Year by year
| Year | Event | Level |
|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Born in Okayama prefecture. | AT |
| 1998 | Becomes an apprentice of Andō Hirokiyo. | AT |
| 2003 | Licence from the Agency for Cultural Affairs to forge swords. | AT |
| From 2004 | Works in public view at the Bizen Osafune Japanese Sword Museum. | AT |
| 2017 | First prize of excellence for tantō at the NBTHK Shinsaku Meitōten. | HD |
| November 2022 | Finishes the utsushi of the Sanchōmō for the city of Setouchi. | AT |
| 2024–2025 | Exhibits in Paris, at the Maison de la culture du Japon, in “Céramiques et sabres de Bizen”. | HD |
His master
Andō Hirokiyo is the smith whom Okayama prefecture designated in 1997 as holder of its intangible cultural property of sword forging. That he is also his father is not confirmed by any official source.
The museum forge
Since 2018 at least, the NBTHK has given the Bizen Osafune Japanese Sword Museum as his address. There he shows visitors how a sword is forged. He says the yaki-ire is the most tense moment, because it decides whether the sword turns out well or not, but that he enjoys every step of the forging, and that he has not yet made a sword that leaves him satisfied.
“I forge in Osafune, which in the history of the sword is almost holy ground, and as a trainee murage (村下養成員, murage yōseiin) I take part in the NBTHK tatara in Okuizumo (奥出雲, Okuizumo), the holy ground of iron: I am the luckiest swordsmith in Japan.”
The utsushi of the Sanchōmō
The Sanchōmō is the Fukuoka Ichimonji tachi, a National Treasure, held by the city of Setouchi. According to the press, Andō finished its official utsushi in November 2022, as the city’s gift to its donors, after more than a dozen attempts, of which only two reached the end. He put it like this: 「刃文は偶然の産物。コントロールして出すのは難しい」 (Hamon wa gūzen no sanbutsu. Kontorōru shite dasu no wa muzukashii: “the hamon is the product of chance; it is hard to bring it out at will”).
The story of the Sanchōmō and its utsushi is in the monograph on Kawashima Kazuki, another Osafune swordsmith.
