NihontoWatch肥後守輝廣は美濃(注1)国出身で初銘を兼友と刻した。加藤清正と並ぶ豊太閤子飼いの猛将福島正則に仕えて尾張清洲城下で鎚を振るい、慶長元年に上京して埋忠明壽門となり肥後守を受領している。関ヶ原の戦で東軍先鋒の福島正則が西軍主力の宇喜多秀家と激突(注2)した際、輝廣精鍛の幅広豪壮な刀や薙刀(注3)、鋭利な槍は、宇喜多自慢の備前祐定の刀槍に勝るとも劣らぬ威力を発揮した。戦後、正則が安芸国四十九万石に転ずると輝廣もこれに同行し、広島城下に鍛冶場を構えたのであった。 この薙刀は、真の棟の天井が広く、両区深く重ね頗る厚く、中程から先の鎬地の肉が大きく削ぎ落されて先反り付き、ふくら幅も広く量感のある威風堂々の体配。地鉄は板目に流れごころの肌を交えて地景が太く入り、粒立った地沸が厚く付いて光を強く反射し、ザングリとした感がありながらも鉄色が明るく冴える。刃文は浅い湾れに互の目を交えて大らかに乱れ、焼の深い帽子は乱れ込んで掃き掛け、長めに返る。焼刃は良く沸付き、刃境に湯走り、金線、砂流しが掛かり、匂が充満して冷たく澄んだ刃中には足が盛んに入る。刃味の良さと靭性とを兼ね備えた、実戦武器の凄みを感じさせる。茎は保存状態が優れ、銘字が細鑚で神妙に刻されている。美濃刀遠祖の志津兼氏を想わせる作風で出来優れ、現存稀有(注4)の肥後守輝廣の実力を伝える名品となっている。 注1...「濃州関住輝廣造」と切銘した天正十七年九月日紀の刀があり、尾張移住以前から輝廣と名乗り、受領以前に技術も大成していたことが明らかである(第二十六回重要刀剣図譜)。 注2...岐阜市歴史博物館蔵の「関ケ原合戦図屏風」(同館図録『戦国合戦図屏風』)の両軍激突の場面で、福島軍の武将が持つ豪壮な薙刀は肥後守輝廣の作であろうか。 注3...刃長二尺二寸八分の重要美術品認定の刀がある。薙刀は本作を含めて七振が重要刀剣指定。薙刀に名品が多いことがわかる。 注4...重要刀剣図譜に「肥後守輝廣の作刀は如何なるわけか極めて稀れで、現存品は二十点に満たない」とある。
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Aki Teruhiro (Geishū Hiroshima), of Mino origin; the first generation, Higo no Kami Teruhiro · Aki · around 1589-1615
Fujishiro Jo-jo saku · Tōken Taikan top 8%
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A katana inscribed Nōshū Seki-jū Teruhiro and dated the ninth month of Tenshō 17 is the document around which the history of this smith has been rewritten. Higo no Kami Fujiwara Teruhiro is the founder of the Aki Teruhiro line of Hiroshima. The published sources record the transmitted account: a native of Mino said to descend from Seki Kanetsune, he first signed Kanetomo, studied under Umetada Myōju, entered the service of Fukushima Masanori, changed his name to Teruhiro and received the title Higo no Kami, and followed his lord to Kiyosu in Owari and then, in Keichō 5, to Hiroshima in Geishū. The Tenshō katana shows that he already signed Teruhiro while still in Mino, and the published sources conclude that he had "already reached maturity before entering Myōju's school"[[c:1]]. The teaching relationship with Myōju, they write, now needs fresh examination and is "left to future research"[[c:2]].
His surviving work is exceedingly scarce. The earliest papers judge that it does "not exceed ten fingers even counting katana, tantō and naginata together"[[c:3]], and later papers repeatedly give "fewer than twenty pieces"[[c:4]], counting katana, tantō, yari and naginata. Within that small record the long weapons predominate. The published sources note that "among them, naginata survive from time to time"[[c:5]], and the yari include a great ōmi-yari of a shaku and a half, of which they write that "a large spear reaching a shaku and five sun is rare, and the workmanship is also excellent"[[c:6]].
