[VILLAGE Report vol.12] Ended in 1925, returned in 1977 | Shimane Prefecture

North from Okayama. This time, for the first time in this series, a technique that once disappeared completely is the story we will tell.

In 1925, Everything Stopped

Okuizumo, Shimane Prefecture. Since ancient times, this area was a center of tatara ironmaking.

Iron sand and charcoal are placed in a furnace, and people take turns sending in air for three days and three nights to make iron. What can only be obtained from that process is tamahagane steel in total.

Excellent tamahagane steel is an essential material for making Japanese swords. And it can only be made using traditional tatara ironmaking techniques.

That tatara ironmaking, in 1925, ceased all operations. It could not compete with modern steelmaking in either volume or cost. In 1933, the Yasukuni Tatara began producing tamahagane steel for military swords, but that fire also went out with the end of the war in 1945.

Reignition after 32 years

Then In 1977, the Society for Preservation of Japanese Art Swords established the Nittoho Tatara, and production of tamahagane steel was revived.

The reason was simple. Without tamahagane steel, Japanese swords cannot be made. Swordsmiths across the country would lose their material.

In other words, they filled a 32-year gap with the experience of murage master workers who had worked at tatara furnaces in their youth, and with trial and error.

Can Something That Has Disappeared Be Restored?

While writing this series, this was the point where my hands stopped the longest.

To start with the conclusion: it was brought back. But it took 32 years.

If it had been longer, it would probably have been more difficult. If not a single person who had actually done the work remained, recreating it would surely have been far harder.

It was not “we can bring it back anytime,” but “we were still in time.” I think that difference is significant.

At the Okuizumo Tatara and Sword Museum in Okuizumo, you can see this history and tamahagane steel in person.

Turning Moss Growth into Value

There is another craft in Shimane that I like.

Izumo stone lanterns are made mainly from tuffaceous sandstone, Kimachi stone, quarried in the Kimachi district of Matsue City.

The reasons enthusiasts like them are their fire resistance, affordability, and also the fact that moss grows on them easily, giving them an aged patina.

Among many things that promote how resistant they are to dirt, these make change itself into value.

A prefecture that brought back a lost technique, and a stone that welcomes change. Somehow, it felt fitting that they exist in the same place.

Next issue, we head to neighboring Tottori.

References: Shimane Prefectural Government, “List of Shimane Traditional Crafts and Craft Products” and “Izumo Stone Lanterns”; Shimane Official Tourism Information Site, “Nittoho Tatara,” “Okuizumo Tatara and Sword Museum,” and “Shimane Japan Heritage (Tatara)”

—The Value Village Editorial Team

Photo: Indiana jo / CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)