Kantei
A man with glasses and blue clothes holds a sword blade upright in front of a calligraphy.

Photo: the smith himself

Profile and biography

The swordsmith

Matsuba Kagemasa (松葉景正), of Hyūga, in Miyazaki: three smith names, more than thirty-five years at the craft, a fire in 2023 and a new forge in the mountains.

On this page
  1. Quick profile
  2. Three names
  3. Portraits, from Kunimasa to Kagemasa
  4. Biography
  5. The Hyūga forge, before the fire
  6. The 2023 fire and the Hinokage forge
  7. The fire of October 2023
  8. The temporary workshop and the site of the new forge (2024)
  9. The new forge, 日州大日止鍛刀場 (Nisshū Ōhito tantōjō)
  10. What could not be checked

Quick profile

Smith names
景清 (Kagekiyo), until 1995 · 國正 (Kunimasa), from 1995 to 2021 · then 景正 (Kagemasa), according to him. The NBTHK shows him as 國正 (Kunimasa) in 2017 and 2019 and as 景正 (Kagemasa) in 2022 and 2023; he signs what he publishes as “刀鍛冶日州景正” (Katanakaji Nisshū Kagemasa, “the swordsmith Kagemasa of Hyūga”). AT
Birth
February 1959, in Hyūga (Miyazaki) HD
Age
67: in January 2024 he wrote “２月で６５歳です” (“I turn 65 in February”) HD
Before the forge
kendō from the age of 11; then iai and karate; two years in the United States, where he taught martial arts AT
How he came to the forge
he commissioned a sword for iai and ended up as an apprentice: “居合の作刀依頼で刀匠に弟子入り” (“he became the swordsmith’s apprentice when he commissioned an iai sword from him”) AT
Masters
小林康宏 (Kobayashi Yasuhiro), from 1983; then 安藤広清 (Andō Hirokiyo), in Tsuyama (Okayama) AT
Licence
1 February 1989; before that, in 1988, the first practical course of the Agency for Cultural Affairs AT
Forge
in Hyūga until the fire of October 2023; today, 景正鍛刀場 (Kagemasa tantōjō), in Hinokage (日之影) HD
Association
Zen Nihon Tōshōkai (全日本刀匠会), Kyūshū section HD
Mukansa
in the NBTHK catalogues for FY 2017, 2019, 2022 and 2023; has not exhibited since 2024 (see “Awards and mukansa”) HD
Other titles
holder of the Miyazaki Prefecture intangible cultural property “日本刀制作技術” (nihontō seisaku gijutsu, the technique of making Japanese swords), designated on 8 September 2022 HD
Books
『日本刀が斬れる理由、美しい理由』 (“Why the Japanese sword cuts and why it is beautiful”, BAB Japan, October 2017) and 『“刀”を究めればわかる“武”の練り方』 (“What getting to the bottom of the sword teaches about budō”, BAB Japan, 2022) HD
Output
“about 20 swords a year”, all on commission; some 200 sent to Europe in twenty years (around 2019) AT
Languages
fluent English, according to the RKB report AT

Three names

He says he signed 景清 (Kagekiyo) until 1995, 國正 (Kunimasa) from 1995 to 2021 and then 景正 (Kagemasa). The NBTHK shows him as 國正 (Kunimasa) in 2017 and 2019, and in 2022 already as “日向國住景正作之” (Hyūga no Kuni-jū Kagemasa kore o saku). The reason for the change to 景正 (Kagemasa) is told only by a dealer who works with him: after the mukansa and many awards, “he feels at the peak of his creative powers” and the new name marks a new stage. Nothing has been published on why he went from 景清 (Kagekiyo) to 國正 (Kunimasa).

Biography

The level of each row is that of its source. Up to 2016, almost everything is told by him.

