It has appeared, it has appeared! A precious item the likes of which even I have never seen before. Dating to the 16th year of Kanei (1639) (386 years ago)—a time two years after the Shimabara Rebellion and one year before the completion of the Edo Castle Honmaru—this is a valuable katana by Harima no Kami Fujiwara Teruhiro. He was the famous disciple of Umedada Myoju of Kyo-Yamashiro, the renowned "founder of Shinto," who produced the wakizashi and tanto that Myoju would then engrave with horimono and sign with his own mei to release to the world. Umedada Myoju was famous for his metalwork and held deep "osobashu-like" connections with the Imperial Court and high-ranking officials of the time. Because of this, the first generation Hizen no Kuni Tadayoshi became a disciple of Myoju by order of the Nabeshima Clan, and this Teruhiro also traveled to Kyoto with his father, the first generation Higo no Kami Teruhiro, by order of Fukushima Masanori of Geishu to become a disciple of Umedada Myoju. Harima no Kami Fujiwara Teruhiro is highly regarded as a master smith; since Umedada Myoju was originally not a swordsmith, it is said that almost all extant wakizashi and tanto bearing Myoju's name were actually the work of this Harima no Kami Fujiwara Teruhiro, upon which Myoju added the horimono. Furthermore, while there are extant tanto and wakizashi by Harima no Kami Fujiwara Teruhiro, extant katana are few, making this sword wonderfully precious. The sugata of this katana features a slightly high shinogi, with a difference between the motohaba and sakihaba and a distinct sori, representing the sword style of the Kanei era. The jigane is a well-tightened itame-hada mixed with masame-hada, with abundant ji-nie; while there is some ohada on the shinogi-ji, that is a charming characteristic of the period. The hamon is a nioi-deki with ko-nie in a suguha style, with deep nioi and nie, making it a well-crafted meito that emulates Soshu Shintogo Kunimitsu. This Teruhiro is a master smith who was a fellow disciple of the first generation Hizen no Kuni Tadayoshi. The koshirae is also a luxurious Edo-period set featuring a magnificent tsuba by Mogarashi Soten and a kawari-nuri saya, which adds further elegance to this sword. Having received this on consignment from an old connoisseur who said, "I have grown old, so please pass this on to a successor at a reasonable price," please by all means enjoy this meito by Harima no Kami Fujiwara Teruhiro with its precious Kanei Juroku-nen nenki, the likes of which I have never seen until now.
Kanei (1624-1644) · nagasa 71.6cm · sori 1.8cm
































Aki Teruhiro (Geishū Hiroshima), of Mino origin; the second generation, Harima no Kami Teruhiro · Aki · around 1624-1644
Fujishiro Jo-jo saku · Tōken Taikan top 17%
1 piece on the market now
A naginata dated to the strengths of his hand, designated at the fortieth Jūyō session, is read by the published sources as the example in which the true strengths of the second-generation Teruhiro are fully manifested. The smith who made it, Harima no Kami Teruhiro, is the second generation of the Aki Teruhiro line, the Hiroshima house of Mino origin that worked under the patronage of the Fukushima and then the Asano daimyō in early Shintō times. He was a native of Owari of the Kanie family, commonly called Jinpachi, and signed at first as Kanehisa before he studied under the first-generation Higo no Kami Teruhiro, was favorably regarded by his teacher, and became his son-in-law. He served the Fukushima house, moved with it to Hiroshima in Geishū, and after that family was dispossessed entered the service of the Asano. His earliest dated work bears a Keichō 15 date of 1610, so that his active years stand close to the first generation's, and he is documented as a Jō-jō saku smith of the early Hiroshima school.
His characteristic hand is a ko-notare carried in a deep nioiguchi, mixed with gunome and blades of a pointed togari-gokoro tendency. The published sources name this his forte and, on his finest naginata, call the deep nioi, the evenly and thickly adhering ko-nie, and the ji and ha alike bright and clear the very essence of his work, 「正に同工の真骨頂である」[[c:1]]. Within the temper ashi and yō enter, kinsuji run in the lower half, sunagashi streams through, and small tobiyaki appear here and there, the whole hardened in a nioiguchi that runs bright on his best work and settles toward a subdued shizumi on a quieter piece. It is the opposite pole from the showy Bizen clove temper, a controlled undulating line in which the activity is read rather than displayed.
