Japanese Swords

It is not possible to talk about Samurai without talking about their swords. During the ages they radically changed in form and, at the end, even in meaning.

Japan early history is highly affected by the continent and its more ancient cultures. The culture of the Yayoi period was surely strongly subject to the influence of Korea and thru this peninsula the most important innovations arrived in Japan. Rice cultivation and iron tools and related technology were introduced at the end of the Jomon era. Iron tools and weapons helped the Japanese to enhance their living. In the first stage of its development Japan imported iron tools and weaponry from the continent and continental craftmen immigrated in Japan. Oldest metal swords on record in Japan are the two that were sent as a present to queen Himiko from China during Wei-dynasty in 240 a.D. In 280 a.D. many more iron swords were imported from China to Japan. Soon after the Japanese begun to forge and manufacture their own blades. We do know that in the 5th century steel swords were already made in Japan. These were of the straight, single-edged type called Chokuto. The method of hardening the steel that is so typical of Japanese swords was first used in 6th century. Very ancient sources as the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki already quotes swords as highly valuable weapons and objects of worship. This is confirmed by the number of swords found in Kofun and the high number of swords which belongs to Shrines. Its debated how many activities were visualized with the ancient polishing methods but is undeniable that, in early times, the beauty of the Japanese sword was only caused by the pursuit of its practical functions as a weapon. Already in the VI century b.C. we have the insurgence of a Japanese taste in fittings but the design of the blades was still strongly influenced by the continent, being the fighting tactics equally imported from China and mainly based on masses of footsoldiers with spears and shields. There is an old saying regarding Japanese swords: Orenai, Magarani, Yoku Kireru (shouldn't break, shouldn't bend and cuts well). These are the most important qualities a sword must have and Japanese swordmakers (Tosho) made great efforts in searching for improvement of the Chinese specimens. When these tactics changed due to the fight against Emishi for domain of the Kanto plain, the advantages of a curved sword for horseback fighting begun evident to the japaneses, that already showed their attitude to practicality and skillfullness in adopting foreign items adapting and upgrading them to their needs. As long as the original purpose of the sword is of a practical nature, it is natural that changes of fighting style and cutting targets have influenced the sword, especially in the shape. For this reason we can judge the approximate age of the sword from the Sugata (Shape) as well as Jihada and Hamon, that are strictly related to functionality. Is generally agreed that the fully developed Japanese sword appearance was around the 940 a.C., period in which we find the most ancient extant swords with all the characteristics needed in the "ideal" japanese sword : single edge differentially hardened with strong curvature. Some of these ancient blades already shows another peculiarity of the japanese sword : a softer steel inner core wrapped by harder steel. It's debated if all such ancient blades are made the same way, but at least some shows that this technology was already used in this period. As this “basic” shape has changed in its key features many times and quiet deeply during the centuries, we need to know the periods in which the history of the japanese sword is divided in.

Academically, Japanese swords are divided in periods as follows :

• Jokoto 上古刀 pre-938,
• early Koto 初古刀 938 ~ 1319,
• middle Koto 中古刀 1319 ~ 1460,
• late Koto 末古刀 1460 ~ 1596,
• Keigen-Shinto 慶元新刀 1596 ~ 1624,
• Kanei-Shinto 寛永新刀 1624 ~ 1658,
• Kambun-Shinto 寛文新刀 1658 ~ 1684,
• Genroku-Shinto 元禄新刀 1684 ~ 1764,
• early Shinshinto 初新々刀 1764 ~ 1818,
• middle Shinshinto 中新々刀 1818 ~ 1854,
• late Shinshinto 末新々刀 1854 ~ 1868,
• Gendaito 現代刀 1868 ~ today.

There is another term we usually find when talking about japanese swords : Shinsakuto 新作刀. This means "recently made swords" and is referred to swords made by a living smith and after 1952 when the 1945 ban of forging swords ended. It's basically a sub-group of Gendaito, because if the smith pass away, for the NBTHK (Nippon Bijutsu Token Hozon Kyokai) Shinsa (judgement) the sword begins Gendaito. (Schiller, Guido)

Another thing we have to consider when fixing a date for a japanese sword is the Eto. Eto is originally a Chinese calender invented in the ancient period. It consists of ten ordinal signs and twelve zodiacal symbols and the combination of both characters makes a cycle of sixty years, the Sexagenary cycle. In Japan the Eto was used not only to count time by years but also to show time by hours (In this case one day is divided into twelve fractions.) and direction. Dates based on Eto can often be seen on the Nakago of the Japanese sword.

