This is a rare example of nidai Tadahiro’s work in gonome-choji. When the owner showed me the blade with the tsuka on I said this looks like Hizen Masahiro and guessed that it was a shodai Masahiro. The jihada is a typical konuka-hada but the hamon has areas which remind me of the abunome-gonome of Masahiro. After seeing the nakago my guess was that this might be a shodai Masahiro dai-mei, but that is a guess only. Regardless, this is a really beautiful Hizen blade with the jihada the school is famous for combined with an active an interesting hamon having deep activity. The blade has received Tokubetsu Hozon and was and fully restored in Japan. The nakago is ubu and has his typical mei of Omi Daijo Fujiwara Tadahiro. In shirasaya with two piece silver foil habaki. A healthy and beautiful sword.