on the *ura*, which the published sources take to indicate 「恐らく近衛家と深い関係があったものであろう」 (probably a close connection with the Konoe family). One of the three tangs also bears the inscription 「以南蛮鍛作」, made with imported *nanban* iron.
Like his father he worked in two manners, a *midare-ba* of *gunome* mixed with *choji* and a straight *suguha*, and the three designated blades show both. His jigane is consistently a well-packed *ko-itame* with very fine *ji-nie* adhering thickly and fine *chikei*. The katana of 1995 begins with a straight *yakidashi* and rises into *gunome* mixed with *ko-notare*, *choji*-like elements and *ko-gunome*, with abundant *ashi* and *yo*, deep *nioi*, thick *nie* with some coarser particles, *kinsuji*, and *sunagashi* running throughout; the *nioiguchi* is bright. The published sources read the deep *nioi*, thick *nie* and bright *nioiguchi* as evidence of his skill, and 「また刃中総体に砂流しのかかった態には、忠国一派の伝統的な特色が察知される」 (in the *sunagashi* running throughout the *ha*, the traditional character of the Tadakuni line can be discerned). They add that the straight *yakidashi* is often found among other Hizen smiths, and call the blade a full display of the second generation's ability.
The katana of 1964 has a shallow *notare* with *gunome* and *choji*, deep *nioi* and well-formed *ko-nie*, *sunagashi* and *ashi*. Of it the published sources write that the technique 「ところがこの作刀に見る技術は、父に優るものがあり、この時代の肥前刀工中でも屈指の一人であることがわかる」 (surpasses his father in places, showing him to be one of the foremost Hizen smiths of his day), and that besides *midare* work he was skilled in *suguha* as well.
The *suguha* side is represented by the katana of 1992, a blade with a somewhat wide *mihaba*, *funbari* at the base, thick *kasane* and deep *sori*, tempered in a *chu-suguha* with a hint of small *ashi*, *ko-nie* adhering evenly, fine *kinsuji* and *sunagashi*, and a bright *nioiguchi*. The published sources describe it as a refined work and place it at the summit of his small output: 「作品の少ない同作の中でも白眉であり」 (among the few works of this smith it is the finest).
Tosa no Kami Tadayoshi (忠吉) — Mainline · Early Edo. Jūyō. Tosa no Kami Tadayoshi occupies a position of singular ambiguity within the Hizen tradition. The NBTHK setsumei observe that "there are many competing theories, and it remains uncertain who he actually was," though "there is no doubt that he stood in a very close relationship to the first-generation Tadayoshi." It is transmitted that when the first-generation Tadayoshi changed his name to Tadahiro in Kan'ei 1 (1624), the Tadayoshi signature was transferred to this smith, who subsequently received the court titles Tosa no Jo and then Tosa no Kami. The third-generation Mutsu no Kami Tadayoshi, the legitimate heir of the second-generation Omi no Daijo Tadahiro, predeceased his father, and surviving works by both Tosa no Kami and Mutsu no Kami are comparatively rare.
Across extant designations, the hallmarks of the Hizen school are consistently evident. The *kitae* ranges from tightly forged *ko-itame-hada* with well-adhering *ji-nie* to dense *ko-itame* of fine quality. The *hamon* encompasses both spirited *midare-ba* -- including *choji* mixed with *gunome* and *ko-gunome*, with deep *nioi* and well-adhering *ko-nie* and *sunagashi* -- and the vigorous *choji-midare* with intermingled *tobiyaki* characteristic of the school's more animated works. Blades attributed before the receipt of the Tosa title display particularly fine workmanship, with the *jigane* described as "well-forged and tightly refined."
The setsumei emphasize both the rarity and the scholarly value of these works. The Kan'ei 1 dated blade is described as "extremely valuable material for the study of Hizen swords," as it sits at the precise moment of the name transfer from first-generation to successor. Among the broader Hizen tradition, naginata by any generation are noted as "few in number," lending additional significance to the third-generation's contribution in that form. Across all attributions, the consistent refinement of both *ji* and *ha* affirms the intimate continuity linking these smiths to the founding standards of the Hizen school.
Other smiths
Yukihiro (行廣) — Mainline · 1639-1683. 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 Tadayoshi, and he worked at Saga on the collateral line of the Hizen school that the published sources call Soba-Hizen, beside the main house rather than within it. He received the title Dewa Daijo in Shoho 5 (1648), was promoted to Dewanokami in Kanbun 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 katana they write that "there were several generations of the same name; this is the work of the first"[[c:1]].
Within the Hizen group his manner is known above all for a showy *choji*, and an early paper says simply that he tempers "particularly flamboyant choji within the school"[[c:2]]. On his finest katana a broad *yakihaba* carries a *choji-midare* mixed with *gunome*, angular and round-headed elements and *yahazu*-like forms, here and there boxy, the pattern large and florid. Long *ashi* enter vigorously and the *nioi* runs deep, with *nie* adhering thickly. Long *sunagashi* and *kinsuji* run through the edge, and the *nioiguchi* is bright. The published sources single out the vertically elongated *choji-midare* with long *ashi* as "something often seen in the first-generation Yukihiro" that "clearly manifests this smith's distinctive traits"[[c:3]]. On two outstanding katana they note that the *kinsuji* and *sunagashi* stand out beyond his usual work, and on one of them *yubashiri*-like *tobiyaki* lends a further charm.
