Echizen no Kami Nobuyoshi

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Echizen no Kami Nobuyoshi belonged to the Takai (高井) family of Kyoto swordsmiths; the reference works describe him as either the son or the younger brother of the first Nobuyoshi of the house. He worked in Kyoto from the Kanbun to the Genroku era, in the second half of the 17th century, and settled in Osaka in his final years. He signed Echizen no Kami Minamoto Rai Nobuyoshi (越前守源来信吉), sometimes preceded by the family name Takai, and added a chrysanthemum crest, the kikumon (菊紋), to the signature. On becoming a nyūdō (入道) he took the name Tomonobu (倫信), which appears in his late signatures. His hada combines mokume, masame and nashiji; his main hamon is a chū-suguba in deep nioi, often compared with that of Inoue Shinkai, alongside a tōran-midare.