Living National Treasure (Japanese Sword Smith) Designation — Official State Recognition of Sword Forging Technique as Intangible Cultural Property

In 1950, the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties was enacted. This law greatly expanded the prewar legal framework for protecting art objects and, for the first time, wrote the concept of “intangible cultural property” into law. Intangible cultural properties refer to cultural values that reside not in objects but in human skills and knowledge, such as performing arts, music, and craft techniques. Then, in 1955, the Commission for the Protection of Cultural Properties certified the first Living National Treasures as Holders of Important Intangible Cultural Property. The art of sword forging was among the first fields included in this certification.

The inclusion of sword forging in the first certifications was a historic milestone, in which the craft of the Japanese swordsmith was officially recognized by the state as cultural property of the highest rank.

First Holder: Takahashi Sadatsugu and the Birth of the “Living National Treasure”

In 1955, Takahashi Sadatsugu (1902–1968) was the first person certified as a Holder of Important Intangible Cultural Property in sword forging. Takahashi had studied the styles of old swords from the Taishō era onward, became well versed in the five traditions (gokaden), and after the war devoted himself to the movement to preserve swords. His certification as a Living National Treasure meant that the state recognized his technique as standing at the pinnacle of Japanese sword forging. From then on, becoming a Living National Treasure was the highest goal for later swordsmiths.

The impact of his certification on the world of Japanese sword forging was enormous. It was not merely a personal honor; it established the social recognition that “the swordsmith is an artist.”

Miyairi Akihira: A Master of Shinano and a Living National Treasure

Miyairi Akihira (1913–1977), certified as a Living National Treasure in 1963, was a swordsmith from Nagano Prefecture (former Shinano Province) who opened up a distinctive path of his own.

Miyairi studied the works of Shizu Kaneuji of the Kamakura period and of his fellow townsman Yamaura Kiyomaro. From the forging workshop in Sakaki Town, Nagano, disciples such as Ōsumi Toshihira and Kawachi Kunihira emerged. His son, Miyairi Kozaemon Yukihira (Miyairi Megumi), and his nephew, Miyairi Norihiro, have carried on the work into the present day as the “Miyairi school.”

Amata Akitsugu: Self-Produced Iron and the Revival of Ancient Famous Blades

Amata Akitsugu (1927–2013) was certified as a Living National Treasure in 1997. Beginning in 1959, Amata researched self-produced iron. He received the Masamune Prize, the top award of the Exhibition of Newly Made Swords, in each of the Yamashiro, Sōshū, and Bizen traditions.

Sumitani Masamine: The Bizen Tradition and Sumitani chōji

Sumitani Masamine (1921–1998) was certified as a Living National Treasure in 1981. Sumitani was from Matsutō City, Ishikawa Prefecture (former Kaga Province). He specialized in Kamakura-period Bizen blades and perfected a distinctive, vivid chōji hamon known as “Sumitani chōji.”

The Impact of the Living National Treasure System on Japanese Sword Culture

The Living National Treasure system was more than a mere honorary title; it played a substantive role in the transmission of sword forging. Under the system, Living National Treasures were accompanied by support for creating technical records and training successors. A mechanism was established by which the state partly bore the cost of passing on the techniques.

Certification as a Living National Treasure also gave swordsmiths’ works the added value of being “works by a state-certified artist,” and it raised awareness among museums, galleries, and collectors in Japan and abroad. Special exhibitions at the Tokyo National Museum, the Kyushu National Museum, and the Japanese Sword Museum (Ryōgoku, Tokyo) continue to feature the works of Living National Treasures as a custom, and these works serve as the benchmark for the artistic evaluation of modern swords.

Furthermore, Japan's model of cultural property administration, which includes the Living National Treasure system, has influenced intangible cultural heritage protection systems in Asian countries such as South Korea and Taiwan. This system is also part of the background against which the tradition of Japanese sword forging has come to be discussed in the context of international intangible cultural heritage protection.

Living National Treasures Today and Sword Culture in the Reiwa Era

Even in the Heisei and Reiwa periods, the Living National Treasure system has remained at the core of sword culture. Miyairi Norihiro (nephew of Miyairi Akihira) has been active as a leading swordsmith of the present day. Yoshihara Yoshindo, who runs a forging workshop in Katsushika, Tokyo, has contributed to the international spread of Japanese sword forging, including through sword-making demonstrations in the United States.

The sword boom driven by pop culture, represented by “Touken Ranbu” (since 2015), has heightened the interest of younger generations in swords. This sword boom can also be said to be the flowering, 70 years later, of seeds sown by the launch of the Living National Treasure system in 1955.

Tamahagane and “Tatara”: Passing on Tradition by Protecting Its Materials

Another pillar supporting the tradition of Japanese sword forging is the production of tamahagane. Traditional sword making depends indispensably on tamahagane produced by “tatara iron smelting,” the ancient method of smelting iron sand. However, after the modernization of the Meiji era, tatara rapidly declined as industrial steelmaking pushed it aside. In 1977, through the efforts of sword-related parties such as the Society for the Preservation of Japanese Art Swords (NBTHK) and Hitachi Metals, tatara iron smelting was revived as “NBTHK Tatara” in Yokota Town, Nita District, Shimane Prefecture (now Okuizumo Town).

NBTHK Tatara, which continues to operate in Okuizumo Town today, supplies tamahagane made by traditional methods to modern swordsmiths. Without this effort, nearly all of today's swordsmiths might have been forced to make their work with industrial steel, and “Japanese swords made by traditional methods” might have been lost in both name and substance.

Disciples of Living National Treasures: A Chain of Technique

The Living National Treasure system did more than certify individuals directly; it institutionally supported a chain of technique passed through master–disciple relationships. Disciples who trained under Living National Treasures Takahashi Sadatsugu, Miyairi Akihira, Amata Akitsugu, and Sumitani Masamine now form the core of the sword-forging world, and those disciples in turn train the next generation. Representative examples include Ōsumi Toshihira (later a Living National Treasure) and Kawachi Kunihira, who studied under Miyairi Akihira, and Miyairi Norihiro, who studied under Sumitani Masamine.

This chain of master–disciple relationships is evidence that the tradition of sword forging, which began with the master smiths of the medieval period, has been handed down “from person to person” to the present day. The Living National Treasure system has functioned as a mechanism through which the state formally certifies and supports that chain.

From the moment Takahashi Sadatsugu received the first certification in 1955, Japanese sword forging changed its standing from “a craftsman's trade” to “a heritage of humanity that the state must protect.” That transformation laid the institutional and spiritual foundation for the rich sword culture of modern Japan.