The *jigane* is that of Hizen: a tightly forged *ko-itame* with dust-fine *ji-nie* laid thickly and fine *chikei* entering, which on several blades the sources call a refined *komenuka-hada*. On one katana they note a *jigane* of slightly blackish tone together with a straight *yakidashi* at the base below the *midare*, and they treat both as "one of the points of interest of Soba-Hizen"[[c:4]], rather than as faults. A second katana opens with the same straight *yakidashi*. The *boshi* runs straight to a *ko-maru*, on some blades an *o-maru*, often with *hakikake* and at times a deep turnback.
Beside the *choji* he commanded the school's traditional straight temper. A naginata carries a clean *suguha* over tightly packed *ko-itame*, its *nioiguchi* bright and clear. A katana shows a *suguha*-based temper over *komenuka-hada*, with an angular *notare* near the base suggestive of a *koshiba*. A katana in *hiro-suguha*, deep in *nioi* with thick *ko-nie*, is called a comparatively uncommon example for him, yet "work that could be mistaken for the suguha of the main line"[[c:5]]. One wakizashi reverses the usual Hizen arrangement, with *choji* and *gunome* above and a *suguha*-like shallow *notare* below; the sources call this unusual within the tradition, though the upper half is still the *midare* at which he excelled.
Separate from the *hamon* is the Aranda-kitae. 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 *ichi* on the tang, and in rare cases the full form Hizen Ichimonji. One such katana 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 *gunome-midare* katana is said "at first sight to call to mind rather the work of his elder brother Masahiro"[[c:6]], 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 Juyo, and none stands in a higher tier; Fujishiro ranks him Jo saku. Dated pieces are few. A Kanbun 8 (1668) katana, made at fifty-one and bearing the Aranda inscription, is called "valuable source material"[[c:7]], and a long katana dated Enpo 6 (1678) was made as an offering to the Daijingu, a large work without any breakdown in *ji* or *ha*. Current owners are not recorded for these blades. Signed Juyo 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.
Tadakuni (忠國) — Mainline · 1648-1652. Tadakuni is the first-generation Hizen smith who signed Harima Daijō, and later Harima no Kami, Fujiwara Tadakuni. His earliest name was Hironori; in Kan'ei 11 (1634), at the age of thirty-seven, he received the title Harima Daijō and changed his name to Tadakuni, the earliest title-bearing work on record being dated Kan'ei 13. He was a pupil of the first-generation Tadayoshi, the founder of the Hizen school, and the son of Sōemon Yoshiie of the Hashimoto family; since he shared the founder's Hashimoto surname, the published sources judge him likely of the same lineage, and note that he received his title considerably earlier than the second-generation Ōmi Daijō Tadahiro of the main house. He was retained by the Ogi domain, one of the three Nabeshima branch houses of Saga, and was active as an Ogi-domain smith. In old age he took the tonsure under the name Kyūtetsu, and his work extends into the Tenna era.
The published sources read his hand in two manners and call him highly skilled in both, but they place his true strength in the flamboyant midare. His is a gunome-chōji and chōji-midare, the temper often broad, the clove heads at times round, mixing in gunome, angular elements and yahazu-like forms with scattered tobiyaki. Long *ashi* enter frequently, with *yō*, the *nioi* deep and *ko-nie* well adhering. Above all it is the *sunagashi* that names him. The sources say of one blade that *sunagashi* runs vigorously through the *ha*, and that among his school he is the one in whom it is most conspicuous: 「刃中に砂流しがさかんにかかり」[[c:1]], 「一派の中でも最もそれが目立つ」[[c:2]]. With it run *kinsuji*, and the *nioiguchi* is bright and clear. The other recurring note of his clove work is the reach of its *ashi*: in *midareba*, the published record holds, his distinctive feature is a chōji with long *ashi*, 「足長丁子に特色がある」[[c:3]].
The *jigane* beneath both his manners is the tightly forged Hizen *ko-itame* with *ji-nie*, the steel the school is known for. On his finest pieces it becomes the dust-fine *ji-nie* laid thickly with *chikei* entering, the *ji* bright and clear, and several blades carry the slight *nagare* toward the edge that the sources note in his late *suguha* work. Over that *jigane* his second face is the calm one. He tempers a *naka-suguha*, at times a broad *suguha*, deep in *nioi*, *ashi* and *yō* entering well, with fine *kinsuji* and *sunagashi* and at the *habuchi* a *nijūba*-like effect. The published sources record him plainly as skilled in both registers, 「直刃、乱刃ともに上手」[[c:4]], and on one late *suguha* katana they observe that, against his usual habit, here the *sunagashi* is not especially prominent, 「さまで砂流しが目立たず」[[c:5]], the whole finished in a quiet, restrained *dekiguchi* that shows this comparatively small body of straight-temper work. The *bōshi* in both manners runs straight to a *ko-maru*, frequently with *hakikake*.
His record divides less by period than by manner, though the dated pieces let the late years be read. The Harima Daijō signature carries the body of his work; the Harima no Kami signature, used after his promotion and running through the Kanbun, Enpō and into the Tenna years, marks the later blades. One Enpō 2 (1674) katana takes as its principal tone a varied large *ō-notare-midare* mixed with chōji-like elements and *tobiyaki*, deep in *nie* and *nioi*, which the sources call a manner brimming with vigorous spirit. On his most ambitious clove work the temper widens a further degree into an *ō-chōji-midare* with *ara-nie* and even slight *muneyaki*, so high-tempered, the published commentary remarks, as to be rare among his blades, and they ask whether the first-generation Tadakuni was here aiming at the old Ichimonji: 「古作の一文字あたりを狙ったものであろうか」[[c:6]]. The same record places the difficulty of his oeuvre squarely on the table. Because the second generation was likewise appointed Harima no Kami, the first and second are hard to tell apart, and the sources note a view that much now called second-generation work may in fact be the first's.
