With newfound inspiration, Kamimura decided to follow in the footsteps of his great-grandfather, a Japanese immigrant and renowned blacksmith. “My full name is Neil Teiji Kamimura—Teiji was my great grandfather,” says Kamimura. “He owned a shop in Hilo from 1930 until 1990 and was the first Japanese immigrant to own a business in the state of Hawaii in 1932.”
Teiji’s original shop sign now resides in the Japanese American National Museum. In his honor, Kamimura stamps a signature letter “T” into every completed blade.
Kamimura swinging his custom Japanese-style dog head hammer.Photo: Toy Munkee
Forged in fire
In his forge, built from “garbage and half a broken anvil”, Kamimura worked day and night for six months straight, emerging with 70 completed knives and a raw but refined skill that earned him a competitive spot on the show Forged In Fire. “I may not have been the most experienced or best knifemaker, but I could forge knives while you sleep, while you’re on vacation, when you’re too frustrated to continue. I won’t go home until the work is done. My talent is horsepower and my determination is torque,” says Kamimura.
Kamimura won the show and was invited back for a championship.
The appearance on Forged in Fire indubitably eased the launch of Kamimura’s knifemaking career. But it was his mental fortitude that enabled him to continue pursuing knifemaking techniques for thousands of hours with limited resources.
“There wasn’t a master bladesmith here on the island to train with, so I ordered a lot of DVDs and read a lot of books,” says Kamimura. “This made it difficult, but also had the biggest impact on developing my own technique and style.”
Special weapons
Among a long list of collectors of Kamimura’s knives, Jason Momoa has not only built up a nice-sized assemblage, but also hired Kamimura to create special weapons for his character, Baba Voss, in the Apple TV+ series See. “Jason has a lot of my knives,” says Kamimura. “But for the show, I made various weapons for him including a katana and the recurve knife he uses at the end of Season 2.” With limited time, Kamimura and his team worked 16 hours a day for three weeks straight. They made a katana, tanto, and wakizashi for the series.