SHODAI TADAYOSHI – 1st Gen TADAYOSHI

1600+
TADAYOSHI
HIZEN KUNI TADAYOSHI
HIZEN KUNI TADAYOSHI SAKU
KYUSHU HIZEN KUNI TADAYOSHI
HIZEN KUNI JU MINAMOTO TADAYOSHI SAKU
1615+
HI TADAYOSHI
TADAYOSHI SAKU
HISHU JU TADAYOSHI
HIZEN KUNI JU TADAYOSHI
HIZEN KUNI JUNIN TADAYOSHI SAKU
TADAYOSHI UMETADA MYOJU (no) DESHI
18 Feb 1624
TADAHIRO
MUSASHI DAIJO FUJIWARA TADAHIRO
HIZEN KUNI JU MUSASHI DAIJO FUJIWARA TADAHIRO
Aug 1630+
HIZEN KUNI JU FUJIWARA TADAHIRO

Born: 1572 in Takagise, Saga, Hizen
Died: 15 August 1632 (aged 61)
Name: Hashimoto Shinsaemonjo Tadayoshi. [Musashi Daijo]
Father: Hashimoto Michihiro

Hashimoto Shinsaemonjo was born in Takagise-Cho, Saga, Hizen in 1572 to Hashimoto Michihiro [Iki (no) Kami Michihiro], the son of Kuranojo Morihiro. Both his father and grandfather served the Ryuzoji Takanobu family, then Daimyo of Saga. His grandfather died in the battle of Shimabara (not to be confused with the Shimabara revolt of 1637) in Higo Province in Mar 1584 where Takanobu (1529-1584) also died at the hands of the Shimazu of Satsuma. Both his father and mother died later that year of an leaving the 13-year-old Shinsaemon an orphan. Iwata Takashi (NBTHK) says that Shinsaemon then went to a neighbouring village of Nagase-Mura to study sword smithing with a relative. It is thought that this relative was Iyo (no) Jo Munetsugu (1584-1633), and it is interesting to note that Munetsugu's house was also on the old Nagasaki Highway in what was once Nagase-Mura and within yards of where the Tadayoshi forge was originally set up. Suiken Fukunaga also says that early in his career Tadayoshi went to the neighbouring Province of Higo to become an apprentice of the Dotakuni School. This School was a later offshoot of the Enju School, and was renowned for producing battle worthy swords favoured by Kato Kiyomasa in his Korean campaigns.

Around this time, foreign trade through Nagasaki was in decline, but Lord Nabeshima Naoshige, ruler of Hizen, was establishing a developing business empire in the thriving City of Saga, so in 1596 he sent the 25 year old Shinsaemon to study under Umetada Myoju in Kyoto. Umetada was an established and respected swordsmith who became the founder of the Shinto sword. Accompanying Shinsaemon was his cousin, Munenaga (who later became one of Hizen's best horimonoshi), and whilst in Kyoto he met a priest called Shuho. Shinsaemon was given the name 'Tada' by Umetada, and after 3 years of study in the year 1598, he graduated and returned to his new home of Nagase-Mura. On his return Nabeshima Naoshige gave him a stipend of some 25 koku and a full block of property known as the Nagase-Machi area just West of Saga castle town. Here he gathered all the Nagase-Mura swordsmiths together and set up the Hizento Kaji under the name Tadayoshi. The Hashimoto family at this time numbered 16, and they had up to a further 60 deshi. Shuho became the Hashimoto family priest and may have lived at...

...continued in "The School of Tadayoshi, Saga, Hizen, Japan,1598 - 1871"

SHODAI TADAHIRO MEI PERIOD - 1st Gen Tadayoshi

After he returned to Saga, the Shodai's health deteriorated so much that he was unable to work, and he relied heavily on Yoshinobu, Tosa (no) Kami and Masahiro for help (although Masahiro would only have been 18 years old). Midareba becomes more used and he developed the konuka-type of ji-gane. The Midareba is said to be the deshi way of signing his swords. His yasurime also became perfectly straight across about 1624, and in fact his whole style changed so markedly that many leading scholars believed until recently that Tadayoshi 1st and Tadahiro 1st were different smiths. The sword making business was now in its prime and I suspect that his illness could not interfere with sword production. There are far more "Hizen Kuni Musashi Daijo Fujiwara Tadahiro" mei blades than one man could ever make, so there must have been many dai-saku and dai-mei at this time. Although some references state that he could now read and write, even when he was healthy enough to work it would still have been a great honour for a student to make and sign a blade for the master. One problem, which has led to many arguments amongst sword scholars, is that the Shodai varied his mei almost from day to day, sometimes chiseling strokes 'left to right', sometimes the reverse, sometimes heavy strokes etc. Fujishiro argues that if he had used a regular professional carver, then surely the strokes would have been consistent. I believe that he used his senior students to sign hence the acute variations. We know that he used Masahiro to sign for him, and there is a possible Yoshinobu dai-mei on page 92. Although I have only ever seen one such acclaimed oshigata in Fujishiro's work, the Japanese textbooks regularly mention Yoshinobu as a signatory.

When Tadayoshi 1st changed his Mei to Tadahiro, the Lord of the fief reportedly gave a smith called Sadenjiro Masanaga (the son of Tadayoshi's son in law Yoshinobu, and who later became known as Masahiro) the title 'Tadayoshi'. The year was 1624, and he "took the Tadayoshi name" and reportedly made a sword with the same name. This blade was so good that the Lord told him he should sign his own name and he changed his art name to Masahiro (Shodai Masahiro). He continued to work very closely with the Tadayoshi school even teaching Tadahiro 2nd. There are some oshigata with Masahiro signing dai-mei for the Shodai (see Masahiro section, page 97), and he signed 'Tadahiro' for a little over a year. I think that when it is said "Masahiro took the Tadayoshi name", it means that he was allowed to sign dai-mei for Tadayoshi, which after 1624 would be with a 'Tadahiro' mei, rather than actually signing with a 'Tadayoshi' mei. There are many errors in the limited English translations of the Japanese references; some even saying that the Nidai signed dai-mei in 1624 (The Nidai would have been about 10 years old!). The Japanese references are also not any clearer on the subject of dai-mei by Masahiro, Yoshinobu or Tosa, presumably due to a lack of research. My view is that Masahiro signed dai-mei for Shodai Tadahiro in 1624, and whilst it is quite possible that he made a sword signed 'Tadayoshi', we have no oshigata of such a sword. We are also getting into semantics over a 'Tadayoshi' mei compared with a 'Tadahiro' mei. At the end of the day, Masahiro signed for the Shodai; a fact well established.

From August 1630, Shodai Tadahiro began signing custom order swords of exceptionally high quality for high ranking people. The mei are called kenjo-mei, and obviously indicate a valuable sword. An example is shown in oshigata D. Page 92. He used the signature 'Hizen Kuni'...

...continued in "The School of Tadayoshi, Saga, Hizen, Japan,1598 - 1871"

Japanese music piece entitled 'Tsuki'