KUDO, Masashige （工藤将成） 1-3

Memories of the training era

He started his training in the middle of April, one month after graduating from high school. It began from the chores that continued for several months to help with household affairs and during this time period, he could not even enter into the workplace. His first job was to cut charcoals. The basic training method was to watch the work of the master and steal his art while Kudo was cutting the charcoals. The master, Fujiyasu, gave him a word of advice but he never taught him how to do it with any detailed explanations.

When he joined, there were two elder brother disciples. The first disciple is Yukihira Miyairi（宮入小左衛門行平）who is the son of Akihira Miyairi（宮入昭平）, one of the living national treasures and the second disciple is Masanaga Kunishima who aspired to be a swordsmith at the age of 60 after his retirement from the business. The third disciple is him; Masashige Kudo （工藤将成）and the fourth is Masahira Nakanishi（中西将大）.  He remembers that there were more than 10 disciples while he was training under the master Fujiyasu.  But none of them have become swordsmiths.  The way to independence as a full-fledged swordsmith is really tough.

It was a training that none other than Kudo swordsmith tried to learn his master’s art by practicing a try and an error in his own time. Kudo had the opportunity to learn while taking charge of the mallet of the master. Eight years of his training period passed before he became an independent swordsmith.

It might be difficult to believe but not only Japanese swords but also other traditional crafts, there was no employment contract. Therefore, there was no salary. He could acquire the skills of his master while helping his wife with her housework and he did not need to pay for living and meals instead. There were occasional day-off on New Year’s day and Sundays. Because of a few day-off, he did not have a chance to spend any money. He could manage his personal life with some pocket money sent by his parents.

#swordsmith #artisan #Japanesesword #Masashige Kudo #Masahira Fujiyasu #craftsman