What sets Tadakuni apart within his own school is exactly what the judges name. His *jigane* and his bright *nioiguchi* are the shared Hizen inheritance, the *komenuka*-fine *ko-itame* and the clear temper that every Tadayoshi-line smith owes to the founder. His own signature is laid over that inheritance: the long-*ashi* chōji-midare and, within it, the *sunagashi* that runs more conspicuously in his *ha* than in any other hand of the school. On one katana the published sources read the workmanship as at first glance recalling Naoe Shizu, 「一見直江志津などの風を見せて上手である」[[c:7]], the Yamato-tinged streaming temper a measure of how far his *midareba* reaches from the calm Hizen *suguha* standard. He stands as the school's most accomplished maker of the flamboyant clove temper, the branch hand who carried the Hizen *jigane* into a brighter, more active *hamon* than the main line pursued.
For the collector he is a signed and well-documented Shintō name whose work survives entirely at the Jūyō level. Fujishiro grades him Jō saku. He has no National Treasures and no Important Cultural Properties; his record runs instead through the Jūyō Tōken ranks, where his katana appear across many sessions and the published sources repeatedly call them representative or typical examples by this smith, both *ji* and *ha* clear and bright. One they single out as 「傑出の一口であり、典型作でもある」[[c:8]], an outstanding and typical piece of his midare work. Several carry Yamano Ka'emon cutting-test inscriptions in gold inlay, documents of the edge as well as the hand, and a number bear chrysanthemum and crab-peony crests on the tang. The thirty-some designated blades on record are held in private and long-kept collections, their owners largely unrecorded, so a signed Harima Daijō or Harima no Kami Tadakuni is not beyond reach in the way a National Treasure is; it comes to the serious collector from time to time, with patience, and a fully realized flamboyant chōji example, in which his *sunagashi* runs at its most vigorous, is a thing to be sought out when it appears.
Tadayoshi (忠吉) — Mainline · 1830-1844. Smith of the Hizen School.
Masahiro (正廣) — Mainline · 1658-1661. The second-generation Masahiro was the son and successor of the first-generation Kawachi Daijo Masahiro, born in Kan'ei 4 (1627) and known by the common name Sadenji. In his father's lifetime he signed Masanaga. He received the title Musashi no Daijo in Manji 3 (1660) and was promoted to Musashi no Kami the following year. His father died on the fifth day of the second month of Kanbun 5 (1665), when he was thirty-nine, and on the thirteenth day of the fourth month he was transferred to Kawachi no Kami. A court appointment document, the *kuzen-an*, addressed to him as Musashi no Kami Fujiwara Masahiro[[c:1]] leads the published sources to conclude that he took the Masahiro name almost immediately after his father's death. He died in Genroku 12 (1699) at seventy-three, and the published record counts him, like his father, among the collaborators of the main Hizen house.
The judges set him remarkably close to his father. In both suguha and midareba, they write, he is skilled second only to his father, with virtually nothing to choose between them[[c:2]]. His work in either manner is described as exactly like that of the first Masahiro, and his technique as in no way inferior to his father's. He was above all adept at the irregular temper, and one record names his showy *choji-midare* as his own domain, 「正に彼の独壇場である」.
That *midareba* is a *choji*-based temper mixed with *gunome*, set wide and broadly undulating. Two features within it are named as characteristic of the second generation's *hataraki*: *gunome* with rounded heads and an arrow-notch, *yahazu*-like element. Long *ashi* and *yo* enter, the *nioi* is deep and the *nie* thick, gathering in places in the valleys, and *kinsuji* and *sunagashi* run through the *hamon* in abundance. Some blades add *tobiyaki*, and one is described as the showiest work in his record[[c:3]]. As with the waki-Hizen generally, a straight *yakidashi* may appear at the base. The *jigane* is a tightly packed *ko-itame* with dust-fine *ji-nie* laid thickly and fine *chikei* entering, several entries naming it the *komenuka-hada* peculiar to Hizen swords, and on one robust piece the *hada* is said to stand slightly. The *boshi* runs straight to a *ko-maru*.
The suguha is the second register of his record, and the published sources draw attention to it: 「初代正広よりも直刃の作品が多く見られることにも注意したい」. His suguha works are fewer than his *midareba*, yet more numerous than his father's, and even and consistent in quality. On a typical *chu-suguha* katana the *jigane* is said to be packed even more tightly than usual, and one deep-nioi *chu-suguha* is described as recalling the suguha of the main house. Two further *chu-suguha* katana are singled out because the temper is deeper in *nioi* and thicker in *nie* than his usual straight work, with *ashi* and *hataraki* in abundance, and they are said to show a certain boldness[[c:4]]. His bodies are often broad, thick and heavy in the hand, at times with an extended or large *kissaki*.
The two generations are told apart by signature. The second Masahiro most often signs Hizen no Kuni Kawachi no Kami Fujiwara Masahiro, occasionally Fujiuji in place of Fujiwara, and the published sources set out how the forms of the characters Fuji and Hiro differ between father and son, the second generation's Hiro carrying one more stroke. Carving on his blades is described as extremely rare. One katana, dated Kanbun 12, carries carving added later by Nobukuni Yoshinao and a cutting-test inscription of Kanbun 13 by Yamano Kanjuro.
