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Training
He was born in Kodaira, in Tokyo. As a young man he practised kendō and saw an exhibition of katana at the Fussa museum. After Tama industrial high school (多摩工業高等学校, Tama Kōgyō Kōtō Gakkō) he became a pupil of 上田祐定 (Ueda Sukesada) in Osafune (Okayama), and with him he studied his own steel and forging technique for thirteen years.
In 2010 (Heisei 22) he completed the training course for swordsmiths of art swords (美術刀剣刀匠技術保存研修会, bijutsu tōken tōshō gijutsu hozon kenshūkai) and set up on his own in Ōme.
The Ōme forge
He found the site of the forge while riding his motorbike: there was once a mountain castle on the land, and another smith worked there before. The couple built the workshop in about a year.
The date of the forge does not match between the sources: he says he set up on his own after the 2010 course, and a 2023 Tsunagu Japan article gives 2019 as the year the Ōme workshop was founded.
Hirata Nodoka, murage
Hirata Nodoka (平田のどか) is from Okayama, and her great-grandfather also worked iron. She learned the tatara from her husband over some five years and presents herself as the only woman murage (村下) in the country. Japanese television has devoted several reports to her (“Videos” page).
According to the couple, a full tatara smelt lasts some twelve hours and yields 8 to 15 kg of tamahagane.