Month: August 2025

I visited the Japanese Sword Museum to appreciate the works currently on display at the “2025 Contemporary Sword Craftsmanship Exhibition – Ancient Art Transmitted to the Present”. The works showcase the results of the hard work of modern sword craftsmen (swordsmiths, polishers, handle wrappers, scabbard makers, engravers, habaki makers, and lacquerers). Our staff were delighted to hear that Yoichiro Kawakami, who had been in charge of sword polishing for us for five years until 2020, won the Chiba Award, the special prize in the shinogizukuri section. I hope he continues to work hard and become a master of sword polishing.

We have placed an advertisement in the 2025 edition of the “Urayasu Citizen’s Handbook (half page 3)” published by Urayasu City, Chiba Prefecture, which borders Edogawa Ward. This Urayasu Citizen’s Handbook contains information such as an overview of administrative services in Urayasu City, procedures, facility guides, and medical institutions. With the cooperation (advertising) of local organizations, companies, and shops, it is published at no financial cost to the city. We will continue our corporate efforts to become more widely known in the local area and to make Japanese swords more familiar to the people.

The 13th Koriyama Token Ichi was held for three days from Friday, August 8th at the Big Palette Fukushima (Fukushima Prefectural Industrial Exchange Center), a complex convention center in Koriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture. While promoting the event, we have continued to hold it twice a year, every six months, and as a result, we were able to attract not only local Fukushima sword collecters, but also familiar customers from neighboring prefectures such as Ibaraki, Tochigi, Yamagata, and Iwate. It was a busy three days, and we had many rewarding experiences, including the return of local swords made in Shirakawa, Nihonmatsu, and Aizu to their homeland, first-time buyers of Japanese swords were many, and a collector traded his part of collections from our swords. Our next Koriyama Token Ichi will be in February of next year, and we will do our best to make it an exhibition and sale that will delight sword enthusiasts!