The jigane beneath it is an itame that takes in a masame-leaning, flowing texture and stands somewhat in hada-dachi, an open grain rather than a tight one. On the best naginata the ji-nie gathers at the finest into dust-fine ji-nie mijin laid thickly, with fine chikei entering well and the steel clear, while on the wakizashi the same flowing jigane stands more plainly with ji-nie and chikei. The bōshi most often turns in a ko-maru; on the largest naginata it runs a shallow notare to a somewhat ō-maru tip on the omote and becomes notare-komi with a thrusting-up, pointed finish on the ura, and on the wakizashi it goes straight to a small round turn on one face and into midare-komi on the other.
Two manners recur across his small body of recorded work. The first is the deep-nioi naginata just described, the area in which his forte shows fullest. The second is a slightly elongated sun-nobi hira-zukuri ko-wakizashi, somewhat wide in the mihaba with a thick kasane, presenting the sugata of Keichō-era Shintō and deliberately aiming at the flavor of Shizu work, which the published sources call a success, 「志津の風をねらって成功している」[[c:2]], and indeed a typical work of this smith, 「勿論彼の典型作でもある」[[c:3]]. On these the temper is a shallow, gently undulating line with small gunome, the nioiguchi tight, with a hotsure-like fraying and a slight sunagashi; they carry carvings more often than the naginata, a bō-hi or katana-hi, bonji and a lotus pedestal, gomabashi or a plain suken. The published sources read both manners as a close inheritance of his teacher's style and infer, as with the first generation, an association with the Kyoto master Umetada Myōju, drawn from the deep-nioi notare the two hands share and from the small difference in their working years.
Within the school he is set apart from his teacher by his title and by his descent showing through the steel. Where the first generation signs Higo no Kami, the second signs Harima no Kami, and the published sources read three marks as betraying his Mino lineage even where the temper looks to Shizu: the flowing nagare-hada in the forging, the pointed togari-gokoro blades within the hamon, and especially a bōshi reminiscent of the Mino Sanpin manner. On the finest naginata they name these explicitly and conclude that they allow one to perceive that he was a swordsmith of Mino lineage, 「彼が美濃系出身の刀工であることを察知させる」[[c:4]]. His work is thus legible as Hiroshima Shintō with a Mino root rather than as pure Sōshū, the deep-nioi notare and the flowing, standing ji placing him beside his father and apart from the smiths he admired.
Six of his works are on record, all of them designated Jūyō, spanning tantō, wakizashi and naginata, and all signed; there is no National Treasure or Important Cultural Property among them, and his line is one whose pieces survive in small numbers rather than in quantity. The published sources note that while tantō signed Harima no Kami Teruhiro are by no means scarce, dated examples are exceedingly few, so that a tantō bearing a date carries high documentary value, and the pieces dated Kan'ei 5 of 1628 and Kan'ei 9 of 1632 are valued for exactly that reason. Recorded ownership is private rather than institutional, and no famous provenance attaches to the recorded blades. A designated Teruhiro of the second generation is not among the unattainable names, but it is a blade that comes to a collector only from time to time and with patience, the deep-nioi naginata most of all the one in which, as the published sources have it, the true strengths of the second-generation Teruhiro are fully manifested, 「二代輝広の本領が遺憾無く発揮された同作中の優品である」.
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.
Select a lens to see how it's measured.
Years he was demonstrably active, proven by signed-and-dated blades
Mino-den · Aki
5 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. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Teruhiro輝廣 | 1589-1615 | 38 |
| Teruhiro輝廣 | 1624-1644 | 5 |
| Teruhiro輝廣 | 1624-1644 | 0 |
| Teruhiro輝廣 | 1748-1751 | 0 |
| Teruhiro輝廣 | 1661-1673 | 0 |
A Hozon-certified blade judged to show notably superior workmanship and a better state of preservation. The bar is higher: re-tempered blades and most unsigned Muromachi/Edo works are excluded.
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 siteFor returns due to customer circumstances, the cost is the customer's responsibility. For returns due to our mis-shipment or a defective item, we bear the cost.
