Hōjōji Masahiro

Profile

Hōjōji Masahiro (法城寺正弘) was a smith of Musashi province in the Edo period. According to tradition, he descended from the Hōjōji school (法城寺派, Hōjōji-ha) of Tajima, and he is also said to have been connected with the Edo Ishidō (江戸石堂). With the title of Ōmi no Kami (近江守), he signed 法城寺橘正弘 (Hōjōji Tachibana Masahiro). His dates of birth and death are not known. His work is shintō of a quality comparable to that of Kotetsu (虎徹), with a hamon very like his, and it is said that already in the Edo period some of his blades had their signatures removed and false Kotetsu signatures put on them.