The three of Owari
According to the NBTHK, in 1591 (Tenshō 19) Toyotomi Hidetsugu, lord of Kiyosu, chose three swordsmiths from his lands: Masatsune, Ujifusa and Nobutaka. In another issue of its journal, the NBTHK names Hida no Kami Ujifusa, Hōki no Kami Nobutaka and Sagami no Kami Masatsune as the representative swordsmiths of Owari in the Keichō era.
All three came from the Seki school, in Mino, the neighbouring province; the NBTHK often sees in Owari a somewhat whitish steel on that base.
The generations
The records of the Nagoya City Museum (名古屋市博物館, Nagoya-shi Hakubutsukan) contain signatures with a date and, sometimes, with the swordsmith’s age. The museum divides them among three generations.
| Swordsmith | Signature | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| The first | 伯耆守藤原信高六十歳 (Hōki no Kami Fujiwara Nobutaka rokujussai), in Nagoya; 伯耆守藤原朝臣信高 (Hōki no Kami Fujiwara no Ason Nobutaka) | 1621 and 1630 |
| The second, retired as 閑遊 (Kan'yū) | 前伯州信高入道 (saki no Hakushū Nobutaka nyūdō), aged 72, 76 and 79 | 1674, 1678 and 1681 |
| The third | 河村三之丞信高作之 (Kawamura Sannojō Nobutaka kore wo saku) | 1665 and 1667 |
With those ages, the first was born around 1562 and the second around 1603. The museum gives a blade of 1663 signed 閑遊入道作 (Kan'yū nyūdō saku) to the third or the second.
From Seki to Nagoya
The wakizashi of 1621 says where the house came from: 濃州関三阿弥兼国末葉 (Nōshū Seki Sanami Kanekuni matsuyō), “descendant of Sanami Kanekuni, of Seki, in Mino”, and 於尾州名護屋作 (Bishū Nagoya ni oite saku), “made in Nagoya, in Owari”.
A tantō of 1630 bears two signatures: Nobutaka’s and that of 美濃守藤原政常 (Mino no Kami Fujiwara Masatsune), of another of the Owari houses.
The swordsmiths of the domain
The Japanese Wikipedia relates, in the article on Yagyū Toshikane (柳生厳包, Yagyū Toshikane), that among the weapons of his that survive there is one by the third Hōki no Kami Nobutaka, swordsmith of the Owari domain.
When each generation received the title, how many there were and how long the house lasted is not recorded in the sources consulted.