Fujieda Tarō Teruyoshi
藤枝太郎英義 (Fujieda Tarō Teruyoshi)
Lineage: the signature does not state the generation
Swordsmith from Kōzuke in the service of the Kawagoe domain, active in Edo and later in his home district, from the mid-19th century into early Meiji.
Profile
Fujieda Tarō Teruyoshi (1823–1876), whose name is also read Hideyoshi (英義), was born in Kawai in Kōzuke, now Tamamura in Gunma. He learned from his father, Gyokurinshi Terukatsu (玉鱗子英一), and refined his craft under Hosokawa Masayoshi (細川正義); his name takes one character from each. He took over the workshop in 1851, and in 1853, in the service of the Kawagoe domain, he turned from gun barrels to swords. He worked mainly in Edo, where Nankai Tarō Tomotaka (南海太郎朝尊) praised him as one of the finest smiths in the city. In the last years of the shogunate he moved to Maebashi, and after the domains were abolished he went back to his home district, where he forged his last blades. Some six hundred works are credited to him, spears and naginata among them. He worked in both the Bizen and Sōshū manners, and on some tangs he engraved a tomoe (巴) beside the signature. He died in 1876. The Tamamura town history museum holds a wakizashi of his dated 1873.
Swords available
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Fujieda Tarō Teruyoshi
Shinshintō katana signed by Fujieda Tarō Teruyoshi and dated to the 2nd month of Keiō 2 (1866), with the mitsudomoe crest engraved on the tang, NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon paper and a koshirae holding Tokubetsu Hozon Tōsōgu. Fujieda Tarō Teruyoshi (1823–1876), born in Kōzuke province and son of the smith Gyokurinshi Terukazu, trained under Hosokawa Masayoshi and belonged to the lineage of Tegarayama Masashige. Appointed smith to the Kawagoe domain in 1853, he was granted the surname Fujieda and, in 1861, permission to engrave his lord's mitsudomoe crest on his tangs. This katana, with a nagasa of 69.7 cm and a sori of 1.21 cm, bears that crest above the mekugi-ana, the signature Fujieda Tarō Teruyoshi tsukuru on the omote and the date Keiō 2, 2nd month (1866) on the ura. The photographs show an untouched tang with a single hole, an undulating hamon and a well-preserved bōshi; the original seller notes a couple of small kitae-kizu. The uchigatana koshirae, with a black lacquered saya in wrinkled-leather texture, unsigned auspicious-cloud fittings, a chōji-karakusa tsuba and dragon menuki, holds an NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Tōsōgu certificate from 2014. The blade carries an NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Tōken paper from 2007 and also comes with a shirasaya.
73.1/100
€28,590
