Nangū Taisha

Nangu Taisha.

In the small town of Tarui in Gifu Prefecture, just steps from the historic battlefield of Sekigahara — where, in the year 1600, a single day of fighting decided the next two and a half centuries of Japanese history — sits a shrine devoted to metal.

Iron, copper, gold, silver. The work of finding ore underground, the work of melting it, the work of shaping it into tools and weapons and coins. All of this has been honored here for over two thousand years.

In the same valley, even today, master swordsmiths still forge blades by hand, working the way their predecessors did centuries ago. The shrine hosts an annual Forge Festival each November, where smiths from across the country gather to light fires, hammer red-hot steel, and offer the work to the unseen.

The current main hall was rebuilt in 1642 by the third Tokugawa shogun, Iemitsu. The vermillion gate, the bell tower, the worship hall — all designated National Important Cultural Properties. Walking through them is walking through the last great age of pre-modern Japanese craftsmanship.

The world made by hand is mostly gone now. Most of what we use comes from machines we will never see, made of metal pulled from mines we will never visit.

But once a year, in this small valley, the old way still happens. Hands. Hammer. Fire. The blade emerges, watched by the same shrine that watched the first one, two thousand years ago.

Some places remember exactly how things used to be made.