The fundamental technique of Japanese sword making is the quest to harmonise strength with flexibility. The strength of a blade comes from its hardness and ability to deal armour shattering strikes again and again with its razor sharp edge. The flexibility comes from the blades quality of absorbing the energy of the impact without shattering and leaving its owner without a weapon.

Over centuries, Japanese sword smiths sought the perfect combination of these two attributes in order to produce high quality weapons that could be relied upon on the battlefield.

Eventually the perfect solution was found to be a combination of soft steel surrounded by a harder shield of heat treated steel. A high carbon exterior with a low carbon interior.

Modern swords today are classified as Gendaito. Broadly speaking this identifies blades produced since the Meiji times (1868 onwards). A lot of the expertise and knowledge of sword crafting had been lost in the aftermath of World War Two and blades produced for the officer class at this time were often nowhere near as sophisticated as older examples from previous centuries.

In the latter part of the Twentieth century and after the American occupation, sword making became fashionable again albeit with severe governmental restrictions imposed upon those who pursued the craft. In order to protect Japans cultural heritage and weed out inferior weapons from ever being made, licensed sword smiths would only be able to produce a limited number of items per month. As well as this a period of study of five years with a master would be required by any aspiring sword maker.

Today, Japanese sword craft is highly specialised art which is again attracting younger members of society into its ranks as the knowledge that was lost during the war years continues to be rediscovered. Japanese swords are highly prized by collectors and connoisseurs around the world for their incredible decorativeness and quality and if you ever get the chance to see an exhibition of any of these fine weapons you should not miss it.

Visit http://ninjaswordexpert.com for more articles and info on where to buy a ninja sword.

Mich Andrews

Kiri-e the Japanese art of paper cutting by Renzoh

Comments are closed