Operated today by 8th generation Go Yoshizawa, the current president’s son, the storied Nigara Hamono blacksmiths have been forging edged tools for over 350 years.

Their shop in the Aomori Prefecture traces its origins back to the early Edo Period when Nigara Hamono crafted swords for the Tsugaru clan. Over the years, the family has expanded their operations into a variety of steel-centric industries, giving them deep knowledge and expertise in all aspects of steelmaking and forging, seen today as the preeminent steel authorities in Japan. With this diverse experience across many disciplines of steelwork, the Nigara family is able to develop and hone their own methods and styles, from damascus finishing to the forge-welding techniques used.

To preserve tradition while pursuing innovation and evolution, the modern leadership aims to cultivate a new generation of craftspeople with a focus on the big picture and profound understanding of all nuances of the tools they contribute to creating. While the shop produces kitchen cutlery for a wide variety of audiences, the top craftspeople continue to practice their art in the form of extraordinary, one-of-a-kind blades, and those are the objects which you will find here in our collection.