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Published: November 30th 2008
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Sword Museum - West Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
My first day in Tokyo! Since I have a long weekend for Thanksgiving, I decided to travel to Tokyo. The first place I went to in Tokyo was the Sword Museum in West Shinjuku. The museum was small but I received an information packet with tons of interesting facts about samurai swords. Below is some of what it included:
Manual for Appreciating the Japanese Sword The
Nipponto (Japanese sword) is said to have virtually no parallel in any other forms of art made of iron. Our ancestors pursued aesthetic beauty even in arms and armor and swords were revered as treasures. Each sword is characterized by its refined shapre, thoroughly forged and polished steel surface and beautiful temper pattersm which represent specific eras and schools of its maker.
What we call
Nipponto includes various forms of blades such as
ken,
naginata, and
yari in addition to the more common
tachi,
katana,
wakizashi, and
tanto.
Tachi: When you look at swords in museums, those displayed with the sharp edge down are called
tachi. From the Heian through the early part of the Muromachi period, swords were worn slung from a cord
tied around the hip.
Tachi usually have a high curvature,
sori, and the length is usually between 65 and 70 cm.
Katana: This form of blade replaced
tachi in the middle of the Muromachi period and was in use until the very end of the Edo period. They were 60.6 cm long or more, but usually they are somewhat shorter than
tachi. Contrary to the way a
tachi was worn, a
katana was stuck in the waist sash with its edge facing up. The term
katana also includes those swords which were originally made as
tachi but were shortened by
suriage. They are displayed in the same manner as ordinary
katana. Some of the swords produced in the
Shinto period by a group of swordsmiths in the Hizen province, and also those produced in the
Shin-shinto period at the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate regime, were formed in the
tachi style.
Wakizashi: Swords in lengths between 30.3 cm and 60.6 cm are called
wakizashi, and were worn on the waist like
katana. Those that are fairly short, around 36-40 cm are classified
ko-wakizashi. During the Momoyama and the ensuing Edo period, a
wakizashi was worn with a
katana as a
dai-sho (a pair of large and small swords).
Tanto: Swords shorter than 30.3 cm are called
tanto.
Koshi-gatana is another word for those very short swords. In old days, the term
katana meant
tanto.
Chronological Characteristics of Japanese Swords 1.
Jokoto (Ancient times): References for this ealiest period in swords history are found among those excavated from ancient burial mounds (4th-9th centuries) and the treasures preserved in the Shosoin built in the Nara period (8th-10th centuries). The prototypes of the Japanese sword has no curvature, and were mostly formed in
hira-zukuri (flat, ridgeless) or in
kiriha-zukuri (longitudinal ridge parallel and close to the cutting edge).
2.
Late Heian - early Kamakura period (12th century): The curved and ridged blade familiar to us as
shinogi-zukuri tachi came into existence about this time. In addition to the ridges incorporated in the blade structure, this type of blade was characterized by a marked difference in width between the tip and the base. Also the curvature was marked with
koshizori emphasized at the base and [funbari forming a strong stretching line toward the back of the point.
3.
Middle Kamakura period (mid-13th century): This period coinciding with the
heigh of the
samurai power based around the eastern capital of Kamakura gave birth to a most stately
tachi form consisting of ample thickness (
kasane), little tapering in blade width toward the point, and ample convex curvature in the blade surface between the cutting edge and longitudinal ridge placed slightly closer to the back. The most popular kind of temper pattern was flamboyant
choji.
Tanto were also manufactured in large numbers.
4.
End of Kamakura period (Early 14th century): The blade shape became even more sturdily built and stately with a marked and almost uniform width throughout its length. The point also became larger. The new kinds of temper patterns named
gunome (zigzag) and
notare (wavy undulation) began to appear. Later,
nioi-structured temper patterns developed to a more
nie-dominant structure. Goro-nyudo Masamune in Soshu was a master smith who prefected the so-called
nie-deki style of swordmaking.
5.
Nanbokucho (Middle to late 14th century): This period in the history of swordmaking features extraordinary long
tachi measuring over 90.0 cm.
Tanto were also made in larger measurements formed in the
hira-zukuri or ridgeless style. Many of those long
tachi were later shortened to be
katana.
6.
Early Muromachi period (Late 14th - Late 15th centuries): The early Kamakura style swordmaking was revived and many kinds of
tanto and
wakizashi were manufactured accordingly.
7.
Late Muromachi period (Mid-16th century): In these warlike decades the predominant form of combat changed from calvary action to massive infantry troop action. A type of sword called
uchigatana worn cutting edge down through a sash wound around the hip gained popularity. After the civil wars in the O'nin and Bunmei eras in the middle of the 15th century, local battles broke out in many parts of the land and necessitated massive supplies of practical blades called
kazu-uchi-mono. To discriminate high quality custom-made works from those less carefully made ones, the former are called
chumon-uchi. The Bizen and Mino provinces were the two major producers of such factory-made swords.
8.
Momoyama period (1573-1614): In the history of
Nipponto the swords manufactured prior to the Keicho era (1596-1614), which falls at the very end of the Momoyama period, are called
Koto (old swords), while those made afterwards up to the Bunka-Bunsei eras in the Tokugawa Shogunate Regime or Edo period are called
Shinto or
Arami (new swords). Swordsmiths gathered around castle towns cuilt by provincial feudal warlords. Develipment in transportation facilitated the supply of steel and other materials for maufacturing swords. It was this time when imported steel called
Namban-tetsu was added to the line of materials by some smiths.
9.
Edo period (From Kan'ei and Shoho eras, 1624-43, 1644-47, up to the beginning of the Bunka era, 1804): The peace prevalent atmosphere of the society was reflected in the novel, flamboyant temper patterns innovated during this period.
10.
End of the Shogunate (Bakumatsu) period: The swords made since the Bunka and Bunsei eras are called either
Shin-shinto (neo-new swords) or
Fukkoto (revival swords). Suishinshi Masahide from Uzen Yamagata and Nankai Taro Choson from Tosa produced swords in Edo in their attempts to reproduce the styles and craftsmanship of
Koto days. Taikei Naotane was Suishinshi's top student. Minamoto Kiyomaro from Shinshu also tried to reproduce swords in the Soshu and Mino Shizu styles in the wake of the revival movement and gained a high reputation for his outstanding accomplishment.
11.
Since the Meiji era (1868-): With the arrival of modern times, a decree to prohibit the wearing of swords deprived swordsmiths of their profession. In 1906 however, the Imperial government assigned two contemporary master swordsmiths to the positions called the Imperial Arts and Crafts Artisans and thus the technology of swordmaking was assured of its survival. The present day sword world has since become prosperous and many artisans are involved in sword manufacture and interested in mastery of higher skills.
If you managed to read all that, good on you. You should get a prize or something...seriously!
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Mitch Lymann
non-member comment
Location
An address would be nice!