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目次 Inheriting 350 years of historyTsugaru area in Aomori Prefecture has been a thriving steel manufacturing area for a long time. At the foot of Mount Iwaki, steel manufacturing has been carried out on a large scale, and iron swords from the Nara period to early Heian period have also been discovered here. This trend continued over several eras, and more than 100 blacksmiths were in business in Hirosaki during the Edo period forming a town of blacksmiths. One of the blacksmiths was the Nigara Family which received orders to make swords for the Tsugaru clan about 350 years ago, and is the origin of Nigara Hamono Ltd. which we visited. They have become one of Japan’s leading swordsmith. |
Kitchen knife certified as Traditional Craft of Aomori PrefectureActive swordsmiths well into the Showa era, in particular, Kunitoshi Nigara is a renowned master craftsman, and has received numerous awards such as Sword Making Technology Presentation Grand Prize. They have also had the honor of making dedication swords for Ise Shrine and Meiji Shrine. |
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Passing on the skills of predecessors”For example, at a dam construction site, when making the corridor which is going to be the scaffolding for installing the machine, you roast the trabecular bone of the iron and burn away any irregularities. You cannot do this if you don’t understand the nature of iron. ” said Toshihisa Yoshizawa, who we interviewed. |