Masahiro is graded Jo saku by Fujishiro. He has no National Treasures and no Important Cultural Properties, and his record lies in the Juyo rank, where twenty-six of his works have been designated. One katana with a broad, irregular temper and *tobiyaki* in the shape of sun and moon is called his finest and a sword representative of Hizen work[[c:5]]; it carries a gold-inlaid cutting-test inscription by Yamano Kanjuro Hisahide and the sword name Tsugi-kosode. Another bears a cutting test with the name Senpu, and the published sources note that test inscriptions are extremely rare on Hizen swords. A dated wakizashi of Kanbun 7 is valued as a reference piece. Recorded provenance is slight, and a signed example of the Juyo rank comes to market only from time to time.
Yoshihiro (吉廣) — Mainline · 1652-1655. Smith of the Hizen School.
Masahiro (正廣) — Mainline · 1624-1655. Masahiro, the first of his name at Saga, was the son of Yoshinobu, a pupil and son-in-law of the first-generation Tadayoshi, which makes him the founder's grandson and the elder brother of Dewa no Kami Yukihiro. He first signed Masanaga and changed his name to Masahiro in the eleventh month of Kan'ei 2 (1625). After the founder's death he served the second-generation Omi no Daijo Tadahiro as a close attendant and assistant, and the published sources call him a most able collaborator of the main house. They also judge him the most skilled of all the collateral Hizen smiths, the waki-Hizen, 「傍肥前の中でも最も技量が優れており」. He is said to have died in Kanbun 5 (1665) at the age of fifty-nine.
The date of his title is a matter the published record treats with care. Tradition places his appointment as Kawachi Daijo in Kan'ei 5, yet works dated as late as Kan'ei 16 are still signed Hizen no Kuni Saga-ju Masahiro or simply Hizen no Kuni Masahiro, and the title first appears on a katana dated the eighth month of Kan'ei 18. The modern view therefore places the appointment about Kan'ei 18, shortly after Tadahiro himself received the Omi no Daijo title, which accords with the tradition that Masahiro worked throughout as the assistant of the main house. One Juyo katana whose signature combines the features of his pre-title and post-title hands is valued for exactly this reason, as a work made soon after the appointment.
His manner stands against that of the main line. Where the Tadayoshi house excels in suguha, Masahiro preferred the irregular temper, and the published sources state it plainly: 「作風は乱れた刃を好んで焼き」. His typical *hamon* is a *choji* mixed with *gunome* and *ko-notare*, and the clove pattern is likened to that of Musashi no Daijo Tadahiro. Several blades begin with a straight *yakidashi* at the base, and in places the clusters of *midare* are linked by a low, shallow, *suguha*-toned stretch, both of which the judges call a main point of the waki-Hizen temper. The temper is set high and low, long *ashi* and *yo* enter well, the *nioiguchi* is deep and bright, and thick *nie* gathers in the valleys of the *midare*. *Kinsuji* and *sunagashi* run through the *hamon*, and on several blades the *kinsuji* are recorded as notably long. Gunome with rounded heads are named as a point of his *hataraki*, and a wide temper of showy *choji-midare* is called his own domain.
The *jigane* beneath it is, on most blades, the refined Hizen forging: a tightly packed *ko-itame* with *ji-nie*, on some laid dust-fine and thick with fine *chikei* entering, while a few pieces run instead an *itame* that stands. The *boshi* runs straight to a *ko-maru* and turns back with *hakikake*, at times slightly *midare-komi*. The *sugata* is often broad and long, and one katana with a greatly extended *kissaki* is described as powerful and full of movement. The published sources find in his work more natural vigor than in that of the main house, 「本家忠吉家の作よりも自然、覇気のある作が多く」.
He also commanded the suguha, though it is comparatively rare in his record. One wakizashi with a deep-nioi *chu-suguha*, the *ko-nie* evenly attached and the *nioiguchi* bright and clear, is singled out as among the finest of his suguha works, the published sources concluding that it shows the height of his skill in suguha as well as in *midareba*[[c:1]]. A Kan'ei 11 katana of *gunome* mixed with small *choji* is named the finest of his works, 「この刀はその白眉である」. The judges add two kantei points that separate him from the main line. His katana are signed on the sashi-ura, and his *yasurime* are *sujikai*, unlike those of the main house, becoming a large *sujikai* on early works whose tangs narrow toward the tip. His signature grows smaller in his last years.
Masahiro is graded Jo-jo saku by Fujishiro. He has no National Treasures and no Important Cultural Properties, and his record runs through the Juyo rank, where thirty of his works have been designated. Dated pieces survive in small numbers, from Kan'ei 9 through Keian 1 and Joo 4 to a naginata of Kanbun 4, his last years. Several carry carving by his compatriot Yoshinaga, and on one wakizashi the Shigetsu Hotei in relief within the *koshi-hi* is called an extremely rare design among Hizen blades, paralleled only on a wakizashi of Musashi no Daijo Tadahiro. Another wakizashi is mounted in a Yagyu koshirae and carries the ownership inscription of Yagyu Renyasai Toshikane. Recorded provenance is otherwise slight. A signed Masahiro of the Juyo rank comes to light from time to time, with patience, as the work of the most accomplished of the waki-Hizen.
Tadayoshi (忠吉) — Mainline · 1688-1704. Smith of the Hizen School.
Kunihiro (國廣) — Mainline · 1644-1648. Smith of the Hizen School.
Masahiro (正廣) — Mainline · 1704-1711. Smith of the Hizen School.
