Akamatsu Tarō Kanemitsu
赤松太郎兼光 (Akamatsu Tarō Kanemitsu)
A smith from Yatsushiro, in Kumamoto prefecture; Takamatsu-no-miya Prize at the Gendai Tōshoku-ten in 2025.
Profile
Akamatsu Tarō Kanemitsu (赤松太郎兼光) works in Yatsushiro, in Kumamoto prefecture, and signs Higo no Kuni Kanemitsu (肥後國兼光). A tachi of his from 2017 was shown at the Heisei no Meitō Meikō-ten exhibition at the Japanese Sword Museum (2019), and he was selected (nyūsen) at the Reiwa no Meitō Meikō-ten at the Japanese Sword Museum.
At the NBTHK Exhibition of Contemporary Sword Craftsmen (Gendai Tōshoku-ten) he received in 2023 a prize of excellence in the tachi and katana section and the Kanzan Prize in the tantō section; in 2025 the Takamatsu-no-miya Prize, the highest of the competition, for a 69.8 cm katana, and the Kunzan Prize in the tantō section; and in 2026 the first prize of excellence for tantō and an effort prize for tachi and katana.
Monograph
Akamatsu Tarō Kanemitsu (赤松太郎兼光)
A Higo smith who works in the Bizen-den with his family’s steel, told with the level of evidence of each fact.
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