Internships and Workshop Visits in the Sword Industry: How Artisans Welcome Young Visitors

The World of Japanese Sword Craftsmen Opens a Door Called "Experience"

Japanese swords have long been a particularly closed-off world within traditional crafts. To become an apprentice to a toshu (master swordsmith), connections and recommendations from a master were essential, and even those who wanted to see the work from the outside found it difficult to approach. However, in recent years, winds of change have begun to blow through the sword industry. More and more workshops are now experimentally implementing internship and workplace experience programs for young people and working adults.

Behind this lies a serious problem: a shortage of successors. The number of registered sword makers under the Agency for Cultural Affairs is said to have fallen below 300 in the 2020s, and the age composition is aging. Not only in forging, but across all sword-mounting professions—togishi (polishers), sayashi (scabbard makers), tsukamakishi (handle wrapping artisans), tsubashi (tsuba smiths)—the common challenge is "where to find the next generation of craftspeople." Across the entire sword industry, workplace experience is being re-examined as a more open means of acquiring talent.

Forging Experience—A Day Standing Before the Furnace

The format of forging experience varies from workshop to workshop, but many adopt half-day to full-day programs where participants actually feel the flow of work in their bodies, rather than simply "watching while swinging a hammer a few times." Specifically, participants experience operating the fuigo (bellows), timing the addition of charcoal, and training to read temperature from the color of iron. Some workshops also have participants stand next to the toshu, receive instructions, and actually try the process of striking iron with a hammer.

Participants often comment "I was surprised by the heat of the furnace" and "the iron was harder than I expected, and my entire arm trembled." This functions not as mere tourism, but as a place where participants physically understand the difficulty and depth of craftsmanship. Cases of people actually applying to become apprentices, saying "I really want to become a toshu" after the experience, do exist, and industry insiders praise this as "the first step is to let people feel the atmosphere of the workplace once."

Togishi, Sayashi, Tsukamakishi—Doors Opened by Multiple Professions

While forging experiences have relatively high visibility, there are few cases of togishi, sayashi, tsukamakishi and other sword-mounting craftspeople offering experience programs. However, in recent years, togishi workshops have attempted "simple polishing experiences using whetstones," and sayashi workshops have tried "observational work where participants feel the tactile experience of wood processing."

Particularly in polishing experiences, seeing up close the differences in whetstone granularity and the serene work of polishing the sword blade while using water makes a strong impression on young participants. Many togishi say, "When you think of craftspeople's work, you imagine rough hammer work, but the togishi's work has a Zen-like quietness, performed while sitting in seiza wearing kendo garb." A certain number of young people are attracted to this calm technique and aspire to become togishi.

In tsukamakishi experiences, participants touch and confirm the differences between samegawa (sharkskin) and silk and cotton threads, and attempt the basic motion of wrapping thread in a diamond pattern. Tsukamakishi artisans also say that experiencing the difficulty of even wrapping leads to respect for craftsmanship.

Challenges and Ingenuity for Accepting Workshops

Naturally, there is also a burden on the craftspeople who accept workplace experience participants. In the case of sword forging, preparations must be made for furnace safety management, tool safety, insurance issues, and other reception arrangements. Also, during experiences, the normal work pace is disrupted, and there is the reality that "production temporarily decreases."

Nevertheless, most workshops that continue experience programs say they "accept this as a cost for improving industry awareness and securing successors." Some workshops set participation fees, which not only supplement the workshop's income but also serve as a filter to gauge the seriousness of participants.

Administratively, in some cases, the Industrial Support Centers of each prefecture support the implementation and promotion of experience programs as part of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's and the Agency for Cultural Affairs' "Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries." To establish internship systems more formally, cooperation agreements between workshops and schools or specialized institutions are needed, but currently most efforts are still at the individual workshop level.

What the Opening of the Sword Industry Means

The opening of the Japanese sword craftspeople's world to experience and observation has significance that goes beyond mere recruitment strategy. The visualization of craftsmanship is also an awareness-raising activity that communicates to society the fact that "Japanese swords are still being created as living crafts in the present day." The opportunity for the next generation to directly experience the fact that new katana are being born by someone's hands at this very moment, rather than as heritage sleeping in museums, is extremely valuable.

Even among sword enthusiast communities, it is said that the depth of understanding of katana differs between "those who have seen a craftsperson's workplace" and "those who haven't." Workplace experience and internships also play an educational role in expanding the foundation of knowledge for collectors and enthusiasts.

The choice to "open" a closed world is not easy. However, there is growing recognition within the industry that this change is inevitable for traditional crafts to pass their lifeline to the next generation. It is hoped that the sight of young people stepping into the world of sword craftspeople will become established as a new form of cultural transmission in Japan.