It has appeared, it has appeared! A precious item the likes of which even I have never seen before. Dating to the 16th year of Kanei (1639) (386 years ago)—a time two years after the Shimabara Rebellion and one year before the completion of the Edo Castle Honmaru—this is a valuable katana by Harima no Kami Fujiwara Teruhiro. He was the famous disciple of Umedada Myoju of Kyo-Yamashiro, the renowned "founder of Shinto," who produced the wakizashi and tanto that Myoju would then engrave with horimono and sign with his own mei to release to the world. Umedada Myoju was famous for his metalwork and held deep "osobashu-like" connections with the Imperial Court and high-ranking officials of the time. Because of this, the first generation Hizen no Kuni Tadayoshi became a disciple of Myoju by order of the Nabeshima Clan, and this Teruhiro also traveled to Kyoto with his father, the first generation Higo no Kami Teruhiro, by order of Fukushima Masanori of Geishu to become a disciple of Umedada Myoju. Harima no Kami Fujiwara Teruhiro is highly regarded as a master smith; since Umedada Myoju was originally not a swordsmith, it is said that almost all extant wakizashi and tanto bearing Myoju's name were actually the work of this Harima no Kami Fujiwara Teruhiro, upon which Myoju added the horimono. Furthermore, while there are extant tanto and wakizashi by Harima no Kami Fujiwara Teruhiro, extant katana are few, making this sword wonderfully precious. The sugata of this katana features a slightly high shinogi, with a difference between the motohaba and sakihaba and a distinct sori, representing the sword style of the Kanei era. The jigane is a well-tightened itame-hada mixed with masame-hada, with abundant ji-nie; while there is some ohada on the shinogi-ji, that is a charming characteristic of the period. The hamon is a nioi-deki with ko-nie in a suguha style, with deep nioi and nie, making it a well-crafted meito that emulates Soshu Shintogo Kunimitsu. This Teruhiro is a master smith who was a fellow disciple of the first generation Hizen no Kuni Tadayoshi. The koshirae is also a luxurious Edo-period set featuring a magnificent tsuba by Mogarashi Soten and a kawari-nuri saya, which adds further elegance to this sword. Having received this on consignment from an old connoisseur who said, "I have grown old, so please pass this on to a successor at a reasonable price," please by all means enjoy this meito by Harima no Kami Fujiwara Teruhiro with its precious Kanei Juroku-nen nenki, the likes of which I have never seen until now.
Kanei (1624-1644) · nagasa 71.6cm · sori 1.8cm
































Aki Teruhiro (Geishū Hiroshima), of Mino origin; the second generation, Harima no Kami Teruhiro · Aki · around 1624-1644
Fujishiro Jo-jo saku · Tōken Taikan top 17%
1 piece on the market now
A naginata dated to the strengths of his hand, designated at the fortieth Jūyō session, is read by the published sources as the example in which the true strengths of the second-generation Teruhiro are fully manifested. The smith who made it, Harima no Kami Teruhiro, is the second generation of the Aki Teruhiro line, the Hiroshima house of Mino origin that worked under the patronage of the Fukushima and then the Asano daimyō in early Shintō times. He was a native of Owari of the Kanie family, commonly called Jinpachi, and signed at first as Kanehisa before he studied under the first-generation Higo no Kami Teruhiro, was favorably regarded by his teacher, and became his son-in-law. He served the Fukushima house, moved with it to Hiroshima in Geishū, and after that family was dispossessed entered the service of the Asano. His earliest dated work bears a Keichō 15 date of 1610, so that his active years stand close to the first generation's, and he is documented as a Jō-jō saku smith of the early Hiroshima school.
His characteristic hand is a ko-notare carried in a deep nioiguchi, mixed with gunome and blades of a pointed togari-gokoro tendency. The published sources name this his forte and, on his finest naginata, call the deep nioi, the evenly and thickly adhering ko-nie, and the ji and ha alike bright and clear the very essence of his work, 「正に同工の真骨頂である」[[c:1]]. Within the temper ashi and yō enter, kinsuji run in the lower half, sunagashi streams through, and small tobiyaki appear here and there, the whole hardened in a nioiguchi that runs bright on his best work and settles toward a subdued shizumi on a quieter piece. It is the opposite pole from the showy Bizen clove temper, a controlled undulating line in which the activity is read rather than displayed.
