SHIROU-KUNIMITSU 四郎國光

About

For over 200 years, this family has passed down their Japanese sword smithing and traditional knife forging experience and history, from generation to generation. Today, 4 Genuine Japanese sword smiths are passionately handcrafting traditional forged knives with outstanding cutting performance and practicality. Note the tradition, craftsmanship, originality, and WABI-SABI (侘寂) styling. Last year, we were able to visit a historic, genuine Japanese sword smithing family in Fukuoka Prefecture (Kyushu Island) — a real family of artisans, who are devoting their life and energy to inheriting and preserving the Japanese sword making and knife making traditions that have been maintained by their family since the year 1786. Currently, a total of 4 genuine sword smiths are passionately working together to create the finest Japanese swords, and kitchen knives with outstanding cutting performance and practicality. To become a genuine government-licensed Japanese sword smith, you must undergo many years of hard training and pass a very difficult examination, so you must have great fortitude and talent. During our visit, we got to see their forging and knife handcrafting processes, hear their personal stories, and learn about their history and making policies. We were very impressed by their craftsmanship and we could really feel their passion. The current generation of traditional hammer forged knives have become more and more distinctive in order to differentiate themselves, and we believe this will always be one of the most important tasks and decisions for those who inherit and practise traditional knife making. Given these circumstances, and the current environment, we are amazed there are still genuine reputable sword smithing families who aspire to make kitchen knives with the best possible cutting performance. Mr. Komiya is the Master sword smith and head of this sword smithing family, and their company is called SHIROU-KUNIMITSU (四郎國光). As we have said, this family of ge