Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1910-08-03
SWORDS OF JAPAN
Old Samurai Blades Are Looked
Upon as Sacred.
HANDLED WITH REVERENCE.
A Curious Formula Of Etiquette Fol-
lows When 'the Steel Bible of
Bushido" Is Drawn From Its Sheath
by Hand Which Grasps It In Peace.

VI tue Olu Safnurat SWORDS that rest In
the lacquered sword rack In a place
of honor there a curious formula of
etiquette would be followed by the
host.
He would go to q closet and return
with little square Of silk in his hand.
This he would wrap about the shark
skin handle of the sheathed sword be-
fore touching his bare hand to the
sheath. Then. with his right hand
grasping the silk covered handle and
the fingers of his left gingerly raising
the lacquered hilt from the rack. the
Japanese host would lift the sword to
the level OF his forehead and bow to II.
All this in reverential spirit and with
utmost gravity. The square of silk,
preserved for no purpose but this and
having Its own name in the Japanese
vocabulary. is to prevent the defile-
ment of the handle by a hand which
graspS 1t in peace The bow is meant
for the spirit of the swordsmith who
forged this weapon. The reverence is
for the sword itself. soul of the sa-
mural" in the Japanese poetical con-
ceptiOn and APPLY called by foreigners
1.-The steel Bible Of Bushido"
But this is only the beginning of the
forinality. When the japanese host
unsheaths the blade be does II with
the edge toward his own body and the
point directed away from his guest.
When the guest receives the sword In
his own hands he must be careful to
keep the outer edge always away from
the direction of his friend the host.
hs, til, a.. a
the blade he must even turn his back
so that never will the menace of the
sharpened edge be directed toward his
friend.
After the examination is completed
the sword Is returned to its scabbard.
and the owner receives it with an
other bow and places it once more on
its rack.
The etiquette of the sword is no
empty thing. With the high spirited
Japanese, who have not forgotten the
many centuries OF chivalry and Of
hand fighting behind them. the deli
cately curved and curiously welded
sword of the samurai has a signif-
canoe almost sacred. There is phi
lOsophy of the sworn no less stern
than the use Of the weapon.
In the old days when the japanese
fighters wore the war masks and the
steel armor seen nowadays in the
curiosity shops the boy was taught
that as the shining blade must be kept
free from spot and corruption. so must
his soul be ever clean. Neglect Of the
blade brings rust; neglect of the soul
an impure character.
Then the sharp edge was held not
only as a constant guardian of per-
sonal safety and honor. but as sacred
disciplinarian TO punish whenever its
possessor stepped from the narrow
path of the Yamato spirit of chivalry
Again, the sword was emblematical
of true gentility, which is never over
bearing or vulgar in department, but
sternly self repressive.
No man knows when first the forge
for fighting weapons was set up in the
dawn of Japanese history nor who
was the man who first replaced the
rude bronze blades of Il primitive folk
by the tempered steel of the Yamato
blade. There is in the imperial collec
ton Of swords at the castle of Nara
the weapon worn by the Crown Prince
Shotoku, who compiled the conS.itu
ton of seventeen articles i'll A. ID. sos
the oldest sword known in Japan. From
that weapon. which was straight and
not curved as all other swords of Nip
pom are, down 10 the fall OF the Toku
gawa shogunate in the middle Of the
last century there is an unbroken his
! tory of the art of the swordsmith
Twelve centuries Of recorded art il
swordmaking and the names of ovel
10000 makes constitute the history Of
the sword i'll Japan.
The japanese blade. placed almost
on a par with the Damascus produce
in art and utility, differs from tn,
Arabian weapon in one material detail
of manufacture. Instead of having
uniform high temper, which gives tn,
remarkable fiexibility possessed by thu
Damascus blade. the japanese swor(
has two tempers. a hard and a milo
steel
The edge of the blade is hard will
the finest temper. the body and bacl
Of a milder temper. sufficient to Civ,
some elasticity. A Japanese swort
cannot be bent half double with tn,
pressure of a hand; it is nearly rigid.
Though sword manufacture has ceas
ed to be in Japan today outside of tn
government arsenals. which turn on
only the accepted military blade of tn
modern army, the country is filled wit
priced relics of the past art. and thes
are relics which the Japanese will no
sell. A possessOr OF one of the oil
swords. keen and blue white I'm luste