Kantei
A man in blue raises a sledgehammer beside the hearth, with a red-hot billet on the anvil.

Photo: dealer in Japan

From Gassan Sadakatsu to his father

Life and forging

Sadahito learned in his father’s forge, and his father had in turn trained with Gassan Sadakatsu (月山貞勝).

On this page
  1. The father: Enomoto Sadayoshi
  2. His training
  3. At the forge

The father: Enomoto Sadayoshi

Enomoto Sadayoshi (榎本貞吉) lived from 1908 to 2000, and the NBTHK named him mukansa in 1996, according to Markus Sesko’s list of mukansa. In 1928 he had joined Gassan Sadakatsu (月山貞勝), from whom he inherited the ayasugi-hada (綾杉肌), the wave-patterned steel of the Gassan school. He was born in Tokushima and in 1943 moved to Mishima, in Izu. He was licensed from 1966, became mukansa-taigū (無鑑査待遇) in 1981 and trained his two sons, Tatsuyoshi and Sadahito.

His training

Sadahito was born in 1954 (昭和29年, Shōwa nijūkyū-nen). He began learning from his father while still at primary school and obtained his swordsmith’s licence in 1977. One source presents him as Sadayoshi’s second son.