Meeting: #14 Subject: History of Japanese Swords Date: 8-19-97
Japanese legend says that the gifted sword maker Amakuni was the one to develop the classically styled Japanese sword. Long, single edged and curved with a two handed grip. Amakuni is thought to have lived in about 720 AD. Prior to this time, the swords were developed from copies of Chinese and Korean designs. Straight, single or double edged, and usually two handed grips. Two things happened with the advent of the Japanese style. First, the blade became a very effective cutting weapon, even against armor. And two, its deployment changed which allowed the rise of a distinct style of Japanese Swordsmanship. About this time, the Imperial family moved the center of government from Nara to Kyoto, where it would remain for nearly a thousand years.
In order to cultivate and improve the sword, as a weapon and as an art form, two conditions were required. First, there had to be sufficient stability that swordsmiths could practice their trade with little disruption. Second, there must have existed sufficient unrest that development was required. For the first 500 years of the Japanese sword, both of these conditions existed. Most of the legendary battles of Japanese folklore occured in this time period.
At first, the battles were fought between the race we call the Japanese now, and the indigenous peoples, called the Ainu/Emishi, a race related to the Lapps and the Eskimos. The battles were furious, and the leader of the Emperor's army was called the Taishogun, later shortened to Shogun, the ultimate military ruler of Japan. By the late 800s, they had been pushed back.
Later, the clan known as the Miyamoto eventually won the Gempai War between themselves and the Taira, laying claim to the title Shogun on their leader, after which the Emperor declared that only Miyamoto decendants could lay claim to the title. In the early 1300s, smiths such as Muramasa and Masamune created the zenith of the Japanese sword. Many consider Masamune's work to have been unsurpassed at any time, before or since.
After that time, civil unrest outstripped the ability of smiths to supply the demand. Quality dropped as more utilitarian quantities of blades were required. At the end of the 14th century, Oda Nobunaga, Hideyoshi Toyotomi, and Ieyesu Tokugawa, in succession unified Japan. Because Ieyesu could claim Miyamoto blood, he also claimed the title of Shogun for himself and his heirs. For the next 268 years, the Tokugawa Shogunate ruled the land in peace, and with peace came the decline in the practice of the sword. However, small groups of traditionalists refused to give up the old ways. With the great peace, came the unemployed warrior or ronin (literally "wave man"). The Tokugawa tried to convert warriors into bureaucrats, to run the government. The Tokugawa may have ruled in peace, but they held an iron fist to do so. The Tokugawa also closed the shores of Japan to the outside world, executing all trespassers and only allowing a single small island near Kagoshima in the south to be visited once a year by Portugese traders.
This helped and hurt the sword, as the Japanese had been introduced to matchlocks by the Portugese in 1543. But with the closed borders, small enclaves still held the sword as the weapon of choice for duty, honor and Emperor; along side the bow and arrow. The saying, "kyu ba no michi" is usually translated as "the way of the warrior," but is literally "the way of the bow and the horse." In general, the sword and its practice continued to decline during this time in a gradual manner.
In 1854, American ships entered Tokyo Bay and demanded that Japan open trading with the west. the technology that the west had compared to the Japanese was quite considerable. Had America forced the issue, it would have easily destroyed Japan. Instead, Japan turned itself inside out culturally and technologically. The Tokugawa were terrified of the technological prowess the Americans displayed. Fortunately, the Americans had troubles at home and soon forgot the Japanese. But the Tokugawa were being pressured by internal forces to overturn their rule. The only way the Tokugawa could see to preserve any measure of limited control was to return power to the Emperor. And so in 1868, the Tokugawa stepped down, returning power to the Emperor Meiji, beginning the Meiji Reformation (1868-1912). Japan had entered the industrial revolution.
The samurai were officially disbanded by the Emperor Meiji. Later, they were stripped of the official badge of office, the wearing of the two swords in 1877. This gave rise to the last great battle of the sword, the Satsuma Rebellion in December 1877-January 1978. The Satsuma refused to obey and fought the government army (with modern weapons) at Kagoshima in the south. The samurai were killed to a man, and their martyrdom has become a poignant symbol of the swordsman.
Zanbatou. Sanosuke fights with an (approximately) 7 foot sword. The Zanbatou. It is said to be the biggest sword in existence. It was so heavy that it could only be used on horseback, and it was used for the purpose of knocking other riders off their horses. No one made it anymore during the Meiji Reformation because of it's cumbersome fashion. It weighed several hundred pounds.
Tsuba. It is the hand guard mounted on a Japanese sword. The tsuba serves to keep the user's hand from sliding up onto the blade of the sword, to counterbalance the weight of the blade, to communicate the social standing, beliefs and tastes of its owner, and, to some degree, to protect the hand from an opponent's blade. Tsuba are made from a wide variety of materials including copper, brass, leather, lacquer, silver, alloys like shakudo, shibuichi and others.