Tadayoshi (忠吉) — Mainline · 1789-1801. Smith of the Hizen School.
Masanaga (正永) — Mainline · 1661-1673. Masanaga was a swordsmith of the Osafune school in Bizen Province, active during the late Kamakura period. He is recorded as a student of Nagamitsu, and his dated works span from the Shoan era through Kagen and Enkyo, with a signed tachi bearing the date Enkyo 3 (1310). Most of his signatures appear as the two-character *mei* "Masanaga," though examples with a long signature reading "Bizen no Kuni Osafune Junin Masanaga Tsukuru" are also known. It is said that he served as one of the *daisaku* (substitute makers) for his master Nagamitsu, and he was active in the same period as Kagemitsu.
The forging of Masanaga's blades is characteristically a tight *ko-itame-hada*, well consolidated and showing magnificent *midare-utsuri* standing clearly in the steel. The *hamon* favors *suguha* -- typically a *nioi-deki* *suguha* with tight *nioiguchi*, small *ashi*, and on occasion slight *gunome* mixed in. The *sugata* of his tachi retain the classic late Kamakura proportions, with *koshi-zori* and *chu-kissaki*. The *jigane* and tempering are consistently praised as excellent, and the clarity of the *utsuri* is a distinguishing feature that links his work firmly to the Osafune mainstream tradition of the Nagamitsu lineage.
Among Masanaga's surviving works, signed and dated examples are of considerable documentary value. He has a relatively substantial body of extant work compared to many of his contemporaries, and works such as the tachi in the Imperial Collection demonstrate his adherence to the refined Osafune idiom at its height. One blade bearing the date Shochu 3 (1326) has been singled out as particularly valuable for its documentary significance. His workmanship has been assessed as superior to that of contemporaries such as Kageyori and Yasuhiro, reflecting a smith who faithfully maintained the high standards of the Osafune school during its most distinguished era.
Yukihiro (行廣) — Mainline · 1684-1726. The second-generation Dewanokami Yukihiro was the natural son of the first-generation Dewanokami Yukihiro of the Soba-Hizen line at Saga. He styled himself Tobanojo, first signed Yukinaga, and received the title Dewanokami in Jokyo 1 (1684), two years after his father's death. The Kokon Kajibiko gives his death as Genroku 14 (1701), but the published sources call this an error, since works dated Genroku 16 (1703) and Hoei 3 (1706) survive. They regard as credible a genealogy submitted by Matahachi, ninth-generation head of the Yukihiro house, which records his death on the eighteenth day of the ninth month of Kyoho 11 (1726). One earlier paper still follows the Genroku 14 date.
His record is small. The published sources state that "the second generation's works are extremely few in comparison with the first, and his manner follows the first generation"[[c:1]], and four of his blades stand in the Juyo tier. Three of them carry the *midare* of the line: *choji* mixed with *gunome*, at times with angular forms, *ko-notare* and *ko-gunome*, or with large *gunome* and clusters of *midare* joined by straight passages. *Ashi* enter, the *nioi* is deep and *nie* adheres well, thickly on one blade with some coarser *nie*. *Kinsuji* and *sunagashi* run through the edge, and the *nioiguchi* is bright. Two of the three open with a straight *yakidashi* at the base, and one shows *yubashiri*-like *tobiyaki* and *muneyaki* near the *monouchi*. Of one katana the sources write that over "a refined komenuka-like jigane it masterfully shows the long-ashi choji distinctive to Hizen, and its form too is bold"[[c:2]].
The fourth blade is a *chu-suguha* over a tightly forged *ko-itame* with dust-fine *ji-nie* and fine *chikei*, deep in *nioi*, with fine *kinsuji* and *sunagashi*. The sources describe it as "a manner of suguha comparatively uncommon for this smith"[[c:3]] and single out its evenly adhering *ko-nie* and its bright, clear *nioiguchi*. On his blades the *boshi* runs to a *ko-maru*, usually with a long turnback.
The line between father and son is not always settled. On a katana signed Hizen no Kuni Tobanojo Yukihiro with the Aranda-kitae inscription, the sources note that the placement of the signature toward the *mune* and the form of the character *hiro* recall the first generation, while the form of *kuni* and the Tobanojo prefix make the second generation the stronger view. They conclude that "a definitive attribution between the generations should await further documentation"[[c:4]], and still call it a work that "brings its distinctive midare together without any break"[[c:5]]. Another, somewhat short katana is signed on the *sashi-omote* rather than the usual *haki-omote*, which the sources take as the sign of a special order.
Four Juyo works are on record, none in a higher tier, and their current owners are not recorded. With so few signed works by the second generation, an example of his hand is seldom encountered, and the published commentary itself shows how closely such a blade must be read against his father's.
Tadayoshi (忠吉) — Mainline · 1868-1912. Smith of the Hizen School.
Yoshikane (吉包) — Mainline · 1661-1673. Smith of the Hizen School.
Yoshitsugu (吉次) — Mainline · 1624-1644. Smith of the Hizen School.
Hironori (廣則) — Mainline · 1596-1615. Hironori is an obscure smith of Hizen Province whose extant works are exceedingly rare and whose documentary record remains unclear. Reference works record him simply as "a resident of Hizen Province"[[c:1]] active during the Keicho era (1596-1615). Judging from his surviving works, this dating is appropriate, and his manner closely resembles that of the first-generation Tadayoshi. He is accordingly presumed to have been a disciple of the first-generation master and, moreover, one of the smiths who served as a *daisakusha* (substitute maker) — a circumstance that readily explains the scarcity of signed works.
