Ōsumi Toshihira
大隅俊平 (Ōsumi Toshihira)
A smith from Ōta in Gunma (1932-2009), a pupil of Miyairi Akihira; a living national treasure from 1997, specialist in the suguha of the Aoe school of Bitchū.
Profile
Ōsumi Toshihira was born in 1932 in what is now Ōta city, Gunma. In 1952 he became an apprentice of Miyairi Akihira at Sakaki, and he set up on his own in 1960. He won the Masamune prize of the new-sword exhibition in 1974, 1976 and 1978, was made mukansa and in 1997 a living national treasure. He studied the suguha of the Aoe school of Bitchū and, apart from his early years, forged suguha blades from tamahagane all his life. He also forged for the Ise shrine. He died in 2009; there is a museum devoted to his work in Ōta.
Monograph
Ōsumi Toshihira (大隅俊平)
His quick profile and the essentials, with the level of evidence of each fact.
Read the monograph
Notable works
- Tantō: plate 22 of the Gendaitō Meisaku Zukan (p. 45).
- Kodachi: plate 23 of the Gendaitō Meisaku Zukan (p. 47).
- Chokutō: plate 24 of the Gendaitō Meisaku Zukan (p. 49).
Rankings
- Mukansa since 1973
- Masamune Prize: 1974, 1976, 1978
- Living National Treasure since 1997