Oriental
 

Oriental Swords.

From Tsurugi to Tachi, Katana to Tanto, and Handachi to Wakizashi there is no better form of swordsmithing than that of the Far East.  
  Mind you, that is my  opinion.  I have seen blades world-wide, and seen them in combat (real, not staged) and examined the work-ability of them.  
  The Orient allowed the Sword to be the instrument that swords were intended to be.  
  From the artisan  who crafted the blades, to those who weild them with such masterful skill, there is an almost mystical quality to be found there.  No, I take that back.  It is more spiritual than anything.  Although most could assume that from watching the movies, there is a much different insight gained when watching the different aspects of swords.  
Let us look at the actual creation of a blade of quality, in the Orient.  
  The blade was to be crafted in a way unlike those in Europe.  Do not take me wrong, there were sword artisans in Europe.  They followed the same type of regiment, but still lacked in some areas.  
  That is the difference between the excellent cutting weapon of the Orient, and the formed piece of iron that was formed in Europe. 
  The To-Sho, or swordsmith, was more in tune with nature and himself than most others.  Usually the To-Sho knew that everything has a soul from the creatures in the wood, to the tree.  This is known as ki.Because of this, he would only eat a minimal amount of food, and no food of animal origin would be eaten.  
He was to craft a sword and impart part of his ki into it, through the love of his work and its intent.  
The To-Sho would not wish to impart any part of the dead creature's ki into the creation.  The day before forging, the swordsmith would purify himself by water and austerity.    Drawing away from the senses, he lives in the smithy.  
In this state of earthly grace, the smith would allow the deity to act through the smithy's hands to forge the blade.     During the preparation, he would wear a white kimono, and wear the badge of his station.  
He would pray, and begin work on the lucky day. 
The To-Sho had no gauges to tell him when the fire was right, he knew by the look of the coals.  
  As he would begin, before any tool was picked up, he would twist his hands in finger symbols.  This was to purge himself of four poisons, although I cannot recall what they are.  
  You may recall people who knew how to do different things by season, astronomy, or some other form of the latter.  
For the To-Sho, this was an especially unique power.  He knew which day, and for what period of time it would be lucky to forge the sword.   
  Now that the smith was prepared, the junior assistant would be ordered to prepare the proper charcoal, and to break up  any  large  pieces  of charcoal.  
This was to eliminate any hot-spots that might occur.    Although even the assistant was in white, by end of day he too was black.  
  The soft iron would be beat into shape, then  when  ready  it would  be  wrapped  in  hard steel.  
This took great time, as the senior assistant and the swordsmith had to look for certain things.  
  Of these, two were very critical.  
  One was to make sure there was no slag-ash on the metal, and the other was to be sure that all the air had been beaten out of the metal.  
  Once the blade had been scraped, the real test of the To-Sho came.  
He would have to temper the blade.  
  To accomplish this, he would use a special paste of clay, charcoal, and iron sand.  
This would dry for a short time, then areas of the blade would be scraped clean.  
The blade would then be put into the fire to temper.  
At the right moment, the To-Sho would withdraw the blade from the heat and fire, and place it in a trough of warmed water.  
This gave the blade its super hard edge. 
  Originally, I was told, that this was the furthest step it would see. 
  However, at a later point the beauty of the blade also became necessary.  
  The Togishi came to the call.  He was the sword polisher, who did the cosmetic work to the blades.  
Here the bright blades we have come to know, were perfected in visual beauty.  
Here too, is where many modern people are led astray.  The gift shops, and some weapon suppliers sell the shined blades.  
These blades are not as they seem.  
Many shine wonderfully, but when put to the test, the inside is like rotten fruit.  
When choosing a blade such as this, one must truly take the time, and even bring someone who knows blades.       
  Let us examine the oriental blades now. 
  The first Nippon-To, or oriental sword, was most likely the Ken.  
Also known as the Tsurugi, it is a straight double edged weapon, with a sharpened tip. 
It is very similar to the European longsword.  
It was traditionally weilded one handed, and had a very unique rigid feel to it, unlike the other blades. 
  The blade which is still the standard in Nippon, is the Katana.  
Its use was seen in the Muromachi period (1392-1572)  To most people, it is known as the Samurai sword.  
It is no less than twenty-three inches, but no longer than  thirty-six inches.  
The blade was normally worn with the Wakizashi, by Samurai only(Dai-sho was the given name when they were together). The penalty for non  samurai wearing these two blades together, was death. 
  Wakizashi.  As I said before, this is traditionally the smaller companion to the katana.  
Some classes were permitted to wear the smaller blade (doctors,  merchants, etc)  
These blades were generally no shorter than twelve inches, and no longer than twenty-three inches. 
  Tanto.  These blades, under twelve inches, had many sub-divisions.  
The divisions had something to do with the width of the blade, and wether it had a guard or not.  
I do apologize, for that was something I had not written down back then.  
If I manage to acquire the information at a later point, I will  make it available. 
  The two other styles of blades are the Tachi, and the Handachi. 
  Tachi.  The Tachi is a sword normally held to the belt by rings (much like cavalry swords) which was worn with its edge downward.  
Again, it measured almost the same as the Katana. 
  Handachi.  This is considered the transition between the Tachi and the Katana.  
It too, was the same size as the Katana.  
  These blades are the basics of the oriental area which I reference, with this last exception. 
Ninja-to.  This is a blade that I can not begin to give a set size, use, or anything to.  
The ninja used the blade as they saw fit. 
Be it as a ladder, a spear, a sword, a shovel, you name it, they used it as such.   
  Though the blades differed greatly, they had the same  principals applied to their making.  
Training with blades had a constant, but did differ when some applications came into view.  
  One of the most fascinating things I have ever witnessed, was Iai-jutsu.  
This is the art form of drawing the blade, with blinding speed. As this column comes to an end, remember that a blade is a weapon of great potential.  
  It is up to you to use it for the correct manner.  
  In an upcoming issue, I will review on oriental pole-arms, and other fascinating weapons. Until then, practice safely.