Kantei

Bibliography

Sources

The sources consulted on 4 October 2026, with their link when it can be published, and the credit for each image. The website, social media and channels of the smith himself, and the dealers, were used to check facts, but they are neither cited nor linked; the photos taken from them carry a generic credit.

On this page
  1. Sources

Sources

NBTHK

  1. NBTHK, catalogue of the 2017 Shinsaku Meitōten (Kanzan Prize)
  2. NBTHK, 『刀剣美術』 (Tōken Bijutsu) no. 725, June 2017: words of the 2017 prize-winners
  3. NBTHK, Sword Journal no. 737, June 2018: the tachi of the Takamatsu-no-miya Kinenshō and his biography
  4. NBTHK, 2019 results (『刀剣美術』, Tōken Bijutsu, no. 749): Kunzan Prize
  5. NBTHK, catalogue of the Heisei no Meitō Meikōten (2019)
  6. NBTHK, catalogue of the 2021 Gendai Tōshokuten (mukansa)
  7. NBTHK, 2022 catalogue (mukansa)
  8. NBTHK, 2024 catalogue (mukansa)
  9. NBTHK, 2025 catalogue (mukansa)
  10. NBTHK, 2025 catalogue in English (with his civil name)
  11. NBTHK, 2026 catalogue in English (mukansa)

Other sources

  1. Japanese Wikipedia, 獅子王 (Shishiō): the 2018 copy
  2. Markus Sesko, list of mukansa and Living National Treasures
  3. Kōbe Shimbun, “1300度の鋼に魂込め” (Putting the soul into steel at 1,300 degrees), 7 August 2018

Image credits

  1. Takami Kuniichi at his Sayō forge (retrato-forja.jpg)

    Photo: the smith himself.
  2. The sign 國一鍛刀場 (Kuniichi tantōjō) at the entrance to his forge (forja-letrero.jpg)

    Photo: Kei Nakamura. © Kei Nakamura (Spare Time Studio).
  3. A block of steel in the embers of the furnace (forja-brasas.jpg)

    Photo: Kei Nakamura. © Kei Nakamura (Spare Time Studio).
  4. Forge tongs (forja-tenazas.jpg)

    Photo: Kei Nakamura. © Kei Nakamura (Spare Time Studio).
  5. Tachi of 81.1 cm, NBTHK President’s Prize in 2007 (2007-tachi-kaichosho.jpg)

    Photo: Kei Nakamura. © Kei Nakamura (Spare Time Studio).
  6. Katana of 2010, with 一陽来復 (ichiyō raifuku) on the nakago (2010-katana-ichiyo-raifuku.jpg)

    Photo: Kei Nakamura. © Kei Nakamura (Spare Time Studio).
  7. Tachi of 79.7 cm, 春雷 (shunrai), 2015 Kanzan Prize (2015-tachi-kanzansho.jpg)

    Photo: Kei Nakamura. © Kei Nakamura (Spare Time Studio).
  8. Tachi of 74.4 cm, 清明 (seimei), 2016 Kanzan Prize (2016-tachi-kanzansho.jpg)

    Photo: Kei Nakamura. © Kei Nakamura (Spare Time Studio).
  9. Tachi of 80.4 cm, 春光 (shunkō), 2017 Kanzan Prize (2017-tachi-kanzansho.jpg)

    Photo: Kei Nakamura. © Kei Nakamura (Spare Time Studio).
  10. Tachi of 79.0 cm, 2018 Takamatsu-no-miya Kinenshō (2018-tachi-takamatsunomiya.jpg)

    Photo: Kei Nakamura. © Kei Nakamura (Spare Time Studio).
  11. Wakizashi of 36.9 cm, 行雲流水 (kōun ryūsui), 2018 (2018-wakizashi-koun-ryusui.jpg)

    Photo: Kei Nakamura. © Kei Nakamura (Spare Time Studio).
  12. Tachi of 72.5 cm, 2019 Kunzan Prize (2019-tachi-kunzansho.jpg)

    Photo: Kei Nakamura. © Kei Nakamura (Spare Time Studio).
  13. Tachi of 2020, exhibited as mukansa (2020-tachi-mukansa.jpg)

    Photo: Kei Nakamura. © Kei Nakamura (Spare Time Studio).
  14. Tachi of 76.4 cm, 桃花流水 (tōka ryūsui), exhibited as mukansa in 2021 (2021-tachi-toka-ryusui.jpg)

    Photo: Kei Nakamura. © Kei Nakamura (Spare Time Studio).
  15. Tantō of 22.1 cm, 2022, in the line of the Atsu Tōshirō (2022-tanto-atsu-toshiro.jpg)

    Photo: Kei Nakamura. © Kei Nakamura (Spare Time Studio).