Horii Toshihide

Horii Toshihide was a leading swordsmith of the Taisho and early Showa periods, born in 1886, with the real name Kanekichi and the early signature Kaneaki. According to Wikipedia and sword-dealer records, he became a pupil of the swordsmith Horii Taneaki in 1904 and began forging at the Zuisen-ji temple forge in Kamakura in 1906.

In 1911 Toshihide became both the adopted son and son-in-law of Horii Taneaki, later succeeding as the third generation of the Horii school. In 1913 the Sword Preservation Society granted him one character, "hide," from the name of the great Shinshinto master Suishinshi Masahide, and he took the name Hideaki. Then in 1933, on the birth and naming of the Crown Prince (the future Emperor Akihito), he renamed himself Toshihide.

Toshihide won the Prime Minister's Prize and the Army Prize at Japanese sword exhibitions, earning high acclaim. In 1942 he was commissioned to forge ten "Marshal's swords" (gensuito), considered the highest honor a swordsmith could receive. He died in 1943, but his lineage continued as the Horii school, and together with his adoptive father Horii Taneaki he left a major mark on modern sword history.