Yoshikazu Tanaka田中義一

The story

Yoshikazu Tanaka (田中義一) is a prominent Sakai blacksmith. The national directory of traditional craftsmen records his certification (dentō kōgeishi) in Sakai forged blades on 25 February 1996, and Sakai City named him a Monozukuri Meister for knife forging in fiscal 2009. The Sakai cutlery federation's award lists name him for Osaka Prefecture's Excellent Skilled Worker award, Naniwa no Meiko, in fiscal 2022, and for a director's commendation from the Kinki Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry in fiscal 2023.

According to Premium Japan, the family smithy, Tanaka Uchihamono Seisakusho, has run since 1896, and in 2021 his son Yoshihisa took over as the fifth generation. The Sakai Film Office names him the fourth. Sakai City's register lists Yoshihisa as certified in forging in fiscal 2022. When Premium Japan visited in 2022, it reported a little over ten forges left in Sakai and found three people at this one: father, son and an apprentice in his seventh year, making knives by hand in small numbers and many kinds.

Premium Japan describes Sakai knifemaking as a division of labour: the smith forges, the sharpener puts on the edge, and the wholesaler fits the handle. Tanaka works at the first stage. The magazine describes the forging: steel laid on soft iron, heated in a furnace to at least 1,000°C and hammered, again and again, with the heat judged by the colour of the flame because it is too hot to measure. The Sakai Film Office notes that the workshop keeps older methods too, annealing in straw and water quenching with pine charcoal. Premium Japan calls the quench and temper the steps that set the hardness, and in 2022 they were still his: Yoshihisa told the magazine he did them now and then, and that it took about five years before he was allowed to touch the forge.

In a 2018 interview he explained that the soft iron and the steel are not melted together: the steel is brought to welding heat and forged under the hammer, and two metals with different properties give a knife that cuts well, lasts and is easy to look after. He said he takes pride in making tools for Japanese cuisine, where food is eaten raw and a dull edge crushes the cells and changes the taste. Sakai City's Meister roster gives his conviction as caring how the finished knife cuts and carrying out the traditional techniques properly.

The Sakai Film Office reports that wholesalers receive orders asking for him by name. Of his apprentices he told it that because this is not an easy road, he wants them to take their time, make plenty of mistakes and grow freely, and he hopes that one day they will make things that surpass him.

We list the Kawamura White 1 Damascus wide bevel gyuto he forges, in 210 mm and 240 mm.