Hironori's forging is a closely packed *ko-itame-hada* with clear *jigane* and well-adhering *ji-nie*. The *hamon* presents *gunome* mixed with *choji*, with *ko-ashi* and *yo*, frequent *sunagashi*, and a tight *nioiguchi* with *ko-nie* and clear brilliance. In his katana, *kinsuji* also appear. The *boshi* enters in *midare-komi* with *ko-maru* turnback, often showing *hakikake*. His wakizashi in *hira-zukuri* bear skillful *horimono* including *kurikara* and *bonji* in a manner that may be regarded as carvings in the style of Yoshinaga. The tang finishing, with *kurijiri* tip and *kiri yasurime*, is consistent with the broader Hizen workshop.
The NBTHK observes that Hironori's workmanship, "both in quality of forging and in the manner of finishing the tang's file marks," closely resembles Musashi Daijo Tadahiro. His blades are recognized as constituting "valuable material for research into Hizen swords" and "important examples for the study" of the early Hizen tradition surrounding the first-generation Tadayoshi's workshop.
Hirosada (廣貞) — Mainline · 1615-1624. Smith of the Hizen School.
Kanehiro (兼廣) — Mainline · 1688-1704. Smith of the Hizen School.
Munetsugu (宗次) — Mainline · 1615-1624. The second-generation Iyo no Jo Munetsugu of Hizen appears in the designated record only under his early name. Each of his four Juyo blades is signed Hizen no Kuni junin Minamoto Muneyasu, a long signature cut toward the mune on the sashi-omote in a fine chisel and a distinctive hand, and the published sources note that the manner of the signature itself shows the marks of the Iyo no Jo line.
Who Muneyasu was has been argued in the reference works. The Shinto Bengi wrote only "perhaps a pupil of Iyo no Jo, the first generation" (伊予掾(初代)門人ならむか), and the Shinto Ichiran and Kokon Kajibiko likewise counted him among the first Iyo no Jo's pupils. The prevailing view today, the published sources state, takes Muneyasu as "the early name of the second-generation Iyo no Jo Munetsugu"[[c:1]]. It rests on a naming warrant in which the lord Nabeshima Katsushige bestowed the name Muneyasu on the ninth day of the ninth month of Kan'ei 9. One earlier commentary was more cautious. It noted a theory that Muneyasu was the same man as Masatsugu, found no evidence for it, and would say only that he was the smith most closely tied to the first Iyo no Jo.
His work keeps to the line's manner. Over a closely packed itame or ko-itame, at times mixed with flowing grain, the ji-nie adheres and the chikei enter well. The temper is a varied midareba of notare with gunome, choji-like and pointed elements. Ashi and yo enter, the nioi is deep and the nie strong and thick, and sunagashi and kinsuji run through it, with yubashiri-like tobiyaki near the tops of the temper. The published sources judge this a range "shared in both ji and ha with the first-generation Munetsugu"[[c:2]], a Soshu-den manner aimed at Shizu like the first generation's. One commentary finds in the soft brightness of the nioiguchi, produced by fine nie, a natural taste recalling old works.
The boshi is where the four blades lean their own way. On three of them it resolves in a ko-maru or a ko-maru-like tip with a rather long return, at times after entering midare-komi, where the first generation's mostly turn broadly. With so small a record this is a tendency, not a rule.
Few works signed Muneyasu survive, and the published sources value them as much for what they settle as for their quality: they illuminate Muneyasu's own work and its relation to the second-generation Munetsugu, and they serve the study of a line that held a distinctive place among Hizen swords. All four stand in the Juyo tier, and provenance is not recorded for any of them. A signed Muneyasu is therefore an uncommon encounter, a document of the Iyo no Jo succession that comes to light only now and then.
Munetsugu (宗次) — Mainline · 1684-1688. Smith of the Hizen School.
Tadakiyo (忠清) — Mainline · 1624-1644. Smith of the Hizen School.
Tadakiyo (忠清) — Mainline · 1661-1673. Smith of the Hizen School.
Yoshifusa (吉房) — Mainline · 1624-1644. Smith of the Hizen School.
Yoshiie (吉家) — Mainline · 1624-1644. Yoshiie of Hizen signed his blades on the sashi-ura toward the mune with a long inscription that gives his residence as Hizen no Kuni and, on several, his common name as Sōemon-no-jō, and on the four works that survive in the record he dated them all to Kan'ei 7, the second month or the eighth, of the year 1630. The published sources set out his place plainly: he was originally of the Hashimoto family (吉家), a direct disciple of the first-generation Tadayoshi, and the father of Tadakuni. He signed Hirosada (広貞) before he took the name Yoshiie. Within the Hizen Tadayoshi school, the mainline shintō tradition of the province centered on Saga, he belongs to the inner circle of the founder, and his hand is the school's own, the closely forged ji and the bright temper by which Hizen-to is known.
That hand is read first in the jigane. He forges a ko-itame, on the wider blades an itame, closely and well knit with ji-nie gathering across it, the tightly grained surface that carries the konuka-hada look of the school, on one katana noted as slightly rough in texture. Over it the temper runs in the two manners the published sources name as his equally: a midareba of gunome mixed with chōji, and a quieter suguha. Ashi and yō enter the temper, ko-nie attaches along it, sunagashi runs frequently through it, and the nioiguchi is bright and clear. On the earliest of the four, the Juyo katana of 1967, the published record reads the same edge from its fuller side, the nioi deep and the nie well risen, 「匂深く沸よくつく」[[c:1]], with a pronounced rise and fall to the gunome. The bōshi answers the body of the blade: a ko-maru on the straighter pieces, and on the irregular ones a midare-komi whose point turns sharp and sweeps out in hakikake before the return.
