Kantei
Profile of a man with a blue cloth on his head and white clothes, beside the hood of the forge.

Swordsmith of Takeda (Ōita) · school of Fujiwara Kanefusa

Kōroki Fusaoki (興梠房興)

A swordsmith from Takeda, one of the two working today in Ōita Prefecture, a pupil of Fujiwara Kanefusa and co-author of the replica of the Hotarumaru: his life, his work, his prizes and his videos, with the level of evidence of each fact

Kōroki Fusaoki (興梠房興) was born in Takeda, in Ōita Prefecture, and forges there, at about 600 metres above sea level. He learned in Seki with the 25th Fujiwara Kanefusa (藤原兼房), forged with Fukudome Fusayuki (福留房幸) the replica of the Hotarumaru (蛍丸, Hotarumaru) for the Aso shrine, and works with Taira Kiyoaki (平清明) on reviving the sword of Bungo.

Oita Katete (オオイタカテテ, Ōita katete), web magazine of Ōita Prefecture

1981
Born in Takeda (Ōita)
2016
His own forge, complete, in Takeda
2017
Offers with Fukudome Fusayuki the replica of the Hotarumaru (蛍丸, Hotarumaru)
2022
Selected (入選, nyūsen) in an NBTHK exhibition
On this page
  1. Quick profile
  2. In short

Quick profile

Name
Kōroki Fusaoki HD
Kanji and reading
興梠房興 · こおろき ふさおき (Kōroki Fusaoki), according to Ōita Prefecture HD
Birth
1981, in Takeda (Ōita) HD
Where he forges
Ogi-machi, in Takeda (Ōita) HD
Master
The 25th Fujiwara Kanefusa (藤原兼房, Fujiwara Kanefusa), in Seki AT
School or tradition
That of the Fujiwara Kanefusa workshop, in Seki (Mino) AT
Licence
2013, from the Agency for Cultural Affairs (文化庁, Bunkachō); independence between 2014 and 2016 depending on the source AT
Rank
Selected (入選, nyūsen) in the NBTHK 令和の名刀・名工展 (Reiwa no Meitō Meikōten) of 2022; he is not a mukansa II

In short

What we know. In 2024 Ōita Prefecture presented him as one of the only two working swordsmiths in the prefecture, with Taira Kiyoaki. In 2022 he was selected in the NBTHK exhibition 令和の名刀・名工展 (Reiwa no Meitō Meikōten). He learned in Seki with the 25th Fujiwara Kanefusa, and with his workshop mate Fukudome Fusayuki he was a co-founder of the project that reconstructed the Hotarumaru.

What we do not know. What his blades are like: no source describes his steel, his hardening or his shape, and there are no photos of his competition swords. Nor is there a single year for his independence: the sources give 2014, 2015 and 2016.

Sections

  1. From Ōsaka to Seki and to Takeda Life and forging Eight workshops that turned him down, the apprenticeship in Seki, his Takeda forge, the Hotarumaru and the sword of Bungo.
  2. The folding and its secret Work and style How he forges, the replica of the Hotarumaru, his knives and what remains to be known about his blades.
  3. The NBTHK Prizes His selection in the NBTHK exhibition of 2022.
  4. The Takeda forge, on television and in the press Videos Six videos: the reports by TOS and the Ōita Gōdō newspaper, the visit to the governor and the 2021 forging.
  5. Bibliography and credits Sources The sources consulted on 4 October 2026 and the credit of each image.