Musashi Daijō Tadahiro

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The first Tadayoshi was born in 1572 into a warrior family serving the Ryūzōji; his grandfather and father died in 1584 at the battle of Okita-nawate and the family turned to sword-making. He worked as Tadayoshi, and in 1596 he entered the workshop of Umetada Myōju in Kyoto, staying about three years; according to Japanese Wikipedia, at the behest of the Nabeshima lords of Saga, and in 1629 he himself inscribed on a tang that he was Myōju’s disciple. In 1624 he received the title Musashi Daijō, changed his name to Tadahiro and his signature surname to Fujiwara; he died in 1632. His signatures change by period, and some blades for the Nabeshima omit the title. He excelled in suguha. The Kaihō Kenjaku of 1797 ranks the first Tadayoshi saijō ō-wazamono, and his successors were the Nabeshima's smiths until the end of the Edo period.