The two faces of a tantō with a groove: on one, a plum tree and a bamboo engraved; on the other, a pine.

Photo: dealer in Japan

Living National Treasure · Imperial Household

Prizes

His prizes and titles, from the 1938 exhibition to the designation of 1955. None of the official lists of those years is online: they are told by the biographical sources.

On this page
  1. Year by year

Year by year

YearCompetitionPrizeWork
1938First sword exhibition (第1回刀剣展, dai-ikkai tōkenten)Prime Minister’s prize (内閣総理大臣賞, naikaku sōri daijin shō)—
1943Imperial HouseholdArtist of the Imperial Household (皇室技芸員, kōshitsu gigei-in)—
1954First exhibition of new art swords (第1回新作美術刀剣展, dai-ikkai shinsaku bijutsu tōkenten)First place (特選第一席, tokusen dai-isseki)—
1955Japanese StateLiving National Treasure (重要無形文化財「日本刀」保持者, jūyō mukei bunkazai Nihontō hojisha), the first of the swordsmiths—
1958NBTHKMukansa (無鑑査, mukansa), according to Markus Sesko—