KOKAN NAGAYAMA is one of the great contemporary sword polishers. He
has been designated a mukansa ("without supervision") polisher, a
level above the regular sword-polisher ranking system. He is a
judge of both the sword polishing and swordsmithing competitions of
the Nihon Bijutsu Token Hozon Kyokai or NBTHK (Society for the
Preservation of Japanese Art Swords), for which organization he
serves as an instructor of sword polishing. In 1967 in Kanagawa
Prefecture he founded the Nagayama Kenshujo (Nagayama Japanese
Sword-polishing Institute), where he taught the art of polishing to
both polishers and smiths for twenty years. He has organized
several token-kai (sword study groups) and instructed hundreds of
sword enthusiasts.
KENJI MISHINA, the translator, is a sword polisher who served as
chief instructor at the Nagayama Kenshujo for seven years beginning
in 1979. He has been authorized by the Japanese government to
restore swords designated as kokuho (national treasures) and juyo
bunkazai (important cultural assets). He has been awarded numerous
prizes in the sword polishing competitions of the NBTHK. He lived
in England for six years beginning in 1986, where he worked for the
British Museum, lectured at the monthly meetings of the Token
Society of Great Britain, and received a request from the British
royal family to polish its sword collection. He is currently
writing a series of articles on the Japanese sword for this site.
He is the translator of The New Generation of Japanese Swordsmiths.
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