Swordsmith of Katana

At Seki swordsmithing museum. The gist is follows:
1. Swordsmithing by Katana Kaji or Japanese swordsmith.
2. Other professionals' work manufacturing Japanese sword
3. We joined experiential learning of swordsmithing and...
4. Swords are the most important weapon in Japan. And there are several
    manufacturing districts. Seki is one of them and is influential...

Japanese swordsmithing by a traditional method.

Three young boys are standing surrounding their master. They have sledgehammer one by one and are awaiting the signal of their master. Soon, a glowed iron ingot is brought out from highly-heated charcoal. The master hits a small work-table with his hammer as a signal what will happen next. As soon as the iron ingot is put on the working table, the first sledgehammer's stroke brings down on it. Sparks come off in all direction even at our feet 10 meters away from the table. Audiences' commotion fills all around the venue. 

Second and third strokes are thrown down in no time. Every moment, the glowed iron sparkles and it is forged bit by bit. This is a scene of an event viewing a performance of sword-forging by real swordsmith. The Seki Kaji Densho-kan museum at Seki city, Gifu prefecture holds this event several times a year. 

  
We were very much inspired by this event, so, we also joined an experiential tour and enriched our understanding about Japanese swordsmith. During the tour, we experienced forging real iron ingots heated to high temperature, and engraved on a surface of products. After practising, we grabbed real Japanese swords in our hands. 

Seki Kaji Densho-kan

Our's was an one-day experiential tour, but contents are changeable by demands of participants. And some enthusiastic group will experience a few days tour includes a series of simulations to make one whole product. Even though we experienced only one-day, we were deeply impressed going into the world of Japanese sword we had never met.


How to manufacture Japanese swords?

Seki city is one of the five districts where are famous as producing "Katana" or Japanese swords. We learned this information from the real swordsmith who lectured us. We weren't familiar with history of swordsmiths' groups before this tour. But, experiencing this tour, we learned "Katana" had played important roles here and there in Japanese history. Japanese swords have been made by "Katana-kaji" or swordsmiths. What do they actually take part in a process of making Japanese swords? We want to consider this question first. 

Japanese sword can be separated in several parts but its main item is a crescent moon shape, shining silver mass of iron. These weapons were used by Sengoku warriors killing each other especially during the period of the warring states. The special feature of them is single-sided processing to cut somebody down and another side is not processed to do but to protect the owner of it. The side of cutting is slightly warped, and total shape also becomes curved shape.

They have a large number of shapes which are different depending on their production periods. For example, the oldest one's feature is a double-edged blade. And the next oldest one's is a single-edged blade which has a big curve and the very long length. Roughly saying, curves in the blades became lessen and the length also became shorter with the progress of the time. So, we can guess their production periods from their shapes.

It's not completed by only its body but also by many items to decorate. We can explain only a few major ones next, even though there are many.

"Togi" work is to sharpen a sword body forged by swordsmith using a variety of whetstones and to make its brilliance and beauty revealed.

"Tsuka" work is to make a hilt or a handle of a sword by wrapping in shark skin and coiling braids on it.

"Tsuba" work is to make a handguard with steel which separate a hint and a blade and that is also beautifully chiseled.

"Shirogane" work is to make connecting area between a blade and a hint.

"Saya" work is to make a scabbard which sheathes a sword.


These items are made by each specialist, and they are belonging to professional groups across several generations. It's a composite art made by a variety of specialists. 

Person who produces blades from raw steel materials is "Katana-kaji" or swordsmith. When someone orders a Japanese sword, the swordsmith-master undertakes the whole work in his responsibility. Firstly, he makes a blade until the states roughly finished. And, following his work, many specialists (we mentioned in the previous paragraph) make other parts of it. In this way, a Japanese sword is made by flawless division of work. It takes about half a year to finish the whole work usually. 

First of all, we will follow swordsmith's work roughly. Stone-like superimposed lump of steel (raw material of a blade) is prepared at the beginning. The lump decrepitates by charcoals heated to high temperature, then refined by hitting with sledgehammers. In this section, the master uses some apprentices in hitting process. By hitting it, impurities are expelled as sparks. This lump is extended, bent and folded several times over 10 or so. The steel lump becomes pure and strong by going through this process. This is a first step of making a blade. 

In the second step, the master splices several forged steel lumps which have different hardness characteristics (hard, relatively hard, durable and soft). This process is called 'Katame' or hardening. And in the third step, he extends the hardened steel lump into a shape of a sword. It's called 'Sunobe' or molding. 
Finally, with tempering and forging, he makes up a roughly finished product.

Then, process which swordsmith produces is ended, and the next process will be done by another professional. Next processes continue at the hands of many professionals, and after a long process, an artistic Japanese sword is completed. 

'Togi-shi' or a sharpener of sword; he whels and sharpens a forged sword until it shines beautifully.

'Tsukamaki-shi' or a handle craftsman; he wraps the handle of a sword in shark skin and coils wonderfully with fine silk braids.

