From Sesko’s Index of Japanese Swordsmiths , 2015

TERUKADO (照門), Manji (万治, 1658-1661), Mino – “Kanekado” (兼門), “Zenjō Fujiwara Kanekado” (善定藤原兼門), “Tanba no Daijō Fujiwara Terukado” (丹波大掾藤原照門), “Tanba no Kami Fujiwara Terukado” (丹波守藤原照門), “Tanba no Kami Terukado” (丹波守照門), “Nōshū Seki no jū Tanba no Kami Fujiwara Terukado saku” (濃州関之住濃州丹波守藤原照門作), “Nōshū Tanba no Kami Fujiwara Terukado” (濃州丹波守藤原照門), real name Mitsui Sō ́emon (三井惣右衛門), he is also listed with the first name Sōkurō (宗九郎), Zenjō school, he signed first with Kanekado (兼門), after receiving the honorary title Tanba no Kami (丹波守) in the second year of Manji (1659) he changed his name to Terukado (照門), when the Ujifusa lineage (氏房) moved to Nagoya (名古屋) in Owari province, the local honorary title Seki-kaji-tōryō (関鍛冶頭領, lit. “master of all Seki smiths”) was transferred to the lineage of Kanekado, his successors did not continue the name Terukado but returned to Kanekado, dense ko-itame with fine ji-nie mixed with masame and masame along the shinogi-ji, suguha-hotsure or ō-gunome-midare mixed with angular hako- midare in nie-deki with a wide nioiguchi, interpretations in midare begin with a sugu-yakidashi, during his early years – i.e. around Manji – he applied thick and prominent sujikai-yasurime, they become finer over the years and appear as katte-sagari in his later years, first he applied a distinctive iriyamagata-jiri which becomes later a ha-agari kurijiri, he also worked in Ise ́s Kuwana (桑名) and in Edo and also worked with nanban-tetsu. His work is rated chūjō-saku.

Shodai Kaneyoshi, a Yamato Tegai smith with the Buddhist name Zenjo founded the Zenjo kei in Oei period (1394-1428). Terukado a descendent of the Kaneyoshi kei worked mid-Edo.

Price: $3250 plus S/H

Reduced: $1625 plus S/H