View attachment 84675
A morning shave with my newly acquired Kanenaga. A lovely and supremely comfortable shave - thanks
@JamieM !
To my knowledge, there are only two blacksmiths still working in Japan who make razors full-time. The famous one is of course Ryoichi Mizuochi of the Iwasaki workshop, located in Sanjo, Niigata prefecture, a renowned centre for metalwork. The other one operates out of Japan's second metalwork capital, Miki, in Hyoto prefecture. This is Osami Mizuike, who was trained by one of the Henkotsu blacksmiths. He sells his razors under the Kanenaga name, and also produces the razors for Banshu Hamono, a brand of high quality cutlery from this prefecture. Mizuike's chosen medium is Hitachi yellow paper steel (kigami), which is somewhat unusual for razors. Occasionally he will make a blue paper steel razor (aogami). I am really pleased to have been able to acquire one of his razors.
There are a few other blacksmiths still making razors in Japan of course, though they tend to do so alongside making kitchen knives, chisels, planes and kiridashi. I have decided I'd like to try and collect a razor from each of them over time. I still have some blades to look forward to!