Echizen Harima Daijo Shigetaka

1st Generation -- 1600-1624

An extremely fine swordsmith, student of Kanenori, he made both Katana and Wakisashi.  He, like many other smiths, migrated from Mino province.  His swords are made in the Shinto style, shallow sori, rustic sugata, mostly mokume hada with masame in shinogi-ji.

The hamon is wide, consisting of uneven nie with nioi decki, ara nie. There are o-midare, notare midare o-gonome midare, sugu-ha varied. He is rated chu jo-saku with a 60 point rating by Hawley.  This sword is a good example of his earliest works. A wakisashi of his was recovered from a sunken submarine in Sidney Harbour, Australia.