The one wakizashi among the four parts from the katana in its shape. It is hira-zukuri, wide in the body and sun-nobi in proportion, where the katana are shinogi-zukuri with iori-mune, shallow to somewhat high in curvature and carrying a chū-kissaki drawn slightly long. Across these differences the ji and the temper hold: the same closely forged ko-itame with fine ji-nie, the same chōji-and-gunome midare with long ashi and frequent sunagashi, the same bright nioiguchi, so that the wakizashi reads as the tantō-form face of one manner rather than a separate one. The nakago is ubu throughout, finished in a shallow kurijiri with katte-sagari or sujikai yasurime, and the published sources draw attention to the chiseling of the signature, singling out the distinctive form of the character kuni (国) and prizing the inclusion of the common name as a point of documentary value.
The scholarship around Yoshiie turns less on debated attribution than on a single biographical fact, which the records state in nearly the same words across the four blades. His extant works under either the Hirosada or the Yoshiie signature are exceedingly few, and the reason given is that he served as one of the daisaku, the substitute makers, first under the first-generation Tadayoshi and, after the founder's death, under the second generation, Ōmi Daijō (近江大掾) Tadahiro. The Juyo katana of 1971 puts it that he 「常に陰の人として生きた」[[c:2]], living continually in the shadows, and reads his scarcity directly out of that role. On his ability the same texts are without reservation: of the 1969 katana the record observes 「乱れ出来、直刃もあって、技術は優れている」[[c:3]], that his work runs to both irregular and straight temper and that his technique is outstanding, and elsewhere it states 「直刃、乱刃ともに上手で、一般には乱刃が多い」[[c:4]], that he was skilled in both manners with the midareba the more often met.
What sets Yoshiie apart within the school is not a departure from it but the completeness with which he carries its make. The published sources read his blades as representative of the lineage rather than of an individual departure: of the first Juyo katana they write 「同工同派の特色をよく示して出来がよく」[[c:5]], that it clearly shows the features of the same smith and the same lineage and that its workmanship is good. His place is therefore upstream toward the founder and downstream toward his son. He stands in the founder's circle as a hand trusted to make for the master under his name, and the line passes from him to Tadakuni rather than into a large body of work signed Yoshiie. The closely forged ji, the bright nioiguchi and the readiness in both suguha and midareba are the Hizen-Tadayoshi inheritance held intact in a maker who spent his career making for others.
He is rated Jō saku in the Fujishiro ranking, and the published record on every one of his blades calls the survivals representative works and the Kan'ei 7 dates valuable as documentary reference. The whole designated record of his hand stands at four works, all of them Important Swords from the fifteenth, eighteenth, twentieth and twenty-third Juyo sessions, three katana and one wakizashi, with no National Treasure or Important Cultural Property among them and no recorded provenance attached to any. For so scarce a smith, whose own scarcity the records trace to a lifetime spent in the shadows, a signed and dated Yoshiie is among the rarer things a collector of Hizen-to could encounter, coming to light only seldom; when one does, it carries the konuka-hada ji and the bright temper of the Tadayoshi mainline in a hand the founder himself relied upon.
Yoshinobu (吉信) — Mainline · 1615-1624. Hizen Yoshinobu was the third son of Nakajima Shingobee, known by the common name Yashichibee, and he entered the founding workshop of the Hizen tradition at Saga as the adopted son-in-law of the first-generation Tadayoshi. His sons were the first-generation Masahiro and Yukihiro, the two lines that would carry the school forward, so that he stands at a hinge of its early history. The published sources read him as a smith who served in a supporting role to the first Tadayoshi, and they note that surviving examples of his work are few. He is graded Jo saku by Fujishiro. A tradition gave his death as Kan'ei 10, but the published commentary corrects this from the work itself, since blades dated Kan'ei 13 survive and a letter addressed to him is dated Kan'ei 14, concluding that the reported year of death must be an erroneous tradition (「歿年は誤伝であろう」)[[c:1]]. The few works that carry his name are thus a documentary thread through the founding years of the Hizen school.
His characteristic hand is the flamboyant, spirited wing of the early Hizen workshop. The temper takes gunome and choji as its principal motif, worked high and lively, mixing in small gunome and pointed elements so that the whole reads as varied and animated. Through it run deep nioi and well-adhering nie, with sunagashi passing broadly across the blade and kinsuji entering, while tobiyaki appears here and there and the nioiguchi stays bright. The published sources call one such blade spirited in character, a gunome mixed with choji (「覇気あるもの」), and they return repeatedly to the judgment that this manner clearly expresses the characteristic features of Hizen blades (「肥前刀の特色がよく表示されている」)[[c:2]]. Where the family is best known for a tight, calm temper, his own is read by its breadth and movement, the active nie and the bright nioiguchi the marks of his individuality. The boshi resolves either in a small round with a somewhat deep turnback or runs in with notare and a swept point.
The jigane is a tightly forged ko-itame, closely packed and well ordered, over which ji-nie gathers in fine mijin particles and delicate chikei enters. Near the mune the grain at times takes on a slight nagare-hada. This is the lustrous, finely worked steel of the Hizen school carried into a more active register, the temper above it animated rather than restrained. The surviving wakizashi are built broad in the mihaba, slightly overlong and thick in the kasane, and on these the published sources record the yakiba forged especially high and flamboyant (「焼きが高く華やかに乱れ」)[[c:3]], with the valleys of the irregularities showing an even more concentrated layering of nie, an elaborated and worked effect. These hira-zukuri pieces carry carving as well, bonji with a clawed sword, gomabashi cut to run off, the published commentary finding the carvings simple yet well harmonized with the blade.
