SANDAI TADAYOSHI- 3rd Gen Tadayoshi

1660
TADAYOSHI

27 Oct 1660
MUTSU DAIJO TADAYOSHI
MUTSU DAIJO FUJIWARA TADAYOSHI

16 Aug 1661
MUTSU (no) KAMI FUJIWARA TADAYOSHI
 --more listed in book--

1663+
DO KUNI JUNIN MUTSU (no) KAMI TADAYOSHI

Circa 1673
HIZEN KUNI TADAYOSHI

BORN: 1637 in Saga, Hizen DIED: 2nd January 1686 (age 50) NAME: Hashimoto Shinsaburo [Mutsu (no) Kami Tadayoshi] FATHER: Omi Daijo Tadahiro (2nd Gen. Tadayoshi)

Hashimoto Shinsaburo was born in 1637 to Omi Daijo Tadahiro, however he died at the relatively young age of 50 years on 2 Jan 1686. Although he was the rightful heir to the Tadayoshi School, his father outlived him by some 7 years, and he therefore never became true head of The School, although he was to become known as Sandai Tadayoshi (3rd gen.). His father the Nidai, Shodai Masahiro and other sensei taught him well, for it is said that he made the finest jitetsu of all the Tadayoshi, and reportedly destroyed blades that he was not satisfied with. His work is rated along with Tadayoshi 1st as Saijo-O-Wazamono (supreme sharpness), and he must have had a close relationship with Masahiro 1st, because he also forged gassaku with him as well as his father the Nidai. Due to his relatively short working life (1660-1686), and his attention to the finest detail, his individual works are rare and valuable. He made most of the outstanding dai-saku-mei works for his father. There are therefore many gimei 3rd gen. swords in existence and one should be very careful.

Sandai Tadayoshi first signed "Tadayoshi" around 1660, received the title Mutsu Daijo on 27 Oct 1660 and then signed "Mutsu Daijo Tadayoshi", and "Mutsu Daijo Fujiwara Tadayoshi". The use of Fujiwara is rare. So good was his ability that less than a year after he began signing Mutsu Daijo he received the title Mutsu (no) Kami on 16 Aug 1661. Most of his own blades were therefore signed using "Mutsu (no) Kami" and are easily recognizable, so he subsequently became known as "Mutsu (no) Kami Tadayoshi". He later signed Goji mei "Hizen Kuni Tadayoshi", and some of these swords have been mistaken for works by the Shodai. Dated swords are especially rare which make it somewhat difficult to accurately date his mei. I have only ever seen one "Mutsu Daijo Fujiwara Tadayoshi" oshigata.

His mei show significant variations in the chisel strokes as detailed below and overleaf, especially in the character for "Mutsu". Since he was renowned for attention to detail, and most of his works are undated, one can only assume that these significant and deliberate 'secret' chisel stokes were his personal way of dating blades...

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

Japanese music piece entitled 'Tsuki'