Kantei
The points of the two faces of a straight double-edged blade, with a central ridge, on a black background.

Swordsmith of Tsukioka (Niigata) · 1927-2013

Amata Akitsugu (天田昭次)

A swordsmith of Shibata (Niigata) who made his own iron, won three Masamune Prizes and was a Living National Treasure from 1997: his life, his work, his prizes and his sources

Amata Akitsugu (天田昭次, Amata Akitsugu) was born in 1927 in what is now Shibata (Niigata) and forged in Tsukioka. He decided to make his own iron, won the Masamune Prize three times, each in a different tradition, and in 1997 was named a Living National Treasure. He died in 2013.

Photo: dealer in Japan

1927
Born in Niigata
2013
Dies
3
Masamune Prizes: 1977, 1985 and 1996
1997
Living National Treasure
On this page
  1. Quick profile
  2. In short

Quick profile

Name
Amata Akitsugu HD
Kanji and reading
天田昭次 (Amata Akitsugu) HD
Birth and death
4 August 1927, in Honda, now Shibata (Niigata) · 26 June 2013; the English Wikipedia gives 5 July AT
Where he forged
From 1968, in Tsukioka (月岡, Tsukioka), in Shibata, with his own forge and smelting furnace AT
Master
栗原昭秀 (Kurihara Akihide), at his forging school in Tokyo, from 1940 AT
School or tradition
The Kurihara school; he forged in the Yamashiro, Sōshū and Bizen traditions, with iron he made himself AT
Licence
1954, from the Committee for the Protection of Cultural Properties (文化財保護委員会, Bunkazai Hogo Iinkai) AT
Rank
NBTHK mukansa in 1972 according to the Nihon Bijutsu Nenkan, in 1973 according to Markus Sesko; Living National Treasure (重要無形文化財「日本刀」保持者, jūyō mukei bunkazai Nihontō hojisha) since 23 May 1997 AT

In short

What we know. The 2019 NBTHK catalogue exhibits, among the holders of the intangible cultural property “Japanese sword”, a katana of his from 1996 and a wakizashi from 2011, both owned by the Agency for Cultural Affairs.

How we know it. His life and his prizes are told above all by his obituary in the yearbook 日本美術年鑑 (Nihon Bijutsu Nenkan), of the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties; Wikipedia, Kotobank and Shibata city hall complete them.

What we do not know. His prizes from 1959 to 1967, his pupils apart from his brother, and the year of the tachi for the yokozuna Kitanoumi.

Sections

  1. Kurihara · Tsukioka · his own iron Life and forging His apprenticeship in Tokyo, the decision to make his own iron, his illness and the forge at Tsukioka.
  2. Yamashiro · Sōshū · Bizen Work and style Steel as the centre of his work, his three traditions and his blades in the NBTHK catalogues.
  3. Masamune · mukansa · Living National Treasure Prizes His prizes year by year, from the first exhibition of forging technique in 1955 to the designation of 1997.
  4. The Tsukioka museum Videos Four videos by visitors to the museum that bears his name, in Shibata.
  5. Bibliography and credits Sources The sources consulted on 4 October 2026, with their link where possible, and the credit for each image.