MUTSU NO KAMI (3^RD GEN.) WAS BORN AS HASHIMOTO SHINZABUKO IN KAN-EI 14^TH YEAR (1637) AND WAS THE OLDEST SON OF “OMI-DAIJO TADAHIRO” (2^ND GENERATION). HIS GRANDFATHER “TADAYOSHI 1^ST” WAS ONE OF THE MOST LEARNED AND HIGHLY SKILLED STUDENTS OF UMETADA MYOJU, THE FOUNDER OF THE SHINTO PERIOD AND THE HORIKAWA SCHOOL.

1^ST GENERATION (SHODAI) RECEIVED HIS MOST COVETED TITLE MUSASHI DAIJO” IN GEN-WA 10^TH YEAR (1621) AND CHANGED HIS NAME TO TADAHIRO.

TADAHIRO II (FATHER OF MUTSU-NO-KAMI, 3^RD GENERATION) SIGNED MANY BLADES FOR HIS FATHER UNDER THE NAME TADAHIRO. THIS IS CONFUSING TO MANY AS THE BLADES OF 1^ST GENERATION THAT ARE SIGNED BY II HAVE A VERY DISTINCTIVE DIAMOND SHAPE STROKE ON THE TOP (ABOVE THE HORIZONTAL LINE) OF THE HIRO CHARACTER. THEY ARE JUDGED AS THE WORK OF THE 1^ST GENERATION NOT II. OMI DAI-JO ( II GENERATION ) PASSED AWAY IN GEN. ROKU 6 (1688) AT THE AGE OF 80 ( TWO YEARS AFTER HIS SON ).

TADAYOSHI III, MUTSU-NO-KAMI IS WELL KNOWN FOR HIS EXCEPTIONAL WORK. HIS WORK IS VERY SCARCE AND HE IS RATED ABOVE HIS FATHER. HE RECEIVED THE TITLE “MUTSU DAIJO” IN MANJI 3^RD (1660), IN KANBUN 1^ST (1661) AUGUST HE RECEIVED THE TITLE “MUTSU-NO-KAMI”. HE PASSED BEFORE HIS BROTHER IN JANUARY OF TEIKYO 3 (1686) AT THE AGE OF 57. MUTSU-NO-KAMI’S WORKING DATES WERE MANJI 3 TO TEI-KYO 3, APPROX. 25 YEARS. MUCH OF THAT TIME WAS SPENT MAKING BLADES WITH HIS FATHER, UNDER HIS FATHERS NAME. HIS WORK IS EXCEPTIONALLY SCARCE AND HIGHLY DESIRABLE (THE QUALITY IS SUPERB), MORE SO THAN EVEN HIS GRANDFATHERS (1^ST TADAYOSHI).

3^RD GENERATION TADAYOSHI’S CHARACTERISTICS ARE: SUPERB HADA (JITETSU) THAT APPEARS SOFT YET STRONG. HIS “SUGUBA” (STRAIGHT TEMPER) IS ELEGANT AND POWERFUL WITH A WIDE HAMON (JIBA) HIS WORKS ARE CONSIDERED TO BE EXCELLENT ARTISTICALLY. DURING MY 40 PLUS YEAR CAREER I HAVE ONLY HAD A TOTAL OF FIVE SWORDS BY 3^RD GENERATION, WHICH WERE 3 KATANA’S AND 2 WAKIZASHI.

WHEN THIS BLADE WAS IN JAPAN FOR SHINZA, IT WAS SAID THAT IT WAS A MASTERPIECE. THE CONDITION IS SO FINE THAT IT COULD BE MISTAKEN FOR A GENDAITO (MODERN BLADE). IT ELUDES LOGIC THAT IT COULD BE 330 PLUS YEARS OLD. IT HAS BEEN HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THAT IT BE PLACED FOR A JUYO RATING!

SOME OF THE COMMENTS (A PRINTED COPY OF THEIR COMMENTS WILL BE PLACED WITH THE BLADE) BY ONE OF THE FOREMOST EXPERTS IN JAPAN WERE TRANSLATED FROM JAPANESE SO THEY ARE NOT EXACT: THIS KATANA IS EXCELLENT WITH THICK AND CLEAN JIBA (HAMON) AND JITETSU (HADA) THAT IS KO-ITAME (NORMAL WOOD GRAIN) IN THE "KOTO STYLE THAT LOOKS LIKE SUGAR". THERE IS JI-NIE (MARTENSITE CRYSTALS) ALL OVER. THE "CHIKEI" (GRAY LINES FLOATING BELOW THE SURFACE) ARE DELICATELY AND CLEARLY DONE BECAUSE OF THE SPLENDID JITETSU (HADA). THE SUGUBA (STRAIGHT) / NOTARE (WAVE LIKE) HAMON HAS KO-NIE AND DEEP NIOI GUCHI. THE NIOI GUCHI (PATTERN) IS NOT BLURRED AND IS VERY TIGHT, IT IS CLEAR AND POWERFUL. THIS BLADE BEARS TESTIMONY TO HIS OUTSTANDING ABILITY AND TECHNIQUES.