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

Armed priests

Our travel journal visiting Hieizan Enryaku-ji temple (birthplace of armed priests). The gist is as follows:
1. Historical assesment of peculiar priests
    ( "Armed priests" who were called "Sou-hei").
2. Buildings and atmosphere inside Hieizan Enryaku-ji temple, 
     one of World Heritage Sites in Japan.
3. Hiyoshi-taisha shrine which was deeply connected with Hieizan.  


To-do

In some periods, "Armed priests" who were called "Sou-hei"  had keys of destiny of Japan. Typical armed priests who became famous firstly were active near Kyoto, an old capital of Japan, and threatened Imperial government there.



Shaka-do

Then the second faze of their activity was carried not only near Kyoto but also all around Japan. And they gathered in temples, and organized huge scales of armies. These temples sometimes took a share of the struggles for regional ruling power and overwhelmed them. In the Sengoku period, some temples had power as big as the Sengoku lords.

Nyoho-do

Possibly, priests in temples should have been the existence saving people by the power of religion. That must haven't been just same in Japan but all over the world. 
They were at the governors' side sometimes and used their knowledge to support the ruling. 
However, in sometimes, they disobeyed governors and helped the ordinary people directly. So, they stood on each side and the important thing was that they used their knowledge but force. The rubrics were ended after the appearance of Sou-hei, because they used their force to push through their own claims. When this activity started and why?


Who was Sou-hei?

What kind of people Sou-hei was? Generally speaking, they were priests belonged large-scale temples and who used weapons instead of studying religions. In the Sengoku period, not only large-scale temples around Kyoto but also regional temples armed and had a huge amount of armed priests with. 
Because this period ordered self defence of the exsistence of temples rather than studying religions. However, the birth of Sou-hei was further earlier time than the Sengoku period. It was approximately 500 years before it, and there is talk that Sou-hei was born at Hieizan Enryaku-ji temple in 966.


Sou-hei written in a drawing

By the top priest of Enryaku-ji temple at that time, the idea of Sou-hei was born. The priest insisted his priority against governmental orders and other temples' arguments. But it was very difficult to persuade others, so, he began to have a little radical thought. By his idea, the temple needed the force to get its way, because it couldn't get even though its teachings were right during the degenerate world. "We have great difficulty to get our enlightenment, if we cannot use force in this degenerate world," was his word. In spite of the top priests but rowdy people, he insisted the idea. So, there was a significant impact at that time.  

The person who produced Sou-hei believed that promotion of the idea of his sect that would save people. Because many of the Japanese around 1000 AD worried that their world would collapse soon, and they couldn't look to the future with hope. When he produced this armed priests, he gave priority to the promotion of his sect's purpose against the violence that their practical ways caused around Japan. He also believed his practical ways were right no matter how radical and enforced as long as the idea of his sect was right.

The purpose of Sou-hei was ?

    1. To provide for safety to the temple's territory by the armed force.
   2. To dominate other sects using the armed force.
   3. To secure donation smoothly on the back of the armed force.
   4. To use monks academically talentless.

What an arrogant idea! If he was a boss of gangsters, it was just like him to think that. However, he was the top priest of Enryaku-ji, a large-scale temple where the Tendai sect had been born. Furthermore, several other famous sects also were born there. It's unbelievable the chief executive of such important place said these words. Is that true he had prior to armed conflict, domination by the armed power, extortion and discrimination academically talented and talentless.


Fashion of Sou-hei

Sou-hei wore a unique costume and acted in a group. Roughly speaking, his costume was an armor only around the stomach and above that, he wore a vestment for Japanese monks. And looping a stole around his head, wearing Japanese skirt especially tied up, putting on close-fitting trousers. In his legs, wooden clogs, and he armed by sword and Japanese halberd. The armor on his stomach was called "Do-maru" which had been invented as a lower class soldier's armor around 1000 AD.   



We think there was a reason that they wore the same costumes and acted in a group. That was because to fight battles advantageously when they had to fight other strong people. Wearing the same costumes connected with Buddhist vestments made others feel that they had unknown extra power of Buddhism from the costumes. 

People at that time didn't know Buddhism well, so they were afraid that the mysterious Buddhism power might cause evil consequences. They avoided Sou-hei for an unavoidable situation. Thinking from Sou-hei's side, there would be very few who excelled in martial arts. And many of them were ex-learner of religion, so they were not good at violence. Wearing the same costumes made them look strong and possible to avoid unnecessary battles. 

