The Union County journal. [volume] (Marysville, Ohio) 1875-1951, 1946-01-07

of the emperor was also their will
They said that if the emperor had
wanted them to continue the war
they would have fought on unequi-
vically. They do not like the War
lords and they do not like war.
They viii do whatever the emperor
says, tho, and we know the result.
/ can but guess at the number of
lives (American) that we have sa-
we'd by letting them keep the em-
peror. He is their life, their religion,
and their government The govrn-
ment is just a small part of it. tho.
You can no doubt tell where |
stopped before and then continued
my letter later on. The reason was
that Smitty and l eat early chow
and then went TO TachikaWas on
the train to visit Jap family that
we know there. Tachikawa is "a
bout seven stations down the line
from here About half an hours
ride. Anyhow we got there and
went into their home and sat down
on cushions on the floor Then we
had tea and talked for awhile. The
master can speak some English and
we get along alright. We have
stopped there several times to chat
for a few minutes. Anyhow tonight
/ had one of the most unusual eX-
perienceS that / have ever had. l
virtually accepted the surrender of
a Japanese Lord. Here was what
happened. AS you know the Sum-
arai swords are family heritage
and are almost religion with these
people. This fellow had told us a
bout his family. They were an old
family and had centuries of tradi
tion behind them. They had been
feudal Lords back in the old days
but that was a long time ago. Any
how, all of these people have to
turn in all weapons including their
Sumarai swords to the Jap police
by the tenth of the month. This
fellow decided that rather than
just turn it in ne would give it to
me as his master and conqueror",
i'm his own words. He took out this
old Sumarai sword that ne claimed
was 800 years old and had belong
ed to his ancestors. Then he told
us a very interesting story about
its history through the Russo Jap
war. He then cautioned me about
its use and took it out of the silk
case that it was kept in. 1t had a
black ebony case trimmed in sill
yer which he SwOre was pure. The
cases aren't the important thing
tho. The blade is all important.
The handle followed out the lines
of the case and was trimmed in
silver too. The handle was of twin
ed silk as black as the case and on
each side was a little bird under
the silk, also under the silk and
visible where the silk bands inter-
crossed were some little pure white
stones that looked something like
pearls in color, but they weren't
Then he pulled the sword from its
case and you should have seen it,
1t was just as pure and shiny as
polished silver and did it look wick
ed! 1t really cleaned in the light.
/ went to touch it and he drew it
back and told me not to. Then he
gave me lecture on how to care
for it. You must never let anyone
touch the blade as it will cause it
to rust from the moisture of the
hand. Also it is carried so that it
arches and the edge of the blade
is kept up. This is SO that the
weight of the sword will not be on
the cutting edge. He then showed
me how to draw it from its case.
You mustn't pull it out in jerks. 1t
must be all one clear motion and
pull it all of the way out at once,
edge upward. 1t is the same when
you put it back into the case. He
also showed me how to use it. 1t is
a two handed sword. You can use
one but he showed me how TO WELD
it. He told me how to oil it and
how to polish it. He said not to e.
ven use silk to wipe it as silk was
too rough. You must take some
thing like toilet tissue and soak it
in water. Then you let it dry and
rub it hard between your hands to
soften it up. After you are sure
that it is soft you can rub it in a
certain way over some powder
that you can only put on at GER
tain place Boy it was a short cou-
rse in sword care. Then he let me
touch just the edge of the blade. /
swear that l could have shaved
with it it was so sharp. No wonder
they speak of beheading people
with those in one clean stroke. /
was really Spellbound while he tai
ked to us about it. Smitty was too.
He has another sword that is a