Akitsugu Amata, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetAkitsugu Amata
Japanese swordsmith
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Niigata Prefecture, Japan
About Akitsugu Amata
- Akitsugu Amata (????, Amata Akitsugu) (also known as Amata Seiichi ????) (born 1927 - July 5, 2013) was a Japanese swordsmith.Amata followed his father Amata Sadayoshi into the trade of sword-making after the latter died in 1937, moving to Tokyo from his home in Niigata Prefecture in order to enroll in a specialist sword-making school.
- This school, the Nihonto Tanren Denshu Jo, was run by the noted swordsmith Kurihara Hikosaburo, who originally employed Amata as a masseur before teaching him the basics of sword-making when the boy was thirteen.
- Amata worked at Kurihara's institute for the next six years.After leaving Tokyo, Amata returned to his home village.
- He resided there since, claiming that the local water and clay (which contains a large amount of iron oxide) were very suitable for the yaki-ire (hardening process) of sword manufacture.
- He also smelted his own tamahagane steel at home.After the Second World War the American occupying forces prohibited the manufacture of traditional swords in Japan.
- When the ban was partially lifted, Amata was awarded an official swordsmith's licence from the Cultural Properties Protection Committee in 1954; that same year he won the Yushu-wo prize at the first National Sword-Forging Competition.An illness at 33 rendered Amata an invalid for eight years.
- However, after his recovery he went on to win the Masamune Prize (the highest accolade) at the New Katana Sword Exhibition in 1968; he also won the same award at the Sword-Forging Competition in 1977, 1985 and 1996.
- In 1997 he was named as a Living National Treasure of Japan.Amata was the Chairman of the All Japan Swordsmith's Association and a director of the Nihon Bijutsu Token Hozon Kyokai.
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