備中暉光三輪刃物

Miwa Hamono (備中暉光三輪刃物工場) has forged blades by hand in Niimi, in the hills of Okayama, since 1927, when Miwa Teruo founded the workshop under the blacksmith name Terumitsu. It is now in the hands of the third generation, Hidetoshi Miwa, who forges each blade himself.

Little about how the workshop makes a knife has changed in those decades. Forge-welding, forging, and sharpening are all done by hand, using Yasuki steel (the high-carbon Japanese steel the forge has worked with from the beginning). The materials are chosen for the edge they take and hold, finished by feel rather than to a machine's tolerance.

Miwa is as much a maker of the region's traditional working tools (the sickles, hatchets, and shears used on farm and in forest) as of Japanese kitchen knives, and that practical heritage carries straight into the knives: they are built to be used hard, sharpened, and kept for years, not set aside as showpieces. Locally, the workshop is recognized as one of Niimi's designated specialty products, and the knives are used by home cooks and professional chefs alike both in the area and overseas.