Kiyotada (Shimamura Kouzaburou)

The blacksmith's name is Kouzaburou Shimamura. He has been featured in the "Uchibamono Shokunin" from the knife magazine. He was a very rare "modern Tokyo blacksmith", along with the great master Ichihiro who has saddly just passed away, and another master Nagahiro who is over 80 years old. Most of the production is now in Niigata prefecture (Sanjo and Yoita city) and Hyogo prefecture (Miki city). The rent is too expensive in Tokyo now even for these famous blacksmiths.

Mr. Shimamura has already retired almost ten years ago, and the factory has been demolished recently. This is the kind of chisel Japanese woodworkers and carpenters yearn for. Kiyotada chisels are now almost impossible to get (even I don't think can get them...) after being featured in many books and magazines, and now that he has retired no one and no shops are selling anymore.

The steel is White Steel #1. Restored and sharpened. From the same carpenter I bought Kiyotada Oiire Nomi 1. They were quite rusty but luckily the back was in a good shape. Comes in a roll of the tool shop the carpenter got these chisels from.