Amazing!

What a package arrived the other night...

Quite a while back, maybe spring of last year, I posted about a growing correspondence with Ryuichi Mizuochi-san, the current maker of Iwasaki razors. Some of the questions and requests I had for him, he asked me to send directly to his master--Shigeyoshi Iwasaki himself. Iwasaki-san has been in ill health, and his age makes it difficult for him to work in the forge, so he apparently hasn't been as active recently, but he still remains the master of the Sanjo City Workshop.

I did as Mizuochi-san requested, and sent a letter to Iwasaki-san. I never got an answer, but I didn't give up hope. Last fall, when I went to Oku-Izumo and met the Blacksmith, the apprentices there all said they knew Iwasaki-san, so I decided to send him another letter, this time with pictures of our trip there.

Again, no response came, and I basically thought it never would.

But the other night, OHHHH how I was proven wrong!

I got a package from Iwasaki-san himself, not just a letter...a whole pack of amazing things. He sent letters, copies of articles about him and about his father, and information about his razors.



There were some pretty amazing pictures, like this one...I love the scales on that bottom razor.



This was a flyer advertising the Tamahagane razors, it was printed in the 70s. I have both versions, the big and small...I never thought that would happen.

But perhaps the most amazing of all was this:



That's a copy of the incredibly rare Metallurgy textbook written by his father, Kousuke Iwasaki. It's called "Hamono no Mikata" or "Regarding blades", and now sells for somewhere between $500 and $2000 dollars. It remains one of the most well-regarded works about the nature of Japanese steel, especially Tamahagane, and about sharpening it, ever written. This is a loaner, of course, but I am amazed that he would entrust me with this, never even having met me.



Also, he seemed very happy that I wanted to translate his father's work--so the barber manual can finally proceed! I just need to get the final draft typed out and put in the pictures, so keep an eye out for that!

One of the more touching things about the package, though, was the personal warmth he showed. He had taken the letters I had sent and wrote little notes and reactions on them; where I had written that I was reading his father's book, he wrote "Splendid!" (In English") and included a lovely note saying that he hoped we could be friends and "teammates", with a familial feeling. It was wonderful, and something I will always treasure.

This package, I think, finally convinced my wife that a trip to Niigata to visit the master is called for...so this spring, I'm going!