Kantei
Portrait of a young swordsmith with a cloth on his head and white work clothes, seated in his forge.

Swordsmith of Sayō (Hyōgo) · mukansa

Takami Kuniichi (高見國一)

A swordsmith from Sayō, in Hyōgo, the first pupil of Kawachi Kunihira, winner of the Takamatsu-no-miya Kinenshō in 2018 and mukansa: his life, his Bizen chōji, his prizes and his videos

The first pupil of Kawachi Kunihira, an apprentice at the NBTHK tatara and winner of the Takamatsu-no-miya Kinenshō in 2018: a swordsmith of the chōji Bizen-den whom the NBTHK exhibits as mukansa.

Photo: the smith himself

1992
Joins Kawachi Kunihira
1999
Sets up on his own
2018
Takamatsu-no-miya Kinenshō (高松宮記念賞)
2019
NBTHK mukansa
On this page
  1. Quick profile
  2. In short

Quick profile

Name
Takami Kuniichi (高見國一, also written 髙見國一) HD
Birth
Around 1973 or 1974: the NBTHK gives his age as 44 in June 2018 II
Where he forges
Sayō (佐用, Sayō), in Hyōgo prefecture, the old province of Harima (播磨, Harima) HD
Master
Kawachi Kunihira (河内國平, Kawachi Kunihira), from 1992 HD
School
Bizen-den (備前伝, Bizen-den), the chōji of the Ichimonji and of Osafune HD
Licence
1998 AT
Rank
無鑑査 (mukansa): so he appears in the NBTHK catalogues of 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025 and 2026 HD
Mukansa since
2019, according to him; he has exhibited out of competition since 2020 AT

In short

Takami Kuniichi entered the forge of Kawachi Kunihira in 1992, and the NBTHK calls him Kunihira’s first pupil; from 1997 to 2001 he worked as an apprentice murage (村下, murage, the master of the furnace) at the NBTHK tatara. He set up on his own in 1999 and forges in Sayō, in Hyōgo, his home.

In the NBTHK competition he won the Kanzan Prize in 2017, at the 新作名刀展 (Shinsaku Meitōten), and then at the 現代刀職展 (Gendai Tōshokuten), which replaced it in 2018, the Takamatsu-no-miya Kinenshō, the highest, in 2018 and the Kunzan Prize in 2019. Since 2020 he has exhibited as mukansa, out of competition. In 2018 he made the copy of the tachi Shishiō (獅子王, Shishiō) that was offered at the ruins of Takeda castle.

Neither his date of birth nor the official lists of his prizes from 2002 to 2016, which only he tells, are known.

Both sides of a long tachi with engravings along the blade, on a black background.
Tachi of 79.0 cm, 2018 Takamatsu-no-miya Kinenshō Photo: Kei Nakamura · © Kei Nakamura (Spare Time Studio)

Sections

  1. From Sayō to Kunihira and back Life and forging How he came to the forge, the apprenticeship with Kunihira, the tatara, the 2009 flood and his Sayō forge.
  2. Bizen-den · chōji · midare-utsuri Work and style The Bizen chōji, the tachi of the Takamatsu-no-miya Kinenshō as described by the NBTHK and the gallery of his works from 2007 to 2022.
  3. From the Shinsaku Meitōten to mukansa Prizes His record in the NBTHK competitions, year by year, with what the catalogues confirm and what only he tells.
  4. Interviews and forging Videos Five videos: an institutional interview, three short pieces filmed at his forge and a press report.
  5. Bibliography Sources The NBTHK catalogues and journal, the other sources and the credit for each image.