Currently, many skilled swordsmiths are in Japan.  I am good friends with two of them.  One is Mr. Yoshihara Yoshindo (吉原義人), and the other is Mr. Yamamura Tsunahiro (山村綱廣).  I met them when we were in our twenties.

I met Mr. Yoshihara at one of the sword meetings I attended with my father in the early 1970s. Since then, we have occasionally run into each other at various sword gatherings from time to time.  His son, Yoshihara Yoshikazu (吉原義一), is also a well-known swordsmith.  And his grandson has also decided to become a swordsmith. Naturally, my friend Yoshihara was very excited to train him.  He often shares fascinating stories whenever we meet at various sword meetings. Here are a few of them. 

Mr. Yoshihara once had an apprentice from a Middle Eastern country, sent by his king.  The apprentice lived in Yoshihara‘s house with other Japanese apprentices.  He was a quiet and good apprentice who had no problems with food and ate Japanese food with the other Japanese apprentices. 

Mr. Yoshihara also mentioned that a king from a European country once visited his studio.  The king gave Yoshihara a photo of himself, with his autograph, as a gift.   Another story was about a famous Hollywood movie director who ordered a couple of swords and visited his house.  It seems this was around the same time I ordered a sword for myself.  The photo below shows the sword he made for me at that time.

Yamamura-kun (we add “kun” at the end of male friends’ names and “san” for female friends), and we were students together in Mori Sensei‘s sword class.  He was the top student; I was almost the last.  He is a direct descendant of Goro Nyudo Masamune (五郎入道正宗), the twenty-fourth generation.  Back then, he had a store almost right in front of the Hachiman-gu Shrine (八幡宮) in Kamakura, and later moved his studio near Kamakura Station.

We had one more person in our group, Mr. Kurokawa (黒川).  He owns a large sword store in Tokyo called “Soken-do (霜剣堂).”   We were all residents of Kamakura at the time.  We used to gather at Yamamura-kun’s store in front of Hachiman-gu Shrine, enjoying good times and hanging out together.

Below is the information about their stores. 

To order a sword, you can contact:  Yoshihara Yoshindo (吉原義人)                                 11-12,８Chome Takasago, Katsushika-Ku,Tokyo 〒125  Japan  Tel (03)3607 – 5255

Masamune Kougei (正宗工芸)                                                                                            13-29 Onari-cho,  Kamakura-shi,  Kanagawa, 〒248-0012  Japan   Tel (0467) 22- 3962

Soken-Do (霜剣堂)                                                                                                             28-1, 6-Chome, Jingu-mae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 〒150-0001 Japan  Tel (03) 3499 – 8080        

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My sword made by Mr. Yoshihara

吉原新刀 (Yoshihara sword description)

  • Shape:        Koshizori   Chu-gissaki (smaller Chu-gissaki)  Bo-hi (one groove)
  • Boshi:         Midare-komi and Komaru-kaeshi (round turnback)
  • Hamon:      Komidare   Nioi
  • Hada :        very fine Komokume almost Muji
  • Mei:           Kaji Yoshindo    Heisei 二十三 nen　 二月 Kichijitu
    • It means: Sword smith Yoshindo   Heisei year 23(2011)   February good day                                                                                                    

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Published by Yurie Endo 遠藤由利江

I was born and raised in Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan, and then moved to Kamakura. Now I live in Los Angeles. I graduated from Meiji University and received a degree in literature and curatorship. I hold a curatorship license. I also graduated from California State University, Northridge, and earned an Economics degree. My father owned a manufacturing company related to metal. As his hobby, he had been collecting Japanese swords and other types of Japanese art objects. He was one of the administrators of Nihon Bijutu Token Hozon Kyokai(日本美術刀剣保存協会), which is a sword museum located in Tokyo. One of his friends (Mori Sensei), who was also the main administrator, used to hold a Japanese sword study group in his house. I joined his study group. Mori sensei’s group was very rare and valuable because he could bring top-quality swords as our study materials, due to his position in the museum. The kind of swords we could study were top-quality museum swords. Those are the kind of swords people could only see through the glass display cases. Also, I studied swords with my father since he kept many swords in our house. This is how I started to study Japanese swords.

2 thoughts on “33| Information on Today’s Swordsmiths”

  1. Yurie, I am trying to reach Yoshihara Yoshindo. I had a Zoom conference with him two years ago (with interpreters) and contracted with him to make me two katanas. Everything goes through Toki (the travel company), and they will not assist me in finding out the status of the katanas. I plan to travel to Japan to meet with Yoshihara san when he completes the katanas. Everything is on hold. You have a phone number for him [(03) 3607 – 5255] but he does not speak English and I do not speak Japanese. Can you assist me? Please advise. Thank you.

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    1. I am sorry but did I return the answer to your email last July? Could you talk with Mr. Yoshihara since then?

      I really feel bad, I am sorry but I can not remember.

      If you still need to talk to him, I will do it anytime. What is the best way?

      Do you think we can do the zoom? I am not sure if Yoshihara do Zoom.

      Or you can write me what you want to ask him then I can phone him.

      Then I can send you his answer by an email. I am not sure how to do the three-way call.

      Maybe you call me on my cell phone, and I can call Yoshihara with land phone at the same.

      I am very very sorry I did not help you sooner. I hope you already could talk to him.

      Yurie

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