Kenzō Kotani
Japanese swordsmith (1909-2003)
Kenzō Kotani (Japanese: 小谷 憲三, Hepburn: Kotani Kenzō) (also known as Yasunori, 7 January 1909 – 1 March 2003) was the last Yasukuni Shrine swordsmith.
Early history
Kotani Kenzo was born on 7 January 1909 as the eldest son of a toolmaker in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture. In his adolescent years he was apprenticed to his uncle Kajiyama Tokutaro (his mother's brother) who, along with his younger cousin Kajiyama Toshimichi, became sakite (sword assistants). In 1933 they were summoned to Tokyo to work at the Yasukuni Shrine.
The Army and Navy were concerned that the number of swords extant were too few to accommodate the needs of the growing officer corps. With backing from the Household Ministry, the Army Ministry, and the Ministry of Culture, a swordsmithy (the Nihonto Tanrenkai, "Japan sword and forging society") was established on 8 July 1933. Kajiyama Yasutoku and Miyaguchi Yasuhiro were appointed as swordsmiths by Army Minister General Sadao Araki. The kanji 'Yasu' (靖) was taken from the shrine and affixed with a character from their personal names (nanori) to form their sword names. Kotani Kenzo and his cousin Kajiyama Toshimichi were their uncle's assistants.
Yasukuni Shrine 1933–1945
In 1933, Kotani was summoned, along with his uncle and cousin, to Tokyo from Hiroshima to work at the Yasukuni shrine.
“Kenzō Kotani” enters the record as japanese swordsmith (1909-2003). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Kenzō, Kotani and Japanese can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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