Kantei
A whole curved blade, without mounting, on a light grey background, with a figure in relief and a row of carved characters near the base.

Edo · shinshintō · Bizen-den and Sōshū-den

Taikei Naotane (大慶直胤)

One of the three great smiths of Edo of shinshintō and the workshop his son-in-law inherited: his life, his way of forging Bizen and Sōshū, his designated works and his sources

According to the NBTHK, Naotane was the most outstanding pupil of Suishinshi Masahide. He is one of the Edo sansaku (江戸三作), the three great swordsmiths of Edo of shinshintō, with Masahide and Minamoto Kiyomaro. For more than fifty years he forged faithful copies of the old masters of Bizen and Sagami, and his workshop was inherited by his son-in-law, Jirōtarō Naokatsu.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

1778 or 1779 – 1857
Birth and death
Dewa, and Edo
Province
Mino no Suke, in 1848
Title
one of the Edo sansaku
Rank
On this page
  1. Quick profile
  2. In short

Quick profile

Name
Taikei Naotane; he also signed Fujiwara Naotane (藤原直胤) AT
Kanji and reading
大慶直胤 (Taikei Naotane): Taikei is his swordsmith’s name (号, gō) and Naotane his forging name AT
Period
Shinshintō: late Edo; his earliest signed blade is dated 1801. He died in 1857. HD
Province
Born in Yamagata, in Dewa (出羽, Dewa); worked in Edo and on his journeys AT
School
School of Suishinshi (水心子, Suishinshi), in Edo HD
Master
Suishinshi Masahide (水心子正秀), who was also from Dewa AT
Title
Chikuzen Daijō (筑前大掾) around 1821-1822; Mino no Suke (美濃介) in 1848 AT
Generations
No other swordsmith signing Naotane is recorded: the workshop was inherited by his son-in-law Jirōtarō Naokatsu (次郎太郎直勝) and by a second Naokatsu AT
Rank
One of the Edo sansaku (江戸三作) with Masahide and Kiyomaro; in Tomita Kiyama’s ranking (1933; published in 1935), among the “sewanin” (世話人), a group of honour AT
Documented fact and tradition
His blades, the titles in his signature and his place in the school are documented by the NBTHK and by museums. His date of birth and the dates of his early years vary from source to source. That his father was a smith who signed Yasumitsu is a tradition that the Japanese Wikipedia itself considers uncertain. AT

In short

What we know. That, according to the NBTHK, he was a pupil of Suishinshi Masahide and his works surpass Masahide’s: he forged Bizen copies in the style of Kagemitsu and Kanemitsu and Sōshū blades, and signed with his titles of Chikuzen Daijō and Mino no Suke. He has blades designated Important Art Object (重要美術品, Jūyō Bijutsuhin) and cultural properties of Okayama and Mie prefectures, and the Tokyo National Museum and the Metropolitan in New York hold works of his.

How we know it. From the NBTHK’s commentaries in its Sword Journal and in the labels of the 2025 Edo sansaku exhibition, and from the records of the museums and the prefectures. His life is told in detail by the researcher Markus Sesko and by the Japanese Wikipedia.

What we do not know. Whether he was born in 1778 or in 1779, whether he became independent in 1801 or around 1804, and whether he entered the service of the Akimoto in 1811 or in 1812: the sources disagree. It is not recorded in the sources consulted that he appears in the Yamada cutting lists.

Sections

  1. Dewa · Edo · the Akimoto · the journeys Life and times From Yamagata to Edo, his titles, his journeys, the Matsushiro test and the workshop the Naokatsu inherited.
  2. Bizen utsushi · Sōshū · uzumaki-hada Work and style The kantei keys of his blades, his signature and how he is told apart from his master and his school.
  3. Jūyō Bijutsuhin · prefectural properties · museums Famous works His designated blades, those in the museums of Tokyo and New York, and his place in the lists.
  4. His blades on display Videos Two videos of 2025 exhibitions with blades by Naotane.
  5. Bibliography and credits Sources The sources consulted on 4 October 2026, with their link where possible, and the credit for each image.