The Tenshō katana sets the measure of his hand. It is somewhat wide, with little taper, a strong sakizori and an ō-kissaki. The jigane is an itame mixed with nagare-hada, taking masame toward the edge and standing somewhat in hada-dachi, with ji-nie. The hamon is notare-based and boxes up in places into large patterns, with gunome-chōji-like elements, tobiyaki and muneyaki, ashi and yō, deep nie, kinsuji and sunagashi. The published sources call it "an outstanding blade of the first-generation Teruhiro showing a bold style"[[c:7]], "overflowing with presence together with its wide body and ō-kissaki"[[c:8]]. The Higo no Kami katana designated at the very first session is read in another key, as a work "that admired the Shizu style, one of the fine pieces among his works"[[c:9]]. Its flowing itame runs toward masame and is zanguri, and its ko-notare with gunome is crossed with sunagashi.
On the naginata the itame flows, often toward masame, and stands in places, with ji-nie. The hamon is a ko-notare or notare mixed with gunome, small gunome and pointed elements, with ashi, yō and sunagashi, the nioiguchi sometimes tight and sometimes settling into shizumi. One is singled out as the work "showing the most spirited style among his works"[[c:10]], another as "a work that does not shame the name of a master smith"[[c:11]]. The yari are forged in masame or a flowing grain and tempered in a suguha-toned shallow notare with small gunome, the nioiguchi bright. A few wide, elongated hira-zukuri tantō and wakizashi stand apart. Of one tantō the published sources write that it "shows no trace at all of having studied under Umetada Myōju"[[c:12]], showing instead the Owari Seki manner of its day while being well made, and of a hira-wakizashi that it "shows the Seki manner and is well made"[[c:13]].
Two features run through the whole record. His bōshi enters midare and finishes pointed, often turning back long, far more often than on the blades of his son-in-law, whose bōshi runs mostly straight to a ko-maru. And the published sources name a deep nioi only once for him, where it is the constant of the second generation's ko-notare. That son-in-law, an Owari man of the Kanie family, became Harima no Kami Teruhiro, and the published sources set the two titles side by side: "the first generation received Higo no Kami, and the second received Harima no Kami"[[c:14]]. After the Fukushima house was dispossessed the line served the Asano daimyō, and "the descendants served the Asano family and have prospered in this place for generations"[[c:15]].
Fujishiro grades him Jō-jō saku. Seventeen designated works are on record: the Tenshō katana, first designated Jūyō and later raised to Tokubetsu Jūyō, a prewar Jūyō Bijutsuhin katana, and Jūyō naginata, yari, tantō, wakizashi and katana. For a collector the long weapons are the realistic encounter: a naginata or yari by his hand comes to light from time to time, while a signed katana, of which so few survive, is a rare event. The Tenshō katana itself is a landmark of early Shintō scholarship, a single blade that changed how the founder of a Hiroshima house is understood.
Where Teruhiro stands among comparable artisans: across all of nihontō, and within tradition, era, and period. The tiers (Foremost · Leading · Major · Notable) weigh official designations from the NBTHK and Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs, together with historical honors of lasting repute such as the Sansaku and Meibutsu-chō.
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Years he was demonstrably active, proven by signed-and-dated blades
Mino-den · Aki
6 pieces on the market now
The Teruhiro line takes its place in Hiroshima, in Aki province, where its swords were forged from the close of the Momoyama period into early Edo. The first generation (shodai) is recorded in the setsumei as a native of Mino, a later descendant of Kanetsune of Seki, who signed at first as Kanetomo (兼友 or 兼伴) before studying under Umetada Myōju, taking the name Teruhiro, and receiving the court title Higo no Kami. A katana dated Tenshō 17 (1589) and inscribed Nōshū Seki-jū Teruhiro saku[[c:1]] shows, as the registers note, that he already used the Teruhiro name while resident in Mino and had reached full stature before entering Myōju's circle, a point the NBTHK records leave open for further study. He followed Fukushima Masanori to Kiyosu in Owari and, in Keichō 5 (1600), relocated to Hiroshima. The second generation, Harima no Kami Teruhiro, came from Owari; the setsumei give his surname as Kanie, his common name Jinpachi, and his earliest signature Kanehisa (兼久). He studied under the shodai, was valued enough to become his son-in-law, served the Fukushima house, and, after that family's forfeiture, entered the service of the Asano. A wakizashi dated Keichō 15 (1610) places his active years close to those of the first generation, with further dated works cited from Kan'ei 5 (1628) and Kan'ei 9 (1632). Across the line the kitae is itame mixed with mokume and flowing nagare-hada, the grain tending to stand (hada-dachi) and turning toward masame near the edge, with ji-nie and chikei throughout and steel that the registers repeatedly call clear (saeru).