A third, very important thing to know about the japanese sword is the way the schools were placed along the eight main roads of ancient japan. In Japan there was a division of the local administration called Go Kinai Shichi Do. Go Ki consists of the capital Kyo (Yamashiro) and four neighbouring provinces. Shichi Do means the provinces along the seven main roads spreading throughout the country. There are eight provinces in the Sanyo Do, eight provinces in the San-in Do, six provinces in the Nankai Do, fifteen provinces in the Tokai Do, thirteen provinces in the Tosan Do, seven provinces in the Hokuriku Do and nine provinces with two islands in the Saikai Do. In Kantei (Attribution), it is very important to know the Go Kinai Shichi Do as the smiths of the same region are to show the regional influence in their work. Therefore the old administrative division is still used in studying the Japanese sword.

• Kinai: Yamashiro (Today's Kyoto prefecture), Yamato (Nara), Settsu (Osaka and Hyogo), Kawachi (Osaka), Izumi (Osaka).Sanyo Do: Harima (Hyogo), Bizen (Okayama), Mimasaka (Okayama), Bitchu (Okayama), Bingo (Hiroshima), Aki (Hiroshima), Su-oh (Yamaguchi), Nagato (Yamaguchi).

• San-in Do: Tanba (Kyoto and Hyogo), Tajima (Hyogo), Inaba (Tottori), Hoki (Tottori), Izumo (Shimane), Iwami (Shimane), Oki (Shimane).

• Nankai Do: Kii (Wakayama and Mie), Awaji (Hyogo), Awa (Tokushima), Sanuki (Kagawa), Iyo (Ehime), Tosa (Kochi).

• Tokai Do: Iga (Mie), Ise (Mie), Shima (Mie), Totomi (Shizuoka), Suruga (Shizuoka), Izu Sagami (Kanagawa), Musashi (Tokyo, Saitama Kazusa (Chiba), Shimofusa (Chiba and Ibaraki) Owari (Aichi), Mikawa (Aichi), (Shizuoka), Kai (Yamanashi), and Kanagawa), Awa (Chiba), , Hitachi (Ibaraki).

• Tosan Do: Ohmi (Shiga), Mino (Gifu), Hida (Gifu), Shinano (Nagano), Kozuke (Gamma), Shimotsuke (Tochigi), Iwaki (Fukushima), Iwashiro (Fukushima), Rikuzen (Miyagi and Iwate), Rikuchu (Iwate and Akita), Mutsu (Aomori and Akita), Uzen (Yamagata), Ugo (Akita and Yamagata).

• Hokuriku Do: Wakasa (Fukui), Echizen (Fukui), Kaga (Ishikawa), Noto (Ishikawa), Etchu (Toyama),

• Echigo (Niigata), Sado (Niigata).

• Saikai Do: Chikuzen (Fukuoka), Chikugo (Fukuoka), Buzen (Fukuoka and Oh¬ita), Bungo (Fukuoka and Oh-ita), Hizen (Saga and Nagasaki), Higo (Kumamoto), Hiyuga (Miyazaki), Ohsumi (Kagoshima), Satsuma (Kagoshima), Iki (Nagasaki), Tsushima (Nagasaki).

(Nagayama Kokan, Token Kantei Dokuhon)

HISTORY OF THE JAPANESE SWORD RELATED TO JAPANESE MAIN HISTORICAL PERIODS

Heian Era (794-1184)