The jigane beneath it is an itame that takes in a masame-leaning, flowing texture and stands somewhat in hada-dachi, an open grain rather than a tight one. On the best naginata the ji-nie gathers at the finest into dust-fine ji-nie mijin laid thickly, with fine chikei entering well and the steel clear, while on the wakizashi the same flowing jigane stands more plainly with ji-nie and chikei. The bōshi most often turns in a ko-maru; on the largest naginata it runs a shallow notare to a somewhat ō-maru tip on the omote and becomes notare-komi with a thrusting-up, pointed finish on the ura, and on the wakizashi it goes straight to a small round turn on one face and into midare-komi on the other.
Two manners recur across his small body of recorded work. The first is the deep-nioi naginata just described, the area in which his forte shows fullest. The second is a slightly elongated sun-nobi hira-zukuri ko-wakizashi, somewhat wide in the mihaba with a thick kasane, presenting the sugata of Keichō-era Shintō and deliberately aiming at the flavor of Shizu work, which the published sources call a success, 「志津の風をねらって成功している」[[c:2]], and indeed a typical work of this smith, 「勿論彼の典型作でもある」[[c:3]]. On these the temper is a shallow, gently undulating line with small gunome, the nioiguchi tight, with a hotsure-like fraying and a slight sunagashi; they carry carvings more often than the naginata, a bō-hi or katana-hi, bonji and a lotus pedestal, gomabashi or a plain suken. The published sources read both manners as a close inheritance of his teacher's style and infer, as with the first generation, an association with the Kyoto master Umetada Myōju, drawn from the deep-nioi notare the two hands share and from the small difference in their working years.
Within the school he is set apart from his teacher by his title and by his descent showing through the steel. Where the first generation signs Higo no Kami, the second signs Harima no Kami, and the published sources read three marks as betraying his Mino lineage even where the temper looks to Shizu: the flowing nagare-hada in the forging, the pointed togari-gokoro blades within the hamon, and especially a bōshi reminiscent of the Mino Sanpin manner. On the finest naginata they name these explicitly and conclude that they allow one to perceive that he was a swordsmith of Mino lineage, 「彼が美濃系出身の刀工であることを察知させる」[[c:4]]. His work is thus legible as Hiroshima Shintō with a Mino root rather than as pure Sōshū, the deep-nioi notare and the flowing, standing ji placing him beside his father and apart from the smiths he admired.
Six of his works are on record, all of them designated Jūyō, spanning tantō, wakizashi and naginata, and all signed; there is no National Treasure or Important Cultural Property among them, and his line is one whose pieces survive in small numbers rather than in quantity. The published sources note that while tantō signed Harima no Kami Teruhiro are by no means scarce, dated examples are exceedingly few, so that a tantō bearing a date carries high documentary value, and the pieces dated Kan'ei 5 of 1628 and Kan'ei 9 of 1632 are valued for exactly that reason. Recorded ownership is private rather than institutional, and no famous provenance attaches to the recorded blades. A designated Teruhiro of the second generation is not among the unattainable names, but it is a blade that comes to a collector only from time to time and with patience, the deep-nioi naginata most of all the one in which, as the published sources have it, the true strengths of the second-generation Teruhiro are fully manifested, 「二代輝広の本領が遺憾無く発揮された同作中の優品である」.
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.
Select a lens to see how it's measured.
Years he was demonstrably active, proven by signed-and-dated blades
Mino-den · Aki
5 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. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Teruhiro輝廣 | 1589-1615 | 38 |
| Teruhiro輝廣 | 1624-1644 | 5 |
| Teruhiro輝廣 | 1624-1644 | 0 |
| Teruhiro輝廣 | 1748-1751 | 0 |
| Teruhiro輝廣 | 1661-1673 | 0 |
A Hozon-certified blade judged to show notably superior workmanship and a better state of preservation. The bar is higher: re-tempered blades and most unsigned Muromachi/Edo works are excluded.
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 siteFor returns due to customer circumstances, the cost is the customer's responsibility. For returns due to our mis-shipment or a defective item, we bear the cost.