Hello, world. Welcome to Samurai Museum Shop. Thank you for finding our website. In this post, we would like to introduce one of the prominent Japanese swordsmiths. We hope you will enjoy reading this post.
Omi no Daijyo Fujiwara Tadahiro(近江大掾藤原忠広) was the first son of the first-gen Tadayoshi. It is said that Tadahiro was active in sword-forging during 1624-1688 (Early Edo Period). Tadayoshi(Father) is one of the most famous swordsmiths in the early Edo period and made Hizeon province(today’s Fukuoka prefecture) a prominent sword-forging place back then. Tadahiro learned sword-forging techniques under his father’s supervision until Tadayoshi died in 1632 (9th year of the Kan-Ei era).
Tadahiro took over the school his father ran when he was only 19 years old, and he started to make a sword in the same year. This fact indicates that he was excellent at making swords, and the apprentices of his father(Tadayoshi) supported him to run the school. Tadahiro received the title of Omi Daijyo in 1641 (the sixth year of the Genroku era). He kept forging swords for almost 60 years for the Nabeshima clan, strong feudal lords.
Tadahiro died at the age of 81 in 1693 and left a large number of excellent swords before his decease. He had many famous apprentices, such as the third-gen Mutsu Daijyo Tadayoshi, Harima Daijyo Tadakuni, and Kawachi Daijyo Masahiro. Fujiwara Tadahiro and other swordsmiths in the Hizen province worked under the auspices of Nabeshima clan. The swordsmiths in Hizen province were able to produce beautiful Jigane-patterned blades, also known as Hizen To, using and mixing carbon steel made in Netherland.
Most of Tadahiro’s work has Hamon types of Suguha (straight tempering line) and Chojimidare (irregular wavy tempering line). Swords forged by Tadahiro are also famous among Japanese sword collectors because of his exquisite craftsmanship and history.
We hope you enjoyed reading this post. If you are interested in checking his work, we happen to acquire an antique Wakizashi signed by him. More information is available by clicking the image below.
