Swords

In Japan, the martial arts are exactly that, arts. From the 13th century on, a specific class of warrior-servants, known as Samurai, practiced war and fighting every day, waiting for the Emperor or the local lord to call on them to do violence. These professional soldiers served local lords, called Damiyos, essentially warlords loyal to the shogun and emperor. Samurai followed the Bushido code of the warrior, and fought lived and died under a strict code of honor. They became experts of war, proficient with everything from spear to bow to horse mounted versions of both. But more than any of these, samurai practiced their swordplay. Hundreds of distinct sword fighting styles evolved out of this, and to match them, sword craft evolved too.

The Japanese Katana is between 22 and 28 inches long. It is made of folded high carbon steel wrapped around a base of tough low carbon steel. This makes for an incredibly strong core with a easily maintained and flexible exterior. The blades are polished for three weeks in order to reveal the harmon, the swerving wave down the center of the flat of the blade. The harmon is the visible signature of the sword maker, and is unique.

Katana are the product of over two thousand years of sword making. The curve makes them easier to wield and much more precise than European blades. It is a slashing weapon, primarily designed to cut straight through bamboo and leather armor, though it can be used to stab. They are designed to be worn blade up, a evolution from the Tachi blade, which was the Japanese swordsman's primary weapon a thousand years ago. A companion sword, the Wakizashi, was designed with indoor use in mind, and it was traditional to strip your Katana and leave it at a "Sword Check" when entering the homes of prominent citizens, lords and of course, imperial residences.

The Katana I'm staring at is two hundred years old. To it's left is a Tachi that was made in the 13th century. It looks like it was just finished yesterday. We are at the Japanese sword museum that holds more than thirty of these masterpieces, nearly all of them over a hundred years old and most older than the ideas that founded my country. I long to touch them, but they are behind what appears to be bulletproof glass and have had their handles stripped away anyway. If anything this makes them more beautiful and reveals the signature of the sword maker, located below where the handguard would go, on the tang.

I am in awe. I have seen swords older than these: rusted roman gladius and broadswords from the 11th century, but those, while impressive, are not the pieces of martial art that these are. After a long time, I must leave. My goal is to visit the shrine dedicated to the 47 Ronin. I was unsuccessful, the shrine closed early because that day was a national holiday. However, I am resolved to see it before I leave Japan, and plan on visiting it when I return to Tokyo for my flight to China. If you don't know the tale of the 47 Ronin, I beg you not to wikipedia it, but rather to read Chushingura, the play based on the incident. Or if you wait until I visit the shrine, I will explain the story in that blog post.

A few buildings down from the sword museum are shops dedicated to the sale and procurement of antique swords. The most expensive one I saw was a sublime beauty worth around 3.5 million yen.

It was two hundred years old.

-Doug