The second-generation Masahiro of Hizen was born in Kan'ei 4 (1627), the son and direct heir of the first-generation Kawachi Daijo Masahiro, and he died in Genroku 12 (1699) at the age of seventy-three. He styled himself Sadenji and first signed Masanaga; in Manji 3 (1660) he received the title Musashi no Daijo and then Musashi no Kami, and on the death of his father in Kanbun 5 (1665), when he was thirty-nine, he transferred to the title Kawachi no Kami and took up the name Masahiro. He worked within the Hizen Tadayoshi main line at Saga, and the published sources read him as a successor who matched his father so nearly that in many pieces the hands cannot be separated, the workmanship of both, in suguha and in midareba, holding "scarcely anything by which to rank one above the other"[[c:1]]. He inherited the refined Hizen jigane and the bright temper directly, and his record divides cleanly into two manners.

His characteristic hand is the flamboyant midareba the published sources say he favored above all, "especially adept at the irregular temper"[[c:2]]. Over the jigane he lays a choji-dominant midare, into which he mixes gunome, round-headed gunome, large gunome and a shallow ko-notare, with at times a yahazu-like or angular flavor, opening on occasion from a slight yakidashi at the base and linking the clusters of midare with a quieter notare-toned line. The temper is laid high and low; long ashi enter frequently with yo among them; the nioiguchi is deep, with thick ko-nie gathering in the valleys of the midare and tobiyaki breaking out above; sunagashi runs broadly and long kinsuji appear, and the nioiguchi is bright and clear. The published sources call the broad yakihaba into which he develops this flamboyant choji-midare "precisely the area in which he excelled"[[c:3]], and they read the yahazu-like teeth and round-headed gunome set into the temper as the tell of his particular ha-dori.

The jigane is the constant beneath both manners. It is a tightly packed ko-itame, the grain at times standing a little, into which extremely fine ji-nie is laid thickly until it takes on the rice-bran komenuka-hada characteristic of Hizen work, with fine chikei entering throughout and the steel bright. This is the same refined jigane the Hizen main house carried, and the second-generation Masahiro forges it faithfully, so that the showy edge sits over a quiet, lucid surface. The boshi, on either manner, runs straight into a ko-maru with hakikake and a deep turnback, at times opening into a small midare-komi or a larger maru. The sugata is robust and dignified, often wide in body with a thick kasane and an extended chu-kissaki, at times reaching an o-kissaki.

The other face of his record is the chu-suguha, the manner the published sources note he commanded in greater number than the first generation, observing that "works in suguha are encountered more frequently in his output than in that of the first Masahiro"[[c:4]]. It is a medium straight temper that takes on a shallow notare-tendency in places and mixes ko-ashi and gunome-ashi, at times a kuichigai flavor and a small gunome about the monouchi; the nioiguchi stays deep with thick ko-nie, in places a coarser nie, sunagashi running and long kinsuji appearing, the whole bright and clear over the same komenuka jigane. The published sources hold his suguha even and consistent, and call one such blade conspicuous for a deeper nioi and a thicker nie than the suguha usually seen from him, reading the manner as recalling the suguha at which the Hizen main house excelled. His blades are signed Hizen no Kuni Kawachi no Kami Fujiwara Masahiro, and at times Kawachi no Kami Fuji-uji Masahiro; several are dated, in Kanbun 7 and Kanbun 12, giving fixed points in his career.

What sets him apart within the school is read first from the signature, not the steel, since his hand follows his father's so closely. The published sources name the means of telling the two generations: the form of the element within the character Fuji, written one way by the first generation and another by the second, and an added stroke in the element of the character Hiro, together with his consistent practice of signing katana on the sashi-ura, the differing manner a guard against forgery. In workmanship the distinction is one of proportion rather than kind: the father favored the midareba and the son carries the same flamboyant choji-midare forward, while the son's suguha, the more numerous of the two for him, returns the line to the calm straight temper that is the main house's own signature.

For the collector he is a Hizen master of the Kanbun era recorded entirely in the Juyo tier, where twenty-four of his works are designated; Fujishiro grades him Jo saku. He has no National Treasures or Important Cultural Properties, and his designation record stands instead on that body of Juyo blades, among the denser such records for a Shinto smith. The published commentary calls one of his katana "a sword that stands as a representative example of Hizen-to"[[c:5]] and another the "most flamboyant and brilliant workmanship seen among his works"[[c:6]], while noting that cutting-test inscriptions are themselves rare on Hizen blades, that "on Hizen blades pieces bearing cutting-test inscriptions are extremely rare"[[c:7]]. Several of his katana carry the gold-inlaid cutting tests of Yamano Kanjuro Hisahide and the nicknames that go with them, Tsugi-kosode, Aranami and Senpu, each praising the blade's sharpness. No owner provenance is recorded on his designated blades, so the honest account is that they pass quietly among private and institutional collections of recorded whereabouts; one of his Juyo works in midareba or suguha comes to the market only from time to time, a substantial acquisition when it does, and the most direct way for a collector to hold a sword of the Hizen main line at the height of its second generation.

