Wakasa-no-kami Ujifusa

Wakasa-no-kami Ujifusa was a swordsmith born in 1534 in Mino Province (present-day Gifu Prefecture), the third son of the master swordsmith Kanefusa. According to the touken-world.jp directory of noted swordsmiths, his personal name was Kawamura Saburo, later changed to Seizaemon. He learned forging from his father Kanefusa from childhood and initially inherited his father's name, Kanefusa.

Ujifusa was later invited by Imagawa Ujizane, the governor of Suruga Province (present-day Shizuoka Prefecture), to forge in Sunpu, and received the character "Uji" from Ujizane, changing his name to Ujifusa. In 1570 he was appointed Saemon-no-jō and Wakasa-no-kami, after which he signed his blades "Wakasa-no-kami Fujiwara Ujifusa." He subsequently became a swordsmith retained by Oda Nobunaga.

Ujifusa's early work faithfully followed Mino tradition methods, often producing the "Kanefusa-midare" hamon style of his father Kanefusa, but in his later years he is said to have shifted toward a Sōshū-tradition style, favoring a nie-based ō-gunome-midare or ō-midare.

Ujifusa's most celebrated work is the blade signed "Wakasa-no-kami Ujifusa saku, Genki 2, 8th month" (1571), said to have been carried by Oda Nobunaga during the burning of Enryaku-ji temple; it is designated a Tokubetsu Hozon (Especially Well Preserved) sword.

After Nobunaga's death in the 1582 Honnō-ji Incident, Ujifusa returned to Gifu and later moved to Kiyosu. His eldest son, Hida-no-kami Ujifusa, learned forging from his father and turned from warrior to swordsmith, later being counted among the "Owari Sansaku," the three great masters of Owari. Ujifusa himself remained a central figure among Owari smiths as a swordsmith retained by the Oda clan, and died in 1590 at the age of 57.