Washington Journal., 1942-05-22

q SWORD Is given W IHe ULluSSl oOn. EOA d
house warming a sword is brought as a con
gratulatory gift. Winners in athletic contests
receive a sword instead Of a medal, a cup or
the laurel wreath of the ancient Greeks.
Therefore a japanese newspaper, the
Osaka Asahi Shimbun, presented to the late
DR.. Hugo Eckener a fine sword when he flew
his Zeppelin around the globe.
During feudal times in Japan the Staying
of a Samurai could be atoned by the pro-
pitiatory gift Of a fine sword to his family.
On the other hand, some bloody tribal feuds
between japanese clans were started by
thefts of household swords.
The Cost of Good Swords
The only way to appraise the money value
Of such a sword as that presented to DR..
Eckener would be, if one could learn what
the Osaka Asahi Shimbun paid to its maker.
Not a small amount, surely.
When | was in Japan a master swordsmith,
Gwassan Sadakatsu, who has risen to head
ship of an ancient family of sword makers
in Osaka, offered to make me a sword for
1000 yen (then equal to $4,000 not including
the scabbard, the price Of which depended on
what ornaments might be applied in bronze,
silver or gold. That was the minimum price
for a sword with the emblem of the Gwassan
family Ca mountain with a noon on its blade.
Of course a c~ostlier sword could have been
furnished on demand, but Sadakatsu, like
most other modern master-swordsmlths OF
Japan, was known to be 10th to sell a super
excellent blade to a foreigner. American and
English connoisseurs Of japanese swordcraft
assured me that $1,000 for a Gwassan blade
was by no means an excessive price.
A Famous Family of Swordsmiths
Gwassan Sadakatsu, SO | was told, after
a competition Of the ablest swordsmiths in
Japan, when each presented his best work
for scrutiny by a board OF experts, won the
high honor of having his masterpiece selected
as the prize sword for the lnvestiture OF the
Crown Prince. Later he made the generals
simo sword for the present Emperor. Sada-
katsu had helped his father to forge the
katanas of the late Admiral Togo, Marshal
Oyama and Prince Tokugawa. Throughout
the Meiji Era superfine swords issued from
the Gwassan forge. It's swordcraft had come
down in direct family descent through 800
years ever since Gwassan Kioh-maru, a
famous forebear, had won fame as a medieval
swordsmith.
AS oriental sword fanciers know, there
have been and still are other splendid sword
smiths in Japan, like Masamuna for instance,
but their names have eluded me, though l
once made a list of the best known. 10 dis
tinguish their work and tell its fine points
calls for more erudite knowledge than |
possess.
How the excellencies of a rare blade are
accomplished is a trade secret, handed down
from father to son. Still it is known that the
forging and tempering of specially hardened
positive and negative steel, so as to produce
a perfect blade, takes at least a year OF con
skilled work. Thus | was told, if |
ordered a sword made, | would have to wait
two years before it could be delivered to me.
So much for making a blade. Besides it
there is the work of producing a fine hilt,
a worthy swordguard (tsuba), an ornamental
scabbard with embroidered silken swordsack
and a slender side knife fitted to the hilt.
Tsuba Craft
Whereas western swordsmen content them
selves nowadays with simple guards, only in
dulging more expensive fancies in the handles
OF ornamental presentation swords, Japanese
warriors always have ben very exacting about
the quality of their swordguards. Since
their tsubas are small in diameter, great skill
in parrying is called for and it is essential
that an adversary's blow, caught on ones
s~wordguard, should be stopped effectively.
The breaking Of ones tsuba might entail the
loco Of onn,c cwordhand or at least. a severe