When you walk into the Sanjou Seisakushou workshop, the first thing you notice is a glass case, like you'd find at a shopfront, filled with what, at first glass, appears to be years of metal junk. Oh how wrong that first glance is, for if you take the time to look you can find literal treasure.
There was a new in-the-box Rolls Razor, a broken off Katana-tip from the Edo period, various knives and implements made by other Sanjou smiths and more, just piled haphazardly together.
I expressed a lot of interest in the case, and after waving me off for a while, before I left Iwasaki-san showed me some of the more interesting things.
The first was this looker:
According to Iwasaki-san, this is a Damascus knife from Iran, a gift from a foreign diplomat not long after the end of the war, before importing swords and knives was made illegal.
At first glance, the steel seemed normal, but when turned at just the right angle it came alive with a gorgeous, intricate whirled pattern. The handle is Ivory.
I have no idea about its authenticity...and I don't really care much.
This is tamahagane--old and new. The larger piece is about what you could expect to get from a single Tatara. There is enough blade steel to make about 6-8 razors in there.
Notice anything in the background?
But for me, the biggest impression was made by these:
These three knives, known as Kobakatana (small bladed knives) demonstrate Iwasaki-san's progress as a smith. Look at these stamps:
The first, on the left (the one to the far left in the full-sized picture), was a knife he made as a student. This stamp is the word "mada", meaning "Not yet." As in, "You're still not a smith yet." The second, the middle knife in the picture above, is the word "Sen," which means "Wizard, hermit" or, in this situation, "Wise." With this knife, he becamse a smith.
The third knife, though, is something immensely special. That is Iwasaki-san's masterpiece: a small knife, left intentionally rough to emphasize the texture of the steel. Why? Because the steel is meteorite steel--which, in terms of rarity, blows Tamahagane right out of the water. Something else, that.
Later, in Iwasaki-san's house, he showed me some more rarities.
These three razors are all Iwasaki straights. The left-most one is one of only 12 in the world, an ivory-scaled razor made to commemorate the retirement of a friend and colleague in the razor business, Tanifuji-sensei, who worked with Iwasaki-san in finishing and scaling his razors (more on that later) until the age of 79.
The middle is an unused example of one of Iwasaki-san's #33 razors, a smaller, Swedish steel straight. (Again, more on this later.)
And the one on the right?
Look closely...
Can you see it?
Yep, that's an Iwasaki Kamisori, scaled like a western straight. This is the only one in the entire world, right there. Something amazing, indeed.
1 comment:
Hi Jim,
I think this Kamisori is a very
practical Idea!
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