When Kammu Tenno came to power, he moved the capital from Nara to Kyoto. The whole era was characterized by the prevalent tendency toward japanizing the Chinese influences that had came over the sea during the previous centuries. The method of forging a sword with an softer inner core wrapped into an harder steel one was developed during this period. The most ancient swords with this features belongs to the Ko-Bizen tradition and are dated around 950 a.D. This is the time which is going to change to a Samurai government ( Genji and Heike ) from an aristocrat government. After the war happened in the middle stage of Heian Era, the battle style changed. That is, they began to fight on horseback. There is an ancient legend that attribute this revolution in sword making to Amakuni, traditionally belived to be the maker of Kogarasumaru or ‘Little Crow’, the first curved NipponTo, now in the Imperial Household Collection. According to this legend Amakuni was the Emperor’s swordsmith. One day he saw his lord’s army returning from a battle and the Emperor ignored him instead to give the usual cheers for the good work made with the blades. Then he noticed that many soldiers had broken swords. They where chokuto or straight swords. He was so disappointed of this that he avoid to eat food and drink water for a week, studying a better way to make swords. According to the legend Inari, the Kami of swordsmakers, appeared in a dream to Amakuni, teaching him how to wrap a soft steel core in an harder one, and how a curved edge is more suitable to cuts and more resistant to shocks than the previous straight one. The day after Amakuni made Kogarasu Maru, the ancestor of all NihonTo. Heian was the era of tachi. In this period became customary to sign the blades. The oldest signed blade is probably one tachi forged by Sanjo Munechika. The oldest tachi with date as well as the name of the smith engraved on the tang is from 1159 and was made by Naminohira Yukimasa. The shape of a Japanese sword ( Tachi ) in this age is Mihaba ( width ) of near Nakago is wider than that of near Kissaki, so to speak, like a man who standing with keeping his feet. Kissaki is small ( we call it Ko-Kissaki ) and Sori ( curvature ) looks like suddenly fall to the ridge side at right above Nakago. But Sori near Monouchi is little. This shape is refined in a sense. Hawatari (length ) is about 75/80cm. This size is fit to chop the enemy on the ground with riding on Japanese horses. The horses in this age were not like present ones but small and massive. Moreover, it fit to stab the enemy on the ground because the curvature near the point is little and Nakago (tang) is short compared with the percentage of the blade. Hamon is Sugu, straight.

During the Heian era two clans, the Minamoto (Genji) and the Taira (Heike), raised in power and importance. The end of the era is marked by the battle in Dan-No-Ura, where these two clans clashed together. We have here to remember another legend, still source of debates, that said in this battle was lost the Ancestral Sword, Kusanagi-no-tsurugi , part of the ‘Three Jewels’ the most important treasure still in possession of His Imperial Majesty. This ancestral sword was found into the tail of a dragon by the Kami Susano-no-Mikoto , and was, together with the mirror and the claw-like jewel, the symbol of the Imperial Power. Accordingly to this legend it was substituted with another sword, the same we can see in the Imperial Treasure today, other sources said the sword lost was a fake, and the original one still remain in the Imperial Treasure.

Kamakura Era (1184-1333)

After defeating the Taira clan at Dan-No-Ura, Minamoto no Yorimoto moved his shogunate to Kamakura. Emperor Gotoba, the formal ruler, remained in Kyoto. This also marked the beginning of the rule of the samurai class. Kamakura became the cultural capitol, and swordsmiths from all over the country gathered there. These are the days of Masamune and his Jittetsu (ten disciples). Today is generally agreed that best blades were made in this period and, for quality and beauty, still remains at the top.

Kamakura swords can be divided into three sub-periods :

• Early Kamakura (1184-1231) :

In this period, the Kamakura shogunate and court nobles in Kyoto scrambled for political power. And internal trouble broken out in the Kamakura shogunate. Therefore, demand of swords increased all over the country. This period is a transitional period from the refined shape in the last stage of Heian Era to the mighty shape in next period. Sori ( curvature ) does not look like suddenly fall to the ridge side at right above Nakago and the center of Sori moved upper in comparison with the previous period. We call Sori like this " Koshi-zori ". It means the sword curved at waist of a blade. The width near Kissaki is not so different from that of near Nakago, and Kissaki became little bigger. A standard length of this period is about 79cm. Hamon in this period is based on Sugu-ha, straight. The swords until this period are made in Ko-Nie. Swords made in Nioi did not exist yet.

• Middle Kamakura (1232 - 1287) :