Sou-hei of Hieizan used the same tactics of carrying portable shrines to force authorities do something the Sou-hei hoped very often. They carried out Omikoshi (portable shrines) from the Hiyoshi-taisha shrine, and walked around inside Kyoto city where authorities lived. We think this tactics were contradiction theoretically. Why they used portable shrines of Hiyoshi-taisya shrine even though they were Buddhists? There was a complicated relationship between the Hieizan Enryaku-ji temple and the Hiyoshi-taisya shrine. 

However, we don't have willing to study more about the relationship between the temple and the shrine in this paragraph. And we want to indicate it was nonsense to punctuate the evil consequences of Shinto deities as the mysterious Buddhist formulas. We suppose people at that time couldn't separate Shinto deities and Buddhist formulas. Both Sou-hei who carried out portable shrines and authorities who were threatened misunderstood what they did. 

Omikoshi (Portable Shrine) of Hiyoshi-taisha

They threatened authorities with unfamiliar evil consequences of Buddhism and the power of Japanese deities. These mysterious attack bothered authorities very much. At that time, influence of mysterious power was not clear, so authorities were overstated severe damage of their political situation. Furthermore, Sou-hei took advantage of authorities ignorance and they continued unreasonable behavior. This conduct of Sou-hei became a serious social problem.   

They played their active role during 1000 to 1200 AD. In this period, the center of politics was in Kyoto and Sou-hei's base was at the top of Hieizan mountain which was located very near of Kyoto. After moving of the center of politics, their influence became to fade. However, time that temples hired many Sou-hei soldiers came back again during the Sengoku period. 

At the Sengoku period, they were used for governing territories of temples and for a military force of security. They didn't play active roles at the scene such as driving things of sectional conflict and negotiating against authorities.
Furthermore, at the end of the Sengoku period, powerful Sengoku Lords attacked their temples territories for invasion. Sou-hei was only a soldier in this situation.

Hieizan Enryaku-ji temple couldn't keep up with this extra situation. They couldn't change their viewpoint that they had an advantageous location nearby Kyoto. And also the idea when they wished some order they could easily attack the center of Japan. As a result they couldn't change their situation, they finally became a miserable victim of one of the powerful Sengoku Lords. Most of the priests in the temples' area were killed and almost all buildings were destroyed by the incident. This was called "Eizan-yakiuchi." After that, armed priests left the mainstream of the stage called Japanese history.


The birthplace of Sou-hei

What's the birthplace of Sou-hei, Hieizan Enryaku-ji temple?
The approximate location is east of Kyoto city and in the steep mountain sandwiched between the biggest lake in Japan, Biwa Lake and Kyoto city. We knew for the first time experiencing on this trip that we were able to look at Biwa Lake from Enryaku-ji territories. We suppose trainee monks trained in the scenery and they had the experience to look down the big lake at the feet of them. They might misunderstand they had the superior situation than others.



To Amida-do

Many buildings of Enryaku-ji were built locating narrow flat places in the steep mountain area. Moreover, there aren't suitable places in one area, so the buildings were scattered to the 3 districts around the top of Hieizan mountain. These areas are called Tou-do, Sai-to and Yokawa. And one more thing, all the originals were destroyed at the Eizan-yakiuchi incident in the end of the Sengoku period. So, the oldest was built in the beginning of the Edo period.

Tou-do area is the center of Enryaku-ji, and the most temples gathered in this area. Konpon-cyudo, Tou-do, Amida-do, Monjyu-ro, Dai-koudo are famous. 
However, these are scattered in relatively wide direction. We had to walk up and down paths from one building to another.


Konpon-chudo

Monju-ro

Dai-koudo

In Sai-to area, Jyodo-in, Ninai-do, Syaka-do are the most popular.

Ninai-do

Jodo-in

Shaka-do

In Yokawa area, Yokawa-cyudo, Ganzandaishi-do are typical. 
We needed to hustle in these areas too. 

