Modern Japanese Swords and Swordsmiths: From 1868 to the Present
[from the book]Revival of Gendaito [from "The First Half of the Twentieth Century," Part 2]The traditional Japanese sword was thought to exemplify the spirit of Japan, and in the military it was felt that all officers should carry a traditional sword. However, the supply of old swords available for this purpose was very small, since few traditional swords had been made since 1876, and very few were being made by the beginning of the Showa era.During the Meiji era, with the Japanese military rapidly expanding, swords were needed to supply to new military personnel, though, as noted, the sword's role was largely symbolic and subordinate to that of the gun. Since it was not practical or economical to produce the required number of swords with traditional methods, swords were mass-produced -- stamped and ground, or forged out of cheaper modern steel. These factory or mill steel swords often had hardened edges or hamon, and appeared to be very similar to traditional swords. These blades, called Murata-to, appear to be the first effort to make a mass-produced economical substitute for traditional Japanese swords. The name comes from Murata Tsuneyoshi (1838-1921), a General in the Japanese army famous for making primarily guns. Owing to the shortage of swords in the wake of the Haitorei, he turned his talents to sword-making for the military. Murata-to is the collective name given to gunto made under his supervision, using the results of his innovative research into oil quenching techniques, and blending different kinds of foreign steel with native tamahagane. Murata-to were used extensively during the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95) and the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05), but they were not considered to be the equal of a handmade traditional sword.In the early Showa era, since there were very few orders for traditional swords in Japan, there was not a large number of active swordsmiths. In order to stimulate new production of 'traditional' Japanese swords to supply the officers of the military, Araki Sadao, Chief of Staff, and General Yamaoka Shigeatsu, who were keen sword enthusiasts, decided it was necessary to train more swordsmiths. They established the Nihonto Tanren Kai, the Japanese Sword Forging Association, on the grounds of Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo in 1933. Miyaguchi Yasuhiro (or Toshihiro), a student of Kasama Shigetsugu, and Kajiyama Yasunori, a student of Yokoyama Hiroyoshi, were chosen to be the heads of the new forging organization. The students they accepted were trained as apprentices. When a student's skills reached a level appropriate for him to be considered a swordsmith, he was given a mei, a swordsmith's name, which had as its first character yasu, from Yasukuni shrine. This work continued until ! 1945, when the war ended. By then the Yasukuni smiths had produced 8,100 strictly traditional blades made from tamahagane without the use of any power tools. This group was also notable because they developed their own distinct style, and built and operated their own tatara smelter to produce tamahagane.Another effort was begun in 1933 to revive the production of, and interest in, traditional Japanese swords and to train more swordsmiths. Kurihara Hikosaburo, a member of the Japanese Diet, was asked by Saito Makoto, the prime minister, Toyama Mitsuru, and Uchida Ryohei to take action to increase the number of trained swordsmiths capable of making traditional Japanese swords. In response to this request, Kurihara set up and organized the Nihonto Tanren Denshu Jo, the Japanese Sword Forging Workshop, and advertised all over Japan to recruit students. This organization was located initially on the grounds of the former estate of Katsu Kaishu, an important figure in the Meiji Restoration.The major center of sword production in the early Showa era was the town of Seki in Gifu prefecture, which had a long tradition of sword-making. Probably about seventy percent of wartime sword production in Japan was in Seki. Two types of swords were produced in this period: fully traditional Japanese swords made from tamahagane, and nontraditional swords made from factory or mill steel. The overall shape and appearance of both types of swords was very similar, but the nontraditional swords were called Showa-to, or "Showa era swords." This term distinguished them from traditional swords, and they were not made from tamahagane. Many of these Showa-to have a stamp on their tang to indicate that they are nontraditional blades. Showa-to were produced in very great numbers during the war period to meet the large demand for swords. They could be produced for a cost, in time and materials, far below that required for traditional swords. In contrast to the Nihonto Tanren Kai and Kurihara's Nihonto Denshu Jo, which only made traditional swords from tamahagane, the bulk of sword production in Seki consisted of Showa-to (only approximately six percent of Seki's production consisted of traditional swords). An overwhelming number of swords was produced there from 1940 to 1945; their quota from the military was approximately 18,000 swords per month.These three sword-making areas -- the Nihonto Tanren Kai, the Nihonto Denshu Jo, and the town of Seki -- were the source of the most important swords made in this period and are indispensable to the modern history of the Japanese sword. They are discussed in the next few sections.