History of the Samurai

A marvel of engineering making the Samurai sword was arduous activity requiring great patience. The swordsmith beat and folded the steel under accurate standards of heat treatment into as many as 33,000 layers, each layer only a hundred thousandth of an inch thick. A crucial component in Japan's arsenal; quality of the Samurai sword was vitally important.

The swordsmith master took great pride in his creation and the handle of the Samurai sword was adorned with a metal decoration placed on each side of the handle and was often signed by the master who made it or the factory it produced it.

The sword was a symbol of the spirit of old Japan it embodies the samurai's steely discipline, unswerving devotion, and peerless skill. The Samurai sword in its own way influenced and shaped the very culture of the Japanese people.

Blade was tempered in water with an exacting combination of heated metal and the right temperature of water. Blade has a reputation for its deadliness, especially when in the hands of a Samurai. Japanese were severely outnumbered each time, but major storms stopped these invaders. Japanese were pretty well stunned, and the same up north at Roi-Namur. Katana has long been one of the most famous swords that have emerged from Japanese culture.

The sword was mostly made famous by the samurai who were undoubtedly masters of sword warfare.

Undoubtedly the most famous exponent of the Samurai Sword was Miyamoto Musashi ( 1584 - June 13, 1645), also known as Shinmen Take, Miyamoto Bennosuke or, by his Buddhist name, Niten Draku, was a Japanese swordsman and rnin. Musashi, as he was often simply known, became renowned through stories of his excellent swordsmanship in numerous duels, even from a very young age. He was the founder of the HyhNiten Ichi-ry or Niten style of swordsmanship and the author of The Book of Five Rings, a book on strategy, tactics, and philosophy that is still studied today

Musashi created and perfected a two-sword kenjutsu technique called niten'ichi ("two heavens as one") or nitDichi ("two swords as one") or "Ni-Ten Ichi Ryu" (A Kongen Buddhist Sutra refers to the two heavens as the two guardians of Buddha). In this technique, the swordsman uses both a large sword, and a "companion sword" at the same time, such as a katana with a wakizashi. Although he had mastership in this style of two swords, he most commonly used a katana in duels.

Samurai sword history is roughly divided into four main time periods - Koto (the old sword period, pre 1596), Shinto/Shinshinto (1597 to 1876) Gendai (1877 to the end of world war II) and Shinsaku (modern).

But the earliest origins of this fascinating weapons can be traced back some 1300 years...

The first Japanese swords were basically variations of the Chinese Jian (called Chokuto) - in other words a straight, double edged iron blade.

However sometime during the early Heian period, around 700AD, the first uniquely Japanese swords that were the forerunners of the 'modern' Katana began to evolve.

Initially the first curved Japanese swords were curved at the tang only. But by the end of the 10th century fully curved swords were commonplace. It was during this time that Japan began to abandon such close cultural ties with China, it's society stabilized into class divisions, and the military guards of the capital and the gentlemen of the provinces became the first Samurai...

While no one can pinpoint exactly when the first true Samurai swords came about (after all, written records of Samurai sword history were few and far between during this early period) Japanese myths like to attribute the turning point of Samurai sword history to a smith by the name of Amakuni

Amakuni Yasutsuna and his son, Amakura, were the head smiths employed by the Emperor to make swords for his armies.

One day, so this legend of Samurai sword history goes, after returning from battle the Emperor and his warriors passed by Amakuni's forge without so much as a word, instead of greeting him warmly as they usually did. With great shame and horror, Amakuni's heart sunk when he noticed that as the warriors came back, most of their swords had been broken or badly damaged in the heat of battle.

Amakuni and his son inspected the damaged and broken blades and realized that their failure was the result of incorrect forging. Vowing then and there to create the perfect sword, and win back the Emperors lost favor, Amakuni and his son locked themselves in the forge and prayed feverishly to the Shinto gods for inspiration.

On the seventh night, the divine came to them both in a dream - a glowing image of a single edged, slightly curved blade...

As soon as the first rays of the sun infiltrated the forge, each knowing without a word exactly what they must do, they set about creating the sword revealed to them by the Kami.

When Amakuni first presented his divinely inspired sword to the emperor, the other sword smiths thought him quite mad. But he persisted, further refining the methods he had developed, until finally, when the warriors returned from battle the following year, not a single sword was broken. The Emperor came up to the smith, and as he passed he said with a smile "You are an expert sword maker. None of the Swords you made failed in battle."

Amakuni had won back the Emperors favor and later died a happy and contended old man...

The Kamakura (1192 to 1336) and Muromachi (1337 to 1573) periods were without a doubt the Golden Age of Samurai sword history. After the great Mongol invasion of Japan, which was only narrowly averted by the weather (the Kamikaze/Divine winds) the need for a strong national defense force was apparent and in response new sword smithies appeared all over the countryside.

It was during the last part of the Kamakura that Samurai sword history celebrates one of the most famous and respected smiths came to prominence, the almost legendary Masamune