The second-generation Masahiro of Hizen was born in Kan'ei 4 (1627), the son and direct heir of the first-generation Kawachi Daijo Masahiro, and he died in Genroku 12 (1699) at the age of seventy-three. He styled himself Sadenji and first signed Masanaga; in Manji 3 (1660) he received the title Musashi no Daijo and then Musashi no Kami, and on the death of his father in Kanbun 5 (1665), when he was thirty-nine, he transferred to the title Kawachi no Kami and took up the name Masahiro. He worked within the Hizen Tadayoshi main line at Saga, and the published sources read him as a successor who matched his father so nearly that in many pieces the hands cannot be separated, the workmanship of both, in suguha and in midareba, holding "scarcely anything by which to rank one above the other"[[c:1]]. He inherited the refined Hizen jigane and the bright temper directly, and his record divides cleanly into two manners.

His characteristic hand is the flamboyant midareba the published sources say he favored above all, "especially adept at the irregular temper"[[c:2]]. Over the jigane he lays a choji-dominant midare, into which he mixes gunome, round-headed gunome, large gunome and a shallow ko-notare, with at times a yahazu-like or angular flavor, opening on occasion from a slight yakidashi at the base and linking the clusters of midare with a quieter notare-toned line. The temper is laid high and low; long ashi enter frequently with yo among them; the nioiguchi is deep, with thick ko-nie gathering in the valleys of the midare and tobiyaki breaking out above; sunagashi runs broadly and long kinsuji appear, and the nioiguchi is bright and clear. The published sources call the broad yakihaba into which he develops this flamboyant choji-midare "precisely the area in which he excelled"[[c:3]], and they read the yahazu-like teeth and round-headed gunome set into the temper as the tell of his particular ha-dori.

The jigane is the constant beneath both manners. It is a tightly packed ko-itame, the grain at times standing a little, into which extremely fine ji-nie is laid thickly until it takes on the rice-bran komenuka-hada characteristic of Hizen work, with fine chikei entering throughout and the steel bright. This is the same refined jigane the Hizen main house carried, and the second-generation Masahiro forges it faithfully, so that the showy edge sits over a quiet, lucid surface. The boshi, on either manner, runs straight into a ko-maru with hakikake and a deep turnback, at times opening into a small midare-komi or a larger maru. The sugata is robust and dignified, often wide in body with a thick kasane and an extended chu-kissaki, at times reaching an o-kissaki.

The other face of his record is the chu-suguha, the manner the published sources note he commanded in greater number than the first generation, observing that "works in suguha are encountered more frequently in his output than in that of the first Masahiro"[[c:4]]. It is a medium straight temper that takes on a shallow notare-tendency in places and mixes ko-ashi and gunome-ashi, at times a kuichigai flavor and a small gunome about the monouchi; the nioiguchi stays deep with thick ko-nie, in places a coarser nie, sunagashi running and long kinsuji appearing, the whole bright and clear over the same komenuka jigane. The published sources hold his suguha even and consistent, and call one such blade conspicuous for a deeper nioi and a thicker nie than the suguha usually seen from him, reading the manner as recalling the suguha at which the Hizen main house excelled. His blades are signed Hizen no Kuni Kawachi no Kami Fujiwara Masahiro, and at times Kawachi no Kami Fuji-uji Masahiro; several are dated, in Kanbun 7 and Kanbun 12, giving fixed points in his career.

What sets him apart within the school is read first from the signature, not the steel, since his hand follows his father's so closely. The published sources name the means of telling the two generations: the form of the element within the character Fuji, written one way by the first generation and another by the second, and an added stroke in the element of the character Hiro, together with his consistent practice of signing katana on the sashi-ura, the differing manner a guard against forgery. In workmanship the distinction is one of proportion rather than kind: the father favored the midareba and the son carries the same flamboyant choji-midare forward, while the son's suguha, the more numerous of the two for him, returns the line to the calm straight temper that is the main house's own signature.

For the collector he is a Hizen master of the Kanbun era recorded entirely in the Juyo tier, where twenty-four of his works are designated; Fujishiro grades him Jo saku. He has no National Treasures or Important Cultural Properties, and his designation record stands instead on that body of Juyo blades, among the denser such records for a Shinto smith. The published commentary calls one of his katana "a sword that stands as a representative example of Hizen-to"[[c:5]] and another the "most flamboyant and brilliant workmanship seen among his works"[[c:6]], while noting that cutting-test inscriptions are themselves rare on Hizen blades, that "on Hizen blades pieces bearing cutting-test inscriptions are extremely rare"[[c:7]]. Several of his katana carry the gold-inlaid cutting tests of Yamano Kanjuro Hisahide and the nicknames that go with them, Tsugi-kosode, Aranami and Senpu, each praising the blade's sharpness. No owner provenance is recorded on his designated blades, so the honest account is that they pass quietly among private and institutional collections of recorded whereabouts; one of his Juyo works in midareba or suguha comes to the market only from time to time, a substantial acquisition when it does, and the most direct way for a collector to hold a sword of the Hizen main line at the height of its second generation.