'Tsuba-shi' or a handleguard craftsman; he makes the handleguard with a steel plate drilling holes, engraving patterns and other many techniques.

'Shirogane-shi'; he makes 'Habaki' or area connecting the blade to the handle and ’Kozuka' or accessory knife and so on.

'Saya-shi' or a sheath craftsman; he makes the scabbard for storing a sword.

Subsequently, we mention our experiential learning at Seki Kaji Densho-kan. We experienced only a little part of swordsmith's work. Forging a lump of steel, hitting by a sledgehammer, making a clump of charcoal which used tempering the lump of steel. And, engraving a surface of steel (swordsmiths engrave their names on the edge of their products). On our tours, total learning time was just one day, and practice time was only few hours excluding description time. There wasn't enough time in one day tour to do a big deal.

This tour was contrived by the museum. Only 10 participants were able to join this experiential learning. And, two active swordsmiths taught and assisted us during this tour. Not only experience swordsmith's work, but also appreciated real Japanese swords holding our own hands (It's a special bonus for the participants).

Who can join this tour? 
Also elementary school students could join it, if they were in the upper grades.

How much? 
The participation fee for one attendant was 25,000 yen (230 US$), very expensive.


History of Japanese swordsmith

When Japanese people began to produce swords of Japanese style? The origin was not clear. We heard that the first steel sword in ancient Japan was produced around 500 A.D.. It is said that Japanese people started sword-making by imitating imported Chinese swords. Early style swords were double-edged blades and the next style changed single-edged blades with a big curve. Because of this innovation, original Japanese swords were born.

Tachi

This sword which has single-edged blade with a big curve is called 'Tachi'. Swords called 'Tachi' were produced around 1000 A.D.. We can admit 'Tachi' style swords are Japanese style ones. On the other hand, we cannot find the difference between the oldest Japanese swords which had double-edged blades and the Chinese ones.


Katana

When 'Tachi' were active, 'Tachi' and bow-and-arrow were principal weapons in the battle fields. But a long time went on, in the Sengoku period when battles occurred everyday, offensive weapons were shifted to arquebuses and spears. This caused the next change of Japanese swords. They were changed from 'Tachi' for cavalry battles to 'Katana' for infantry battles. To be specific, blade length was shortened to around 70 centimeters and curve became narrow.

By the way, Swordsmiths were gathered in typical several areas depending on periods.There were 5 famous groups around the archipelago. The oldest group was 'Yamato-den' in Nara prefecture. They flourished when a capital located in Nara. The second one was 'Yamashiro-den' in Kyoto prefecture. They moved from Nara because of the transfer of the capital.

The third one was 'Bizen-den' in Okayama prefecture. The reason they flourished was abundant good-quality raw materials of steel near there. Their heyday was around 1100s. We suppose 'Heike' clan originally lived around this area made a big empire in the last few decades of 1100. So, there would be a relationship with them. And the next one was 'Soushu-den' in Kanagawa prefecture. They flourished from 1200s to 1300s. Because there was the center of the Kamakura Shogunate. The final one was 'MIno-den' in Gifu prefecture, and flourished from 1400s to 1500s. Swords mass-made here conquered every battle field during the Sengoku period. 

We don't use 'Katana' in actual purpose now. And consider them as one of art and evaluate their value as art objects. Famous swords were also collecting targets even during the Sengoku period when they were used as general weapons. Famous Sengoku Lords such as Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyashi collected many top-ranking swords and were proud of their collections. So, Japanese swords were regarded as the collecting items from that time.

The beauty of Japanese swords
When we appreciate Japanese swords, these are marked as artifacts nowadays, we have numerous ways to appreciate them. For example, fans evaluate them by the shape of blades such as curve, length, top. And they consider 'Hamon' and 'Hada' as important appreciating points, which are kind of patterns of blades caused mainly by forging. These points are extremely important whether these are first-class or not.

Fans are attracted by not only the blades but also other parts of the swords. Some collectors concentrate into 'Tsuba' or handgardes. Designs of 'Tsuka' or handles of the swords and 'Saya' or scabbards' moldings are sometimes featured as main items of art exhibitions.

When we go back to the beginning of Japanese swords, they are only weapons to kill human beings. However, especially in the process of making them, excessive pursuit of beauty was and is finished up. This two-sideness makes them contradictory products but also ultimately charming. More specifically, their curve and form make them strong and also give them the beauty.


How to visit Seki city?

Seki city is a middle-sized city in the center of Gifu prefecture and it has beautiful nature around the city. On the other hand, traffic convenience to visit there is not good because of the positional relation. This city is in the mountainous region in a central district of Japan.

Nagaragawa-tetsudo

For your information, our experiential learning started at 10 AM. We barely managed to arrive in time riding the first train. 

From an observatory in the Asakura mountain at the center of Seki city, we looked out over the city area. The scenery was not so unusual and several mountains near the city area.

Seki city