After the war happened in 1232, Hojo family held real power and Kamakura shogunate reinforced their authority. Kamakura became the center of Samurai culture and the demand of sword increased. Kamakura shogunate called in some sword smith who have superior skill from Kyoto and Okayama. They moved with family and Kamakura became the center place of the production of swords. The shapes in this period did not remain copies of the older period but changed to be more mighty. The width became to be greater, but there is no difference between the width near the Kissaki and near Nakago. Thickness also became greater. Moreover, Kissaki became to be Ikubi-Kissaki and the edge became to be Hamaguri-ba because of the edge became to be thick. Hamaguri means a clam, and we call it because the cross section of the blade looks like a clamshell. Sori is Koshi-zori and the center of Sori moved more upper and Nakago became to be a little longer then that of former period. About Hamon, the brilliant patterns became to be conspicuous. Especially Fukuoka-Ichimonji school in Bizen ( Okayama prefecture ) made the so-called Obusa-Choji or Juka-Choji and they became to be popular. Obusa means the shape of the head of Hamon ( round part of Hamon ) looks like a big bunch of Choji and Juka means Choji overlapped each other. And a lot of Tanto became to be made from this period. The characteristic is Hira-zukuri and they curved toward the edge. That is, the blade curved contrary to the normal . We call this curvature Uchi-zori or Takenoko-zori. But originally the blade were straight, and the thin edge were polished again and again, then the width of the edge decreased. Therefore it looks as if it curved the reverse way. Hawatari is about 25cm.

• Late Kamakura (1288 -1333) :

The Mongolian invasions attempt of 1274 and 1281 greatly influenced the Japanese sword. Until this period the method of battle in Japan was based on single duels, with rituals as exchanging names and genealogies each other before fight with no organized formations and tactics. On the contrary Mongolians attacked suddenly in organized formations following tactics. Moreover, their armor were tough and they used weapons which Japanese have never seen before as gunpowder hand-grenades and rockets. Their armors were light and they could move fast. After that the Japanese armors became to be lighter and sword's shape changed to make them able to chop the light armor without being entrapped and then broken in them. The former blade was Hamaguri-ba. When you chop a hard thing, Hamaguri-ba is suitable, but the armors began to be light and thin in this period. So the blade in this period became to be thin compared with the one of former period. And Kissaki became to be Chu-Kissaki (medium length). That is, Kissaki got longer because when Ikubi-Kissaki was damaged, no room for restoration was available. When you stab the enemy, Chu-Kissaki is suitable. Ikubi-Kissaki was wider then Chu-Kissaki. Mihaba ( width ) becomes to be narrow. This shape looks like the refined one of the first stage of Kamakura, but Kissaki in this period is bigger and the center of Sori moved up. In this way, if the edge became to be thin, strength of the blade decrease. Therefore, you have to make Mihaba wide and if Mihaba become wide, Kissaki become to be bigger. The peak like this change is Odanbira in the next Northern and Southern Dynasties. The Mongolian Invasions influenced Hamon, too. Obusa-Choji and Juka-Choji was giving way to Choji-ha based on Sugu-ha or Kataochi-gunome, because the blade with very wide Ha is easy to break. Swordsmiths realized it from experience. Ha is harder than the other parts. If the harder part hold the most of the blade, the blade is easy to break because the blade can not absorb the shock. And the top of Hi (grooves) invariably stop lower. This is made to leave room for repair when Kissaki is damaged. In this period, Tanto increased in number and there is characteristic shape. That is, Nakago is curved. This Tanto is called "Mete-zashi ". Samurai put on this Tanto when they wore armor and they put it on the right-side of their waist, handle facing right to be easy unsheathed when armor were in contact with each other, as in a grappling close combat is expected. This Mete-zashi is to stab enemy through a crevice of armors or cut off his neck, so Mihaba is narrow.

• WORK IN PROGRESS....

