Month: July 2024

The 3rd Yamagata Token Ichi was successfully held for three days from Friday, July 26th at the Yamagata International Exchange Plaza (Yamagata Big Wing), with the cooperation of Santoryu and Keichodo. 
Since the day before, there was a strong rain in the Mogami and Shonai regions of Yamagata Prefecture that reached record levels, and a special heavy rain warning was announced. I would like to express my heartfelt condolences to those affected by this disaster.
This was the third time we held the Yamagata Token Ichi and many sword connoisseurs came to visit. The local newspaper “Yamagata Shimbun”  published an article about the event in their morning edition and that attracted many visitors as well as members of the NBTHK Yamagata branch and members of the Yamagata Prefecture sword registration judges. I felt the event has been more and more recognized by local connoisseurs.  We also had a customer who operates a bonsai tree business who searched for a year to find the perfect bonsai tree to display in my shop. You can see in the photo just how beautiful it is. The event was successful and I really appreciate the work of my staff and all the supporters.  Next year, we are planning to hold the 4th Yamagata Token Ichi for three days starting Friday, April 25th. We will do our best to make this an event that sword enthusiasts in Yamagata Prefecture will look forward to.  

I invited young sword dealers who participated in the Noda-kai Sword Auction that we sponsored, and held a study session at the Tokyo Nishikasai store where Nobuo Nakahara Sensei taught as the instructor. After the study session we had a gathering at a local restaurant to discuss ideas and feedback.  I believe that the growth of young sword dealers will lead to the progress and prosperity of Noda-kai, so we will continue to hold this event every other month.  

June is the end of our company’s fiscal year. Our staff and business partners travel together on an overseas trip as a reward for the year of hard work and to revitalize ourselves. 2024 marks the 10th overseas trip that also includes the Okinawa trip during the Covid crisis. This year we spent 3 nights and 5 days relaxing in Cebu, Philippines.  Everyone had a great time and we enjoyed the sights and foods of Cebu.  All of our staff thoroughly enjoyed this trip and are looking forward to next year’s trip, which will motivate us to work harder for another year. We will do our best again this year to provide our customers with the highest level of satisfaction at Token Matsumoto!