The signature temper is a notare base, often ko-notare, mixed with gunome and pointed (togari-gokoro) elements, carrying deep nioi, thick nie, kinsuji, sunagashi, and scattered tobiyaki; the first generation's Tenshō and Keichō katana broaden this into large, hako-leaning undulations with muneyaki, while the second generation favors deep-nioi ko-notare held at a high level. The bōshi commonly runs notare-komi into ko-maru, at times deeply yaki-sage into muneyaki or showing hakikake. To tell the hands apart, the setsumei observe that the nidai's gunome stands out more strongly than the shodai's, and that nagare-hada in the forging, togari blades in the ha, and a bōshi of Sanbon-sugi or sanpin flavor mark his Mino descent; both generations also worked suguha-toned and masame yari and naginata in a quieter key. The setsumei treat the line as a Mino-rooted hand carrying a strong Sōshū current, and several blades are read as deliberate evocations of older models. The second generation's tantō and wakizashi are described as aiming at Sadamune, "whom Teruhiro most admired," with one kanmuri-otoshi wakizashi bearing naginata-hi read as a study of old Yamato, particularly Taima; a wide notare katana with hardened koshi-ba is likened to Kanemoto and Muramasa. The named registered works span the formats: the shodai's Nōshū Seki-jū katana and Higo no Kami yari and naginata, and the nidai's Harima no Kami katana, wakizashi, naginata, and tantō, several signed Fujiwara Teruhiro. The records stress that surviving pieces are few, numbering fewer than twenty across swords, tantō, yari, and naginata, which lends the ōmi-yari and the carved examples particular documentary value; one note holds that the nidai equals or surpasses the shodai. Kantei rests on the notare core with deep nioi and thick nie, the standing itame with nagare and chikei, the recurrent tobiyaki, and the long thick-chisel signatures on ubu tangs that fix this Aki workshop and its place under Fukushima and Asano patronage. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Teruhiro輝廣 | 1624-1644 | 27 |
| Teruhiro輝廣 | 1589-1615 | 17 |
| Teruhiro輝廣 | 1624-1644 | 0 |
| Teruhiro輝廣 | 1748-1751 | 0 |
| Teruhiro輝廣 | 1661-1673 | 0 |
Mino in the Momoyama period
Unification closed the mass market, and Seki’s smiths moved to where the new money was: the Mishina line to Kyōto with court titles, Daidō smiths to castle towns across the provinces. Mino became the great technical ancestor of the Shintō age.
A blade of top-grade workmanship and condition, formally judged to rank with a nationally recognized Important Art Object (Jūyō Bijutsuhin). Awarded only at the NBTHK’s competitive annual examination.
Of Japan’s roughly 2.5 million registered swords, only 12,348 (about 1 in 202) have ever attained Jūyō.
The NBTHK (Nihon Bijutsu Tōken Hozon Kyōkai, the Society for the Preservation of Japanese Art Swords) is a public-interest incorporated foundation founded in 1948 and supervised by Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs (Bunkachō); it is based at the Japanese Sword Museum in Tokyo. Its expert panels physically examine each submitted work (shinsa) and issue a certificate (kanteishō) ranking it by artistic and historical merit. NBTHK papers are the most widely recognized standard of authentication for Japanese swords and fittings.
NBTHK official siteIf, due to our fault, the item differs significantly from its proper condition, the item may be returned. Cooling-off is within one week of the item's arrival.