The Holy Grail

I have a story for you. Relax, it's a long one, but the payoff is worth it.


(Much of the following is adapted from my reading of this site: Skilful Blacksmith S. Iwasaki World. I have done my best to present it accurately, but my Japanese is flawed, so there may be mistakes...I'm confident in the gist, though.)

Let's go back. Back to Japan, after the Meiji restoration, when the nation was recreating itself, from its medieval, feudal period into a more modern, industrialized state...with the help, oddly enough, of Germany. The post-Meiji restoration government took Germany as a role model, a relationship which influenced its constitution, it's military structure, and its medicine...even today, a great number of medical words used in Japan are German (Magenkrebs for stomach cancer, and so on). Even the ubiquitous Japanese school uniforms are modeled on German military uniforms of the late 19th century. Even in popular entertainment, German words make far more of an appearance than any langauge besides English. Germany in many ways had MORE of an impact on pre-WWII Japan than the US has had post...and one of the ways, the one that concerns us here, is steel.

German Solingen steel has had a fantastic reputation for centuries. After Japan entered the world stage, after years of isolationism, foreign products (GERMAN products) flooded into Japan, and one of these was the cheap, high-quality Solingen steel. Germany, as a modern industrial state, could produce goods at a higher rate, and for lower cost, than the traditional Japanese hand-made economy. People turned to these newer, cheaper goods to the detriment of a great many craftsmen; village blacksmiths, especially, were losing out to the lower prices but comparable quality of Solingen steel. Many of them lost their livelihoods to the foreign products. One of those blacksmiths was named Iwasaki.

Kousuke Iwasaki (b1903-d1967) remembered his father's forge, and he remembered how he simply could not compete with German engineering. In his youth, he decided that he would find a way to make Japan competitive with Solingen steel, and to do so he decided to combine what he say as Japan's strength--it's traditional steel making, and it's legendary swords--and bring it into the modern age. He went to university to study metallurgy, and apprenticed himself to blacksmiths, to learn both the theory and the practice of steel making. He researched and quantified the steels that Japanese smiths used--White paper steel, Blue steel, and Ball steel.

Tamahagane, "ball" or "jewel" steel, was the steel of the Katana, the ultimate expression of the Japanese steelmaker's craft. It took hours, days, of backbreaking work and produced superlative edged tools. Kousuke Iwasaki researched this steel, and quantified it, making a modern material with traditional roots--he did not save it, but he made it something that was no longer a semi-mythical material, but a manufacturable steel. Japan still manufactures Tamahagane based on Iwasaki's guiding principles, although in very limited amounts, and those are mostly reserved for the licensed sword-smiths.

Eventually he revived his father's forge in the city of Sanjo, in Niigata prefecture. Together with his son, he started making and using tamahagane, forging it into edged tools...like razors.

Kousuke's son, Shigeyoshi (b. 1933), came to share his father's love of Japanese steel and tradition. He continued making razors after his father's death, and in time they have come to be regarded as the best in Japan. They combine exceptional craft and striking design, and have fans both in Japan and abroad.

In 1998, Shigeyoshi was invited to Germany, to an international craft exhibition in Muenchen, to demonstrate Traditional Japanese smithing techniques. There, he was award a Gold Prize for excellence, and he said of the event, that he felt he had finally brought his father's ambition to fruition...he had beat the Germans. ;)

So...why have I told you all this? So that maybe, you could understand a little of the background behind this thing right here:






That is a western style folding straight, made by Shigeyoshi Iwasaki about twnety years ago. Not only that, but it is made of Tamahagane...the steel that was so important to the Iwasaki name.

This is a rare razor. Western style Iwasaki Straights are rare enough. I have the good luck to have been given one, and it is one of only two or three I've seen, even in pictures. I'm sure that there are many more, but people don't seem to advertise the fact, and they certainly don't sell them.

Add to that rarity the fact that this particular razor is made of rare steel, usually reserved for swordsmiths, and this is one of a very few number of razors of its type...and it is now in my possession.

This is the one razor I have dreamed of having since I first heard of it. I know that, in and of itself, the razor is no better at its job than any other well made blade--there are a great number of fantastic shaving razors out there. And of course, Tamahagane is not magical, it is not brought forth from the heavens by gods...But the history, the story...I find it an exceptionally moving one, and I am so proud to have this razor.

It was purchased from a 3rd generation barber, who is closing up shop and has no one to take over for him. He told me he is keeping two razors for himself--one other Tamahagane made by Shigeyoshi Iwasaki, and one made by Kousuke Iwasaki.

He told me that he is glad that the razor will be used, rather than just looked at, and that if I hone it well, it will shave better than any other he's seen. He's used it for 20 years, so I trust he knows what he's talking about. I will soon see...

I am humbled, and exalted, by my good fortune.

Thank you for reading.