The small body of his recorded work falls into two registers that share one hand. The shinogi-zukuri katana keep deep curvature and an extended chu-kissaki, the temper centered now on gunome, now on choji-midare, with ashi and yo entering abundantly to give the temper a lively and animated impression. The broad hira-zukuri wakizashi push the flamboyance furthest, employing large-scale patterns and an especially brilliant irregular temper to vary the habuchi, which the published sources judge an excellent result. All four recorded blades are ubu and signed, the inscription cut boldly and somewhat large with a thick chisel, a seven-character long signature on two of them, and the published commentary draws particular attention to the manner of that signature, noting that it closely resembles the presentation signatures of the first-generation Tadahiro and the early, pre-appointment signatures of the first Masahiro.
Within the school the published sources place Yoshinobu as a forerunner. They read his high, flamboyant midare as a pioneering example of the manner later broadly termed Soba-Hizen (「傍肥前」), and they connect it directly to the youthful, pre-appointment work of his son the first Masahiro, in whose blades the same construction and the same general type of carving recur. The commentary takes this as an intriguing view into the commonality of parent-and-child workmanship (「親子の作風の共通性」)[[c:4]], so that his individuality is read as the spirited, active wing of the family, the bridge from the founder's generation to the showier hands that followed. His bright midare, his broad sunagashi and his occasional tobiyaki set his work apart from the calmer body of the school, and the resemblance of his signature to the first Tadahiro and the first Masahiro ties him firmly into its central line.
In Fujishiro's grading he is Jo saku, and the designation record behind his name is small and entirely at the Juyo rank, with no National Treasure or Important Cultural Property among the recorded works and no provenance roll preserved in their papers. One of the Juyo wakizashi is held at Naritasan Shinshoji in Chiba, its blade carvings added in later times by Asai Tadamasa, a man of Saga whose primary calling was painting. The published sources value these few designated blades as much for their documentary worth as their quality, calling one a fine piece among the very few extant works by Yoshinobu (「数少ない吉信作品中の佳品」)[[c:5]] and precious material for researching the full scope of his workmanship (「彼の作域を研究する上で資料的にも貴重」)[[c:6]]. What a collector may realistically encounter is therefore one of these signed Juyo blades, a scarce record of the flamboyant early-Hizen hand at the root of the Masahiro and Yukihiro lines; they come to the market rarely, and a signed example is a notable thing when one appears.
Yoshisada (吉貞) — Mainline · 1615-1624. Smith of the Hizen School.
Hirosada (廣貞) — Mainline · 1684-1688. Smith of the Hizen School.
Hirotsugu (廣次) — Mainline · 1648-1652. Smith of the Hizen School.
Kanehiro (兼廣) — Mainline · 1658-1661. Smith of the Hizen School.
Masahiro (正廣) — Mainline · 1751-1764. Smith of the Hizen School.
Masahiro (正廣) — Mainline · 1801-1804. Smith of the Hizen School.
Masahiro (正廣) — Mainline · 1844-1848. Smith of the Hizen School.
Masahiro (正廣) — Mainline · 1844-1848. Smith of the Hizen School.
Masahiro (正廣) — Mainline · 1848-1854. Smith of the Hizen School.
Masahiro (正廣) — Mainline · 1865-1868. Smith of the Hizen School.
Suesada (末貞) — Mainline · 1342-1345. Smith of the Hizen School.
Tadamasa (忠正) — Mainline · 1624-1644. Smith of the Hizen School.
Tadamasa (忠正) — Mainline · 1681-1684. Smith of the Hizen School.
Tadamasa (忠政) — Mainline · 1624-1644. Smith of the Hizen School.
Tadamasa (忠政) — Mainline · 1688-1704. Smith of the Hizen School.
Tadamune (忠宗) — Mainline · 1661-1673. Smith of the Hizen School.
Tadamune (忠宗) — Mainline · 1688-1704. Smith of the Hizen School.
Tadamune (忠宗) — Mainline · 1716-1736. Smith of the Hizen School.
Tadanaga (忠長) — Mainline · 1661-1673. Smith of the Hizen School.
Tadayoshi (忠吉) — Mainline · 1748-1751. Smith of the Hizen School.
Tadayoshi (忠吉) — Mainline · 1801-1804. Smith of the Hizen School.
Tadayoshi (忠吉) — Mainline · 1868-1912. Smith of the Hizen School.
Toshikuni (俊國) — Mainline · 1624-1644. Smith of the Hizen School.
Yoshihiro (吉廣) — Mainline · 1684-1688. Smith of the Hizen School.
Yoshikiyo (吉清) — Mainline · 1661-1673. Smith of the Hizen School.
Yoshinaga (吉長) — Mainline · 1624-1644. Smith of the Hizen School.
Yukihiro (行廣) — Mainline · 1704-1711. Smith of the Hizen School.
Yukihiro (行廣) — Mainline · 1751-1764. Smith of the Hizen School.
Yukihiro (行廣) — Mainline · 1804-1818. Smith of the Hizen School.
Yukihiro (行廣) — Mainline · 1781-1789. Smith of the Hizen School.
Yukihiro (行廣) — Mainline · 1854-1860. Smith of the Hizen School.