Learn Blacksmithing & Bladesmithing in Seki, Gifu

Honest level: Observer -> Apprentice — ask the school exactly how far that goes in the time you have.

6-Day Tamahagane & Knife Course

A six-day residential bladesmithing course on the Shimanto River in rural Kochi: three days of traditional tatara iron-making, smelting and refining steel from beach-sand magnetite, followed by three days forging a knife from the tamahagane the participant helped produce. Run in English and Japanese by smith Nobuya Hayashi (24 years' experience), with a Canadian apprentice assisting English-led sessions. This is a far deeper option than the single-day Seki/Gifu forging experiences, which do not run multi-day residential courses.

Next sessions: 2026-09-14 · 2026-12-14

A genuine week-long residential course at a working smithy where you smelt your own steel then forge a blade, English-taught and small-group — the immersive, at-the-source standard the seed's one-day Seki sessions could not meet.

JPY 330,000 for 2026 sessions (JPY 440,000 from 2027)

Schools in Seki, Gifu

Checked by hand against each school's own course pages. No school paid to be listed.

• Workshop Kurogane (Nobuya Hayashi)
  6-Day Tamahagane & Knife Course
  A six-day residential bladesmithing course on the Shimanto River in rural Kochi: three days of traditional tatara iron-making, smelting and refining steel from beach-sand magnetite, followed by three
  https://www.workshop-kurogane.com/
• Seki Traditional Swordsmith Museum (forging demonstrations & study)
  Monthly public swordsmith forging demonstration
  Part of the Sekiterrace complex in Seki, the Traditional Swordsmith Museum preserves the town's 700-year swordmaking heritage and stages monthly public forging demonstrations by licensed smiths at a working smithy with a close viewing platform.
  https://visitgifu.com/see-do/seki-traditional-swordsmith-museum/
• Seki swordsmith ateliers (Kanemoto/Magoroku lineage workshops)
  Seki's working swordsmith ateliers in the Kanemoto/Magoroku lineage continue traditional nihonto forging in the city, but no single official school site or named multi-day program could be verified.
• Seki Hamono (Cutlery) District craft workshops
  Seki Hamono Museum / Cutler Sansyu blade-craft experiences
  Seki's cutlery district, one of the world's noted blade towns alongside Solingen and Sheffield, offers craft experiences such as those at the Cutler Sansyu / Seki Hamono Museum where visitors engage with knife-making and sharpening traditions.
  https://visitgifu.com/see-do/cutler-sansyu-seki-hamono-museum/

The credential

ABS Journeyman Smith, then Master Smith stamp (forged-blade performance & test) · Certifying body: ABS (American Bladesmith Society) for bladesmithing; college diplomas for artist-blacksmithing

A recognised qualification an outside body stands behind is not the same as a certificate a school prints itself. We name which it is — you should ask the school the same.

Also for Blacksmithing & Bladesmithing

What I check before I send you anywhere

I'm Arnaud. I cook for a living, and I've spent fifteen years on the water — so I know the difference between a real school and a good-looking website. I built the Atlas because I got tired of the second kind. Here is what a place has to clear before it goes on here, and what I'll tell you straight when it doesn't.

• The craft is actually alive there. A working scene, with people who do this every day — not a demo put on for visitors.
• There's a real teacher behind it. Named, still practising, and certified where the craft has certificates.
• The credential is what it claims to be. A state diploma and a certificate a school prints itself are not the same thing. I check which, and I say which.
• I tell you how sure I am. Most pages here are verified by hand. A few say "still checking" — I'd rather admit that than pretend.
• Nobody pays to be here. No commission, no selling the trip. The order on this map is the strength of the community, never the size of the wallet.
• If I wouldn't send a friend, it isn't on the map.