Foreigner Bladesmiths in Japan?

[barnejp]

Hi All,

 

Is/was there any famous foreigner who made blades in Japan?

 

Thank you,

Greg

 

[Gabriel L]

Keith "Nobuhira" Austin. http://www.ncjsc.org/article_keith_austin.htm

[ChrisW]

That was a really informative read Gabriel, thanks for sharing!

[Ken-Hawaii]

I actually lived in Yuba City while he was forging, but wasn't yet interested in swords.

[PNSSHOGUN]

If memory serves me right there was a half Japanese/French smith who has his own forge, there was a well made video of him on youtube.

[Gabriel L]

  On 4/17/2019 at 9:49 AM, PNSSHOGUN said:

If memory serves me right there was a half Japanese/French smith who has his own forge, there was a well made video of him on youtube.

 

Believe you are referring to the Canadian smith Pierre Nadeau. http://soulsmithing.com/persons/nadeau/. I do not believe he is half Japanese but he did train in Japan. I don't think he completed the apprenticeship / was ever licensed by the Ministry of Culture, etc. but he moved back to Canada and was working on starting a smithy there. However I'm not sure what his current status is, if he is still smithing etc.

 

It's very hard to make smithing a sustainable career. The top smiths are doing fine but many apprentices struggle to get to that point of getting licensed and then getting enough orders.

[SAS]

Louis Mills "Yasutomo" RIP, a pioneer Westerner in the Japanese tradition.

[Gabriel L]

I had not heard that Mr. Mills passed away. That is sad to hear.

 

Louis Mills is one of a number of smiths I would refer to as "Japanese-style" rather than "Japanese tradition." While he may have consulted with Japanese smiths an on ongoing basis, it is not my understanding that he trained under smiths in Japan for any extended duration (please correct me if I am wrong). This doesn't mean he wasn't good at what he did, just that it was distinct from what I would consider nihontō. For a smith to work in the Japanese tradition I really think requires a multi-year apprenticeship in Japan… very few modern smiths like that from outside of Japan. For high-quality art swords that are Japanese-style but not strictly traditional, there are a relatively larger number of examples, such as Rick Barrett, Howard Clark, Anthony DiCristofano etc.

 

By the way if we look back to history, some smiths were said to have come from abroad, e.g. Rai school originating in Korea. Just a side note.

[Guido]

Only half foreign, so I'm not sure if he counts  :  http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/25640-swedish-Japanese-swordsmith/

[John A Stuart]

Gabriel, Pierre is very active, in fact he does seminars in the region. John

[SAS]

http://togiarts.com/Louis_Mills.html

This has a bio with his own statement on the nature of his art. I do not have NY INFO TO SUGGEST THT HE HAD ACTUALLY FORGED BLADES IN Japan, SO PERHAPS HE DOES NOT MEET THE SPECS THE OP INQUIRED ABOUT.  (sorry for caps, typing in the dark)