The most important change, anyway, occurred in Momoyama era, when the Katana finally replaced the Tachi as main sword of the Samurai. The difference between a Tachi and a Katana is, to make an incredibly difficult thing the easiest possible, the position of the Mei (signature). The signature must be on the part of the blade that faces outside. So as Tachi is worn edge-down and Katana is worn edge-up, the signatures are placed in opposite positions. In absence of a signature the mounting is often the only difference between the two types of swords. Obviously this change was more a slow evolution rather then a sudden revolution. So we have a lot of blades that are "in between" that can't be easily put in a specific category. The wearing of DaiSho (Daito/Shoto,long/short sword, meaning Katana and Wakizashi) begun in this period. Basically a backup blade was always carried by Samurai, but the fashion of having a matched pair of mountings for main and backup sword started here. This is a very crucial change in the japanese sword history and, as already said, is the result of an evolution. To explain the (slow) switching from the ancient fashion to the new one we've to deal with the meaning of the term Wakizashi. It's made by two words "Waki" (side, secondary) and "Zashi" (from Sasu, "to insert"). In the sword context it means "to insert between the Obi", i.e. a sword to be worn inserted between the Obi. Tachi requires another verb, "Haku", to wear "hanging" from the waist. Backup swords were carried by Samurai from the very beginning of their history, and they were usually inserted "between the Obi". So Wakizashi in ancient times referred to any sword that was secondary to the Tachi and worn inserted in the Obi with no reference to its lenght. In Koto times back-up blades spread from Yoroi-Doshi (armor piercing daggers), Chiisagatana (shorther then Katana) and Koshigatana, all always worn inserted in the Obi but the Koshigatana, that a few times was worn hanging from Obi. The length, in these times, wasn't an issue to qualify a blade as "Wakizashi" and the term "Daisho" in the meaning of "Daito and Shoto" (pair of long and short swords) wasn't in use yet. There is a document quoting that Oda Nobunaga wore (with the kanji used for the meaning "inserted between obi") a set of DaiSho. So is safe to say that was between Tenbun and Eiroku (1532 - 1569) that this fashion was adopted by Samurai, most likely having already been adopted by lower ranks troops sometime earlier. During the Momoyama were fixed the first official criteria to differentiate types of swords according to their lenght creating the categories we find later on, Katana, Wakizashi, Tanto and imposing who were allowed to wear what type of sword, but these regulamentations weren't really fully applied. The strict regulamentation was, anyway, only a matter of time.

In Shoho 2, (1645 a.C.) "The Order Regarding Dai-Sho Katana and Hair Style" fixed the maximum length of Katana to be 2 shaku and 8 to 9 sun (84.84 cm - 87.87 cm), and Wakizashi to be 1 shaku and 8 to 9 sun (54.54 cm - 57.57 cm). In Kanbun 8 (a.d 1668) the Tokugawa Shogunate issued the famous Muto Rei, (No Sword Order), a law that firmly prohibit the commoner class carrying/wearing any swords longer than "Ko-Wakizashi" (i.e., small wakizashi) unless specifically permitted by the government. According Muto Rei, "Ko-Wakizashi" is defined as a sword with blade length shorter than 1 shaku and 5 sun (45.54cm).

Others edicts followed to fix blade lenghts for high-ranking Samurai and Hatamoto when on duty in Edo and in the mid-Edo period we can find what is generally accepted as the today's standard lenghts for japanese swords blades :

• Tanto - to be shorter than 1 shaku (= 30.3cm)

• Wakizashi - to be from 1 shaku (= 30.3cm) to 1 shaku 9 sun 9 bu (= 60.297cm); but more

specifically,

• • Ko-Wakizashi (i.e., small wakizashi) to be from 1 shaku (= 30.3cm) up to 1 shaku 4 sun 9 bu (= 45.147cm);

• • Chu-Wakizashi (i.e., mid size wakizashi) to be from 1 shaku 5 sun (= 45.45cm) to 1 shaku 7 sun 9 bu (= 54.237cm), and

• • O-Wakizashi (i.e., large size wakizashi) - to be from 1 shaku 8 sun up to 1 shaku 9 sun 9 bu (= 60.297cm);

• Katana - to be 2 shaku (=60.6cm) and longer.

Blade lenghts are always measured streight between the Hamachi and the Kissaki.

Since the official adoption of the metric system in 1891, the traditional length units of "shaku," "sun" and "bu" are no longer used. The legal designations of Tanto, Wakizashi, and Katana by their length under today’s Japanese laws are as follows :

• Tanto - to be 30cm or shorter;
• Wakizashi - to be longer than 30cm but shorter than 60cm;
• Katana (and Tachi) - to be 60cm or longer

This legal classification sometimes doesn't matches with the academical one that is more complex, impling the way in which the blade was originally intended to be worn (Tachi or Katana) and its purpose. An academically called Sunnobi-Tanto, because it is always a little longer then one Shaku (30.3 cm) is legally speaking a Wakizashi. (Takeuchi, Alexander)

The following layout shows the main (NOT all) Sugata (shape) changes of the japanese sword with period and lenght (in shaku, 1 shaku = 30.3022 cm or 11.93 inches) from right to left, first line first. Obviously an infinite number of possible mix are found, but these are the most common ones. When you're reading about a Samurai fighting in the late Kamakura, most likely his sword had the shape you'll find hereunder. Thanks to Valdek Laur for it.

((See also Japanese Sword Handle Visual Glossary and Japanese Sword Visual Glossary))

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