Yokawa-chudo

Ganzandaishi-do

Traffic from Osaka to Hieizan is a little tough. As we mentioned, Heizan is situated in the east of Kyoto. Usually, we aim Kyoto first and climb the steep slope using several public transportation to the Enryaku-ji temple. And there is an another route which is aiming to Otsu city, east of Hieizan and from this city, there is transportation climbing the west slope. These model routes are as follow:


The route through Kyoto to Hieizan

1. Osaka(Yodoyabasi)⇒(Keihan-super-express)⇒Kyoto(Demachiyanagi) 
2. Demachiyanagi⇒(Eizan-densha)⇒Yase-hieizanguchi
3. Yase-hieizanguchi⇒(walk)⇒Cable Yase  2 to 3 minutes by walk
4. Cable Yase⇒(Eizan Cable)⇒Cable Hiei
5. Rope Hiei⇒(Hiei Ropeway)⇒Hiei-sancho
6. Shuttle-bus

Average time would be 3 hours from Osaka to To-do (entrance of Enryaku-ji)

Eizan-densha

Eizan Cable

The route through Othu to Hieizan

1. Osaka⇒(JR-rapid)⇒Othu
2. Othu⇒(walk)⇒Biwako-hamaothu  20minutes by walk
3. Biwako-hamaothu⇒(Keihan-densha)⇒Sakamoto-hieiguchi
4. Hieizankuchi⇒(bus)⇒Cable Sakamoto ... 15minites by walk
5. Cable Sakamoto⇒(Sakamoto Cable)⇒Cable Enryaku-ji
6. Cable Enryaku-ji⇒(walk)⇒To-do(entrance of Enryaku-ji)  20minutes by walk
7. Shuttle-bus

Average time would be 3 hours (same as previous route)


If you want to visit three districts, you would choose the shuttle bus as one possibility. If you believe you are a hardy hiker, you can travel on foot. Because these districts were connected with narrow paths. Paths are used for training of trainee monks, so, they are in good condition. However, you should remember the possibility to lose your way. In conclusion, using a rent-a-car and going Hieizan-driveway toll road are the most convenient.


Hiyoshi-taisha shrine

Talking about Sou-hei of Hieizan, we can't ignore the existence of Hiyoshi-taisha. Because Sou-hei carried out the portable shrines of it to negotiate with the imperial government in Kyoto. We need to understand the relationship with Hiyoshi-taisha and Hieizan Enryaku-ji.


Higashi Hongu

To begin with, we have to start from the point "what was a shrine."A shrine was a ceremony site for Shinto, and there are still many famous shrines around Japan. On the other hand, a temple was for Buddhism which had come from the continent, and there are many famous temples too. A shrine and a temple are completely different now, but they weren't considered as different existences at the beginning of them in Japan.

Furthermore, Japanese people didn't differ all the deities in Japan and the gods from the continent. And also, we integrated Buddhism symbols such as 'Nyorai', 'Bosatsu', 'Myo-ou' and so on. If we use a technical word of music, this is "fusion". Japanese have tolerance and don't pay attention to the difference. 
So sometimes we consider 'Shinto' and 'Buddhism' as 'heads or tails of the subject'.

Hiyoshi-taisha shrine was built long before the arrival of Buddhism. So, it existed first. And it had patronage by a powerful influential family from overseas at a very early time. According to this situation, its teachings changed from the original Japanese, and it became easy to be influenced before the arrival of the new religion. Then, Saicho (one of Japanese Buddihsm leaders) appeared and made Enryaku-ji on Hieizan mountain. He made it the center of the Tendai sect of Buddhism at a very near place of Hiyoshi-taisha shrine. Then Hiyoshi-taisha shrine was placed under the influence of Enryaku-ji.

These strange teachings are not only in Hiyoshi-taisha shrine. This idea was called "Syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism." The older the origin of shrines and temples, the deeper the level of fusion. Long after the beginning of them, in detail, soon after the Meiji restoration, a new idea was lauded all over Japan. This idea taught that Shinto was right and other religions such like Buddhism were wrong. By the influence of this idea, some people insisted Shinto and Buddhism in Japan were completely different. But nowadays, we became to study without affection of biased thinking and the existence of "Syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism" became to be studied.

Then you would understand why Sou-hei of Hieizan carried out portable shrines of Hiyoshi-taisha. They had the idea of syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism.

There are the Nishi-hongu and the Higashi-hongu and many shrines in Hiyoshi-taisha shrine.