Miyagi Akimori
宮城昭守 (Miyagi Akimori)
A smith from Miyagi Prefecture, a pupil of Kurihara Akihide, who won a prize in the Army sword competition of 1944.
Profile
Miyagi Akimori was a pupil of Kurihara Akihide, who in 1933 opened in Akasaka, in Tokyo, the forging centre 日本刀鍛錬伝習所 (Nihontō Tanren Denshūjo). So the list of prizewinners of the Army’s technical sword competition, 陸軍軍刀技術奨励会 (Rikugun Guntō Gijutsu Shōreikai), held in Tokyo on 21 December 1944, records him; there he appears as a smith of Miyagi Prefecture. The character 昭 (aki) that begins his name is the one Kurihara gave to his full-time pupils.
In 2005, presenting its exhibition “Swords of the Miyairi circle”, the 佐野美術館 (Sano Bijutsukan, Sano Art Museum), in Mishima, explained that this circle is made up of Amata Akitsugu and Miyagi Akimori, pupils of Kurihara like Miyairi Akihira, and the latter’s pupils. The sources consulted do not give his dates.
He has an entry in the Gendai Tōkō Meikan, and the Gendaitō Meisaku Zukan reproduces two blades by him, a tachi and a tantō.
Notable works
- Tachi: plate 75 of the Gendaitō Meisaku Zukan (p. 151).
- Tantō: plate 76 of the Gendaitō Meisaku Zukan (p. 153).