YearEvent
Feb 1959Born in Hyūga (Miyazaki).
1970Takes up kendō, at 11, and stays in the kendō club up to high school.
After universityTwo years in the United States on an agricultural training programme (派米農業研修, habei nōgyō kenshū), where he teaches martial arts.
Back in JapanHe wants to be a martial arts instructor; he learns iai, kendō and karate.
1983 (Shōwa 58)Commissions a sword from Kobayashi Yasuhiro and becomes his apprentice.
Around 1987Kobayashi dies, in the winter of that year according to a scholar; he continues with Andō Hirokiyo in Tsuyama (Okayama).
1988Attends the first practical sword-making course of the Agency for Cultural Affairs (文化庁第一回作刀実地研修会, Bunkachō dai-ikkai sakutō jitchi kenshūkai).
1 Feb 1989Swordsmith’s licence, with Andō Hirokiyo. He returns home and sets up his forge in Hyūga.
1990First entry in the NBTHK new-work competition: 入選 (nyūsen, accepted). He says that since then he has exhibited every year without being rejected.
The ninetiesTen years of poverty: “純益はコンビニバイトより少ない日々が１０年くらい続いた” (“for some ten years I earned less than with a part-time job at a corner shop”).
1995Changes his name: from 景清 (Kagekiyo) to 國正 (Kunimasa).
1998 or 1999First kenjutsu and aikidō seminars in Bad Neuenahr (Germany) and Zurich. His chronology writes “平成11年（1998）” (Heisei 11, 1998), but Heisei 11 is 1999.
2003–2014NBTHK special prizes almost every year (see “Awards and mukansa”).
4 Oct 2009TNC documentary “幸福な貧乏人 刀匠 松葉國正” (Kōfuku na binbōnin tōshō Matsuba Kunimasa: “A happy poor man: the swordsmith Matsuba Kunimasa”).
2014Mukansa, according to him and Hyūga city.
FY 2017 (January–March 2018)Exhibits as mukansa a 70.9 cm katana at the inaugural exhibition of the new NBTHK Sword Museum. He says it is a hitatsura from the 唐柏 (Karakashiwa) series.
Oct 2017Publishes 『日本刀が斬れる理由、美しい理由』 (“Why the Japanese sword cuts and why it is beautiful”).
2019Exhibits as mukansa a 78.6 cm tachi made on commission.
2022Now signs 景正 (Kagemasa): exhibits as mukansa a 78.8 cm tachi. On 8 September 2022, holder of the Miyazaki Prefecture intangible cultural property. Publishes a second book.
2023Exhibits as mukansa a 71.6 cm katana.
5–20 Aug 2023Exhibition at the Udo shrine (鵜戸神宮, Udo Jingū). He says he showed an ōdachi of 5 shaku 3 sun.
Oct 2023His workshop and his house in Hyūga burn down.
8 Jan 2024New Year message: he gives thanks for the help after the fire and hesitates to go into debt to rebuild.
2024, 2025 and 2026Not among the mukansa exhibiting at the NBTHK.
February 2024 or 2025Opens a new forge in Hinokage (日之影), according to a press summary that could not be read in full.
“決して儲かる仕事ではないが、刀作りはすごく面白いですよ” (“it is not a trade that makes money, but making swords is very interesting”).
TNC documentary (2009)

The 2023 fire and the Hinokage forge

In October 2023 “the workplace and the house” burned (仕事場・自宅の火災, shigotoba jitaku no kasai), and the Miyazaki press headlined that the Hyūga swordsmith’s workshop and home had “burned to the ground” (全焼, zenshō). In his 2024 New Year message he gives thanks for the help received and hesitates to go into debt: “これから大きな借金をして新しい鍛練場を建て直すことには、正直不安もあります。肉体の衰えは絶対に来るでしょう” (“to be honest, I am uneasy about going deep into debt to build a new forge; the body will certainly decline”).

Today he gives as his address that of 景正鍛刀場 (Kagemasa tantōjō), in Hinokage (日之影). According to a UMK press summary, he opened it in February 2024 or 2025 with an apprentice, wants to draw foreign tourism with forging experiences and says that some 70% of his buyers are foreigners. The article could not be read in full. The Zen Nihon Tōshōkai and RKB still give the Hyūga address.

A caption in one of his 2024 talks with Aoki Hiroyuki (青木宏之) gives the date: on 18 October 2023 the house, the workshop and the storehouse burned down; another says the swords were saved. The April 2024 television report says that he had been ill, unable to walk, and had just recovered, and he speaks of some four months in a wheelchair. That explains better than the fire alone why he has not exhibited at the NBTHK since 2024.

The sign of the new forge reads “日州大日止鍛刀場” (Nisshū Ōhito tantōjō). He explains the name: the place is called 大人 (Ōhito), and it was written “大きな日が止まる” (ōkina hi ga tomaru, “where the great sun stops”). The 2024 report says he is building it on the land of the family of his apprentice, who is preparing for the swordsmith’s examination, and a soejō of his is dated there in the spring of 2025. In a 2024 talk he says that he used to make a blade in about 4 days and today takes 10 to 12, with a 1.4 kg hammer instead of the 2.5 kg one, and that he wants to forge until he is 85.

What could not be checked

  • Whether he keeps the mukansa title after three years in a row without exhibiting.
  • The year of the Hinokage forge (2024 or 2025) and the full news item.
  • Which works or tools were lost in the fire: the news item was taken down. A 2024 caption says the swords were saved.
  • The official NBTHK lists from 1990 to 2016: all of his record before 2017 is told by him.
  • Why he went from 景清 (Kagekiyo) to 國正 (Kunimasa), and the date of Kobayashi Yasuhiro’s death.
  • The year of the Bad Neuenahr and Zurich seminars, 1998 or 1999.
  • The kanji of the new forge’s name, which a dealer writes “Nisshu Ōhito Tantoujou”.