Yoshindo Yoshihara (1943) is a Japanese swordsmith based in
Tokyo
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
. His family have made swords for ten generations, and he himself learned the art from his grandfather, Yoshihara Kuniie.
Yoshindo himself gained his licence as a smith in 1965.
Yoshihara uses traditional techniques in his work, and uses ''
tamahagane
is a type of steel made in the Japanese tradition. The word means 'precious', and the word means 'steel'. is used to make Japanese swords, daggers, knives, and other kinds of tools.
The carbon content of the majority of analyzed Japanese s ...
'' steel.
Until 1970 he produced swords primarily in the ''Soshu'' tradition of
Masamune
was a medieval Japanese blacksmith widely acclaimed as Japan's greatest swordsmith. He created swords and daggers, known in Japanese as ''tachi'' and ''tantō'', in the Japanese sword#Classification by School, ''Sōshū'' school. However, many ...
, but switched in the 1970s to creating swords in the ''Bizen'' style.
Yoshihara has trained nine apprentices, including his son Yoshikazu who was to take over the business but his son died unexpectedly.
References
Japanese swordsmiths
1943 births
Living people
{{Japan-bio-stub