Nishikata Ryota: Forging Beauty in Motion

Among Japan’s traditional crafts, tsuiki metalwork—hammer-raised copperware—stands as one of the most enduring and refined. For over three centuries, this craft from Niigata Prefecture has fascinated collectors worldwide.

Each piece begins as a single flat sheet of copper, which is patiently hammered by hand to stretch or contract the material into shape. The result is a seamless form whose strength is matched by its soft radiance. Every strike leaves behind a trace of human rhythm, transforming metal into something that feels alive.

At Seigado, the workshop founded in 1945 by his grandfather, Nishikata Ryota carries on the lineage as its third-generation successor. His work embodies the discipline and evolving artistry that have defined the workshop for nearly eighty years.

Since childhood, Nishikata has been drawn to the joy of making things. His earliest memories are of assembling, disassembling, and reassembling craft kits that came with magazines, determined to make something new out of what was already complete. That curiosity for structure and reinvention never left him.

Though his family had long been making hammered copperware, he did not initially plan to inherit the trade. “I wanted to make things for a living,” he recalls, “but I imagined that would mean design or art.” After studying craft design at university, and as he worked with many different materials, he discovered the appeal of metal itself—and the freedom of the techniques used to shape it. This became a turning point in his career.

Upon graduating, he entered the family workshop. Over the next two decades, he worked alongside his father and younger brother, eventually assuming the role of head artisan in 2022. 

“My father taught me that the work doesn’t end with one perfect piece. The craft lives in repetition, making something over and over until it becomes part of you.” 

He adds that the drive to look beyond convention and pursue ideas others may overlook is a mindset inherited from his grandfather, passed to his father, and now carried by him.

Among Nishikata’s creations, one piece defines both his skill and his spirit: the mimikuchi-uchidashi yuwakashi—a kettle whose body, spout, and mimi, two small ear-like protrusions where the handle is attached, are all raised from a single sheet of copper. The technique to produce this kettle originated about a century ago, but was long considered a lost craft.

This seamless form, both sculptural and functional, requires extraordinary control. It involves countless tools, dozens of stages, and more than a month of patient work. Because of its complexity, only a handful can be made each year. Today, Nishikata is the sole active craftsman in Japan still capable of producing it.

He explains the lineage of the technique with respect. Around 1920, the master metalworker Sasage Kenjiro first developed the method, but it soon disappeared as it was too labor-intensive to sustain. Decades later, Ueno Yoshio, Nishikata’s late mentor, reimagined and revived it from scratch. 

Ueno offered to teach Nishikata the technique just as he was experimenting with difficult methods that most young artisans avoided, presenting his works annually at the prefectural art exhibition. And it was in 2009, when he was thirty, that he asked Ueno to teach him the technique.

“My teacher said, ‘Master the hardest skills now—they will save you one day.’ And he was right.” Just a few years later, as tsuiki metalwork gained international recognition, orders began arriving from around the world. That surge of interest helped establish Seigado’s reputation beyond Japan, and it has remained steady ever since.

Nishikata’s artistry lies in his pursuit of both beauty and usability. “A form must be beautiful, but it also has to work perfectly,” he says. In the mimikuchi-uchidashi kettle, this philosophy is most visible in the spout. The lower part is rounded and full, the tip angled forward in a delicate curve to ensure a clean pour. The balance is subtle, almost anatomical, and is hard to replicate.

Because the kettle is shaped entirely from one sheet, there are no seams that might weaken over time. The integrity of the shape ensures not only aesthetic harmony but also remarkable durability. 

“Without seams, the piece remains whole for generations. It’s both stronger and more beautiful that way.”

His process embodies the rhythm of mastery: a cycle of creation and reflection. “No piece has ever left my hands unfinished or unsatisfactory,” he says quietly. “But months or years later, I always see something I could improve. The next one is always the real challenge.”

Nishikata’s work is also distinguished by its color. Seigado’s copperware is known for its soft yet vivid finishes, achieved through controlled chemical reactions. By immersing the copper in special solutions, the surface slowly transforms: its tone influenced by temperature, humidity, and the condition of the liquid that day.

He describes the process as “equal parts science and feeling.” The golden hue of the mimikuchi-uchidashi kettle, for instance, is created by fusing a thin layer of tin onto the copper and then inducing color through heat. The result is a gentle, aged luster rather than a flashy brilliance. The hammered surface, or tsuchime, catches the light unevenly, revealing delicate shifts in tone.

Encircling the kettle are several faint bands, a subtle striped motif borrowed from Sasage’s original design. “The shadows between the ridges make the form come alive,” Nishikata notes. 

As the only living practitioner of mimikuchi-uchidashi, Nishikata carries both the weight and freedom of tradition. He acknowledges the responsibility while maintaining a modern perspective. “No matter how closely we try, we can never recreate past pieces perfectly,” he reflects. “What we can do is honor those before us by making discoveries through our own work.” 

In his workshop, he continues to produce each kettle by hand alongside his family, guided by the belief that refinement is endless. “I’m grateful to be busy, but I never rest on my laurels.”

"There is no greater recognition than knowing that the pieces I make are used for a very long time,” he says. The surfaces of his kettles bear visible hammer marks—an intentional choice. As the years pass, these raised and recessed textures evolve. The peaks polish naturally through handling, while the valleys darken, accentuating the pattern. To Nishikata, this slow transformation is part of the beauty. “I hope to continue making pieces filled with this kind of appeal,” Nishikata says in closing.

During his university days, Nishikata once dreamed of being an artist, creating sculptural works in metal during late nights and weekends. Today, though his focus has shifted to functional craft, that creative spirit remains embedded in his work. “If someone ever asked me to make art again, I’d love to,” he shares with a smile.

In truth, his exceptional tsuiki pieces already bridge art and use. Each carries the precision of utility and a presence that endures for years to come, a fusion possible through his lifelong connection to art. It is the steady artistry of a man who, through hammer and hand, gives copper both beauty and life.