Rural Relocation of Contemporary Swordsmiths and the Rebuilding of Production Regions — The Reality Facing Tōkō Who Open Workshops in Depopulated Areas, and Their Contribution to Regional Revitalization

From City to Country — The Choice to Relocate as a Tōshō

Most tōshō licensed to produce swords maintain workshops near traditional production regions (Bizen, Seki, Satsuma, and others) or in suburban areas close to major cities. Since the 2010s, however, a growing number of tōshō have been deliberately choosing to establish workshops in areas of population decline and depopulation. This movement is a unique phenomenon where the question of successors in traditional crafts intersects with regional revitalization policy.

Why choose a depopulated area? The reasons are multiple.

• Ease of securing land and buildings: A forging workshop requires a large plot, high ceilings, and an environment that resolves issues of noise and smoke for neighbors; by renovating vacant farmhouses or decommissioned factories in rural areas, it is possible to realize an ideal working environment at low cost — something impossible in an urban setting.
• Return to historic production regions: There is a craftsman's sense of mission to inherit the technical lineage of a production region by placing a workshop near its historic grounds.
• Collaboration with local communities: By making use of municipal relocation support programs and traditional craft promotion subsidies, newly independent tōshō can reduce the financial risks of starting out.

It should be noted that the Regulations for Approval of the Production of Artistic Swords set no annual cap on the number of swords that may be produced (Regulations for Approval of the Production of Artistic Swords (e-Gov Law Search)). However, prefectural screening standards do prescribe a minimum number of forging days per sword (15 or more days for tachi, katana, and naginata; 10 or more days for wakizashi, tantō, and similar), which effectively limits the number that can be made (Aomori Prefecture "Approval for Production of Artistic Swords" Screening Standards). The challenge of making a business viable within such a limited output also underlies the choice of where to relocate.

Opening a Workshop in a Depopulated Area — Success Stories and Challenges

The Okuizumo region of Shimane Prefecture is known as the sacred home of tatara (traditional smelting), and the Nittoho tatara — the tamahagane production facility operated by the NBTHK — continues to operate there today. Since the 2020s, several young tōshō have established workshops in the region. They cite the relative ease of obtaining tamahagane compared to urban areas, and a resonance with the region's historical context, as their motivations for relocating.

Okuizumo Town has been investing in tourism promotion as the "sacred land of iron," and the presence of tōshō has become a centerpiece of experiential tourism. Programs that allow visitors to observe actual sword-forging work in progress are so popular that reservations are hard to come by, making this a fine example of both the individual tōshō's profile rising and the region's tourism revenue increasing simultaneously.

On the other hand, challenges exist as well. The issue many tōshō face when opening a workshop in a depopulated area is securing apprentices. Most aspiring apprentices are from urban backgrounds and can find it difficult to adapt to rural life. In the traditional apprenticeship system, where apprentices live and train at the master's workshop, the master's location becomes the apprentice's living environment, meaning that recruiting apprentices on the premise of rural relocation tends to attract fewer applicants than in an urban setting. The rigors of the path from traditional apprenticeship to independence are also explained in detail in The Five Years of Training a Contemporary Tōshō Walks.

The Reality of Municipal Support — Subsidies, Use of Vacant Properties, and Relocation and Settlement Assistance

Municipal programs to attract and support tōshō have grown more substantial in recent years. The main types of support available include the following.

Subsidies for renovating vacant and abandoned properties: Some municipalities offer subsidies for renovating vacant homes or for entrepreneurship by new residents. Whether such programs can be applied to converting a property into a kaji workshop varies by program in terms of upper limits and requirements, so it is worth checking with the destination municipality directly.

Relocation and settlement grants: Some municipalities also offer grants for new residents. Whether a given program covers the relocation of craftspeople is something that must also be confirmed municipality by municipality.

Integration with furusato nozei (hometown tax donation): A growing number of local governments are listing items such as "custom-made blades by a local tōshō" and "pair invitations to watch a sword-forging session" among the return gifts for their furusato nozei programs. For the tōshō, this becomes one source of stable income; for the municipality, it serves as publicity for local industry — a mutually beneficial arrangement.

The Significance of Rebuilding Production Regions — Recovering the "Place" of Technique

The deepest significance of a tōshō relocating to a rural area lies in reconstructing the "technical place" of production regions that was on the verge of being lost. A production region is not merely a geographical category; it is a "living ecosystem" in which diverse elements — raw materials (satetsu and tamahagane), water, a community of craftspeople, and discerning connoisseurs — are concentrated in a single locality.

During the medieval Kamakura period, when the Bizen Ichimonji school and the Rai School flourished, a "sword industry cluster" was formed by the concentration of large numbers of tōshō, togishi (polishers), and metalworkers within Bizen Province. The dissolution of this cluster was the fundamental cause of the decline of the production regions following the Sword Abolishment Edict (Haitōrei).

When a single tōshō relocates and settles in a rural area today, it is an attempt to reproduce that former cluster on a minute scale. There is a possibility that a "small cluster" can emerge as the tōshō's individual workshop becomes a nucleus around which togishi, saya (scabbard) craftspeople, and metalworkers gather. In fact, in Seki City, Gifu Prefecture, multiple tōshō workshops exist in close proximity, and an informal network has formed for sharing technical information among them.

Career Planning for the Next Generation of Tōshō and the Rural Option

Some young tōshō of the 2020s are planning their careers from the outset with rural relocation as a premise. After training for five to ten years under a master, a growing number are now making a conscious choice, when opening their own workshop, between "remaining in the master's production region" and "relocating to a new rural area." Looking at the styles of Reiwa-era kaji who carry on the Gokaden (five traditions) — Sōshū-den, Bizen-den, Yamato-den, and others, it becomes clear that the choice of where to relocate also influences the transmission of stylistic tradition.

Many of the young tōshō who choose relocation make use of social media, building an online fan community by sharing the process of establishing their workshop, their day-to-day forging work, and their completed pieces. Among young tōshō with tens of thousands of Instagram followers, some have established a model of "reaching customers directly from a rural location" through open-day workshop visits and online orders.

Opening a workshop in the countryside is not isolation; by connecting with sword enthusiasts across the country and around the world through digital networks, it is opening up the possibility of a "swordsmithing practice unconstrained by place." The flame of a forging furnace standing in a vacant farmhouse in a depopulated area, and the story of a sword reaching the entire world through a smartphone — this combination is the new form of traditional craft that the rural relocation of the contemporary tōshō is bringing into being.