The Great Swordsmen of Japan part 1

                                                      Great Japanese Swordsmen part 1


Japan has had many great swordsmen in its rich past, but there have been a few that stand out above the rest. Most of these men have been heard of even in the Western countries outside of Japan. Their names are Tsukahara Bokuden, Yagyu Muneyoshi, Miyamoto Musashi, Ito Ittosai. Each of these men have left their mark in our world with their skill, legend, and teachings.

Tsukahara Bokuden was probably the best swordsman of all time if you look at how many men he killed in combat. He fought in between 20 and 30 duels and was in over 30 battles. As a man in his teens he had begun to wander the country looking to test and improve his skills. In his lifetime he is credited with killing over 200 enemies this was a record that was never matched by any swordsman after his time. Tsukahara died of natural causes at the age of 81. His sword style was that of Kashima and Shinto. It is supposed that he had started the Kashima school which bears a strong similarity to the Shinto style, and uses the premace of hitotsu-tachi which means "one cut" or "one stroke".

What the one cut or one stoke idea means is that you wait until the absolutely very last second of your opponents attack and then counter and attack. If done properly your enemy will miss you by less then an inch making this a fairