Masamine Sumitani

{{Short description|Japanese swordsmith}}

{{Nihongo|Masamine Sumitani|隅谷正峯||born Sumitani Yoichiro; 14 January 1921{{spaced ndash}}12 December 1998}} was a Japanese swordsmith.

Sumitani's family ran a soy-sauce manufacturing business, but rather than entering the family trade, Masamine opted to study at Ritsumeikan University, with a view to becoming a swordsmith, graduating in 1941 with a degree in mechanical engineering. After his graduation, Sumitani remained at Kyoto, studying (alongside Masayuki Nagare){{cite book|author=Masayuki Nagare|title=Masayuki Nagare: the life of a samurai artist|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PmPqAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=10 May 2013|year=1994|publisher=Weatherhill|isbn=978-0-8348-0325-1|page=268}} under Sakurai Masayuki. When the University's sword studio was destroyed in a fire in 1942, Sumitani moved to Onomichi to continue his education at the Foundation of National Japanese Sword Studies and the Kokoku Japanese Sword Temper Workshop there.{{cite web|title=Tachi signed Sanryu MASAMINE kore-wo-tsukuru Eighth month, Bird, the eighth calendar sign Tame Kakehi Hisaichi|url=http://sanmei.com/contents/en-us/p1170.html|work=Tokugawa Art|publisher=Sanmei Company|accessdate=10 May 2013}}{{cite web|title=SUMITANI, Masamine: Japanese sword, holder of important intangible cultural property (1981)|url=http://shofu.pref.ishikawa.jp/shofu/intro_e/HTML/H_S30701.html|work=Digital Archives of Ishikawa Japan|publisher=Shofu|accessdate=10 May 2013|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140517164447/http://shofu.pref.ishikawa.jp/shofu/intro_e/HTML/H_S30701.html|archivedate=17 May 2014}}

Sumitani settled in Mattō, Ishikawa. He worked in the Bizen tradition, and was noted for his choji midare or "clove patterns" along the hamon of his blades. As well as swords, Sumitani also specialised in the forging of tosu knives and was a practitioner of bachiru.{{cite book|title=日本刀21世紀への挑戦|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BWy3gx-0PR8C&pg=PA151|accessdate=10 May 2013|date=May 2002|publisher=Kodansha International|isbn=978-4-7700-2854-9|pages=151}}

In 1975 he co-founded the Zen Nihon Toshokai ("Japanese Swordsmith's Association"), and served as the group's Vice-Secretary.{{cite book|author1=Leon Kapp|author2=Hiroko T. Kapp|author3=Yoshindo Yoshihara|title=Modern Japanese Swords and Swordsmiths: From 1866 to the Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c7YeN0F5tn4C&pg=PA222|accessdate=10 May 2013|year=2002|publisher=Kodansha International|isbn=978-4-7700-1962-2|pages=81}}

Awards and recognitions

Sumitani won numerous prizes in national competitions, including the 1972 Kunzan Award and the Masamune Prize (the highest award) at the Nihon Bijutsu Token Hozon Kyokai contest in 1966, 1965 and 1974. He was given the status of mukansa, meaning that his work was no longer subject to judgement in competition.{{cite book|author=Clive Sinclaire|title=Samurai: The Weapons and Spirit of the Japanese Warrior|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3xshAQAAIAAJ|accessdate=10 May 2013|year=2001|publisher=Salamander Books, Limited|isbn=978-1-84065-233-8|page=60}}

In 1979, he was recognised as a Living National Treasure.{{cite book|author=Kōkan Nagayama|title=The Connoisseur's Book of Japanese Swords|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zPyswmGDBFkC&pg=PA45|accessdate=10 May 2013|year=1997|publisher=Kodansha International|isbn=978-4-7700-2071-0|pages=45}}

References