Kantei
Black-and-white photo of a man seated on the floor of a workshop, with drawings of blades on the wall.

Photo: the smith himself

From Hyūga to Hōfu

Life and forging

Son of a collector, apprentice of Matsuba Kagemasa in Hyūga and swordsmith in Hōfu, in the forge another smith left behind.

On this page
  1. Year by year
  2. The son of a collector
  3. The examination and the craft
  4. The forge, in pictures

Year by year

The sword

History

  1. The sword

    Born in Sweden AT

    Born in 1971; the 2021 report presents him as born in Sweden.

  2. The sword

    Apprentice in Hyūga AT

    He becomes an apprentice of 松葉國正 (Matsuba Kunimasa), today Kagemasa, a friend of his father’s, in Hyūga (Miyazaki), under the traditional system.

  3. The sword

    To Hōfu AT

    He moves to the Manao forge, in Hōfu (Yamaguchi), which another smith, a friend of his master, had built and which had stood empty since his death. Since then he has also made kitchen knives (和包丁, wa-bōchō).

  4. The sword

    Licensed swordsmith AT

    He passes the swordsmith’s examination and works on his own in Hōfu.

  5. The sword

    First solo exhibition AT

    Solo exhibition at the Aspirato art gallery (アスピラート, Asupirāto) in Hōfu.

  6. The sword

    First selection AT

    First selection (初入選, hatsu nyūsen) in the NBTHK competition, with a katana.

  7. The sword

    On television HD

    A report by the yab television station (山口朝日放送, Yamaguchi Asahi Hōsō) shows him in his Hōfu forge.

  8. The sword

    First sessions in Hōfu AT

    First sword appreciation session at the Eiunsō (英雲荘, Eiunsō), a historic building in Hōfu.

  9. The sword

    Second among those selected HD

    入選二席 (nyūsen niseki) at the NBTHK 現代刀職展 (Gendai Tōshokuten), in the tachi and katana section. That year and the next, appreciation sessions at the Mōri Museum (毛利博物館, Mōri Hakubutsukan) in Hōfu.

The son of a collector

His father practised martial arts, collected swords and, during his childhood, organised appraisal meetings (鑑定, kantei) every year; he published a book on the subject. Through him he met his master, then Matsuba Kunimasa.

The examination and the craft

He describes the swordsmith’s examination as an eight-day test by the Agency for Cultural Affairs (文化庁, Bunkachō), with a wakizashi made by traditional methods, which can only be taken after five years of full-time apprenticeship with a licensed master. He lives in his workshop and works seven days a week.

He sums up his idea of the craft in two English mottoes, “Formless Forging” and “Master the Darkness”: the sword as a symbol of self-mastery and as a talisman, and the wish to make a sword “with the power to inspire”.

Play: どき生百景 (probable reading: Dokiiki hyakkei) vol. 61, スウェーデン生まれの刀匠 (Suwēden umare no tōshō; the Swedish-born swordsmith), 防府市 (Hōfu-shi)

どき生百景 (probable reading: Dokiiki hyakkei) vol. 61, スウェーデン生まれの刀匠 (Suwēden umare no tōshō; the Swedish-born swordsmith), 防府市 (Hōfu-shi) · yabチャンネル (yab channeru)

2:50 · 4 September 2021

In his Hōfu forge: at 1:00, “分からなかったら師匠からよく叱られた” (wakaranakattara shishō kara yoku shikarareta, “if I didn’t understand, my master scolded me a lot”); at 1:40, the year before he made seven blades, tantō and wakizashi included. The master does not appear.