Recognition as a swordsmith

HAOKA, Yoshihito Swordsmith - Season 1-3 （日本語は英語の後に続きます）

Yoshihara Family (center Yoshindo Yoshihara（吉原義人）, in his left Akira, his grandson holding late Yoshikazu’s photo（吉原義一） and in his right Kuniie（吉原国家） and Yoshihito Haoka（羽岡義仁）)

Haoka became an apprentice to Yoshindo Yoshihara in 2008. After five years of training, he completed the “Art Swordsmith Technique Preservation Workshop” sponsored by the Agency for Cultural Affairs and he was certified as a swordsmith in 2013.

Before taking this certification exam., Haoka felt impatience because he felt that he was more clumsy than his fellow disciples because no matter what he tried, nothing went well. He was very surprised to find that some of his seniors were very skillful. But he found himself to overcome his clumsiness when he was just making his steady efforts one by one. He told that he was very happy when he heard that Master Yoshindo said, “Haoka was clumsy and terrible when he came here but he has now become very good at it.”

In Japanese、 there is the expression saying that mastering arts and martial arts is “learning knacks（コツを覚える）”.  The pronunciation of “kotsu” is similar to “bones”. What you know is different from what you can do. After you repeat it over and over again, you can move as you feel instead of thinking with your brain. You may say that you could master that technique if you could feel its movement in your bones passing through your skin and muscles. 

This training process is common not only for masters of traditional crafts, but also for chefs and martial artists. You need to train hard until you can move as you just follow your bones without thinking of anything to do. Like Haoka swordsmith, even if he was aware that he was clumsy, he repeated the same process many times and by the time he was sharp enough to steal his master’s skill by watching his movement, he shall find that he suddenly makes a leap that surprises himself.

However, under the current bad Japanese law; e.g. swordsmith can only register his swords two per month with very expensive raw materials, these modern Japanese swordsmiths are in a very harsh environment to make their living.

It is my sincere hope that the readers of this blog will understand the current situation and support modern Japanese swordsmiths and other Japanese traditional crafts persons.

#swordsmith #japanesecrafts #craftsmanship #japanesesword #japaneseculture #samurai #YoshindoYoshihara #KuniieYoshihara #YoshikazuYoshihara #YoshihitoHaoka

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羽岡青年は２００８年に吉原義人刀匠に弟子入りし、５年間の修行を経て文化庁主催の「美術刀剣刀匠技術保存研修会」を修了し、刀匠認可を受けたのが２０１３年でした。

この認可試験を受ける前、何をやっても上手くいかず他の弟子仲間より不器用と感じていた羽岡刀匠には焦りがあったそうです。兄弟子にはもっと器用な人がいて驚くことばかりだったそうですが、地道にやっている間に気がついたら不器用を克服していたような気がしたそうです。そして、義人師匠が羽岡は不器用でひどかったけど上手になったという話を耳にしたときには嬉しかったと話してくれました。

日本語の表現に芸事や武術をマスターするのを「コツを覚える」という言い方があります。「コツ」という発音は「骨」に通じます。頭でわかっているのと実際にできるのとは違います。何度も何度も繰り返し行い、頭で考えるのではなく、皮膚や筋肉を通り越して骨身に染みて感じるままに動くことができて初めてマスターしたといえると思います。これは伝統工芸の匠だけでなく、料理人や武術家などにも共通した修行過程でしょう。そのためには数をこなすことが不可欠です。羽岡刀匠のように不器用という自覚があっても数をこなし、師匠の技を盗むことができるほど目が肥え腕が上がってきた頃には本人が驚くような飛躍が突如訪れるのでしょう。

しかし、材料費もかさばり、実際に販売することができる刀の登録が月２振りに限られる現在の悪法の下では現代刀匠はとても酷な環境にあると言わざるを得ません。このブログ読者のなかにこうした現状を理解し、日本の現代刀匠の支援をしていただける方が一人でも増えることを願って止みません。この点については今後もっと掘り下げて発信していきたいと考えています。

＃日本刀 ＃刀匠 ＃伝統工芸 ＃日本文化 ＃吉原義人 ＃吉原国家 ＃吉原義一 ＃羽岡義仁