Shinano
信濃の刀工 (Shinano no tōkō)
The smiths of Shinano: the Yamaura brothers in the Bakumatsu and, in the twentieth century, the Miyairi family of Sakaki.
Style and characteristics
No old style of its own. In the Bakumatsu the Yamaura forged in the Sagami manner, with strong nie and kinsuji. In the twentieth century the Miyairi family worked mainly in the Sagami style and also in that of Bizen, with a clean itame jigane.
History
The brothers Yamaura Saneo and Minamoto Kiyomaro, of Komoro, are the great names of the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century Miyairi Akihira, later known as Miyairi Yukihira, was named a Living National Treasure and trained many of today’s smiths at Sakaki, among them his son, Miyairi Kozaemon Yukihira.
Smiths of the school
- Kazusa Masanao 正直
- Miyairi Akihira 宮入昭平
- Miyairi Kiyohira 宮入清平
- Miyairi Kozaemon Yukihira 宮入小左衛門行平
- Miyairi Norihiro 宮入法廣