The Japanese sword is arguably the most notorious of all bladed weapons. Glamorized in countless movies and television shows, the most well-known and popular Japanese sword is the katana, official sidearm of the samurai. There was a time when only samurai were legally allowed to carry katana, and the offense by a non-samurai was punishable by death. Samurai were not only experts with a sword, but also the spear and bow. In their preferred method of attack, they would first engage at long-distance with the bow, then switch to the spear to keep the advantage of reach. The samurai would only draw their sword as a last resort. This is perhaps the reason there is such a sacred bond between samurai and katana, as they would only draw their sword under the direst of circumstances, either in defense of themselves or others.
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Samurai would typically be seen wearing two Japanese swords, the katana and the smaller wakizashi. Where the katana blade is usually around 27 inches, the wakizashi blade measures from 12 to 24 inches. Some samurai would fight with both at once, this pairing is called daisho. The katana would be used for slashing, and the shorter wakizashi would be used more for stabbing. A third blade was also carried, a 6-12 inch dagger known as a tanto. One of the most famous advocators of the dual sword technique was the great warrior Musashi, who innovated a fighting style that helped him to win over 50 duels in his lifetime. He died of illness, undefeated.
Although highly popularized in Japanese movies and television shows, katana were not the first Japanese swords in existence. Before katana, the swords of Japan were predominately dual-edged straight swords, imported from China. Early Japanese sword-smiths imitated the Chinese sword style, and those recreations were referred to as jokoto. The Japanese eventually developed a different style of sword known as tachi, with a single edge and long curved blade, more useful as a slashing weapon from horseback, which eventually evolved into the shorter katana.
A common practice to test Japanese swords was on convicted criminals and corpses. They even graded some swords on how many bodies they could cut through, with five-body swords being the top tier in the system. The most desirable swords could cut through the hipbones of all five bodies.
The apex of Japanese sword-making is considered to be between the years 1000 and 1600ad, swords made during this time period are referred to as koto. During the Mongol invasions of japan, the samurai oftentimes were forced into close quarters combat, and the thick leather Mongol armor proved to be too much for the katana to handle. Swordsmiths had to compensate by thickening the backs and making the points larger.
The innovation leading up to this era of sword-making was lost forever when civil war broke out in japan. The need for swords at the time gave rise to mass-production techniques of sword-making, and some aspects of the traditional Japanese sword-smith were lost forever. These last swords of the era are considered of better quality than even those made today and are incredibly expensive and rare.
Damascus steel is another forgotten art. Damascus blades were made from a unique ore called wootz steel, which was only found in the now-depleted mines of India. The blacksmiths of the time were unknowingly using nanotechnology, creating nanotubes that increased the steel’s hardness while keeping them malleable. These nanotubes also created the characteristic wavy bands that were the signature of Damascus steel. The blades were so advanced we still cannot recreate them today. Nonetheless, there are still all kinds of advertisements for Damascus steel blades everywhere. While Damascus steel now refers to any sword that is made of folded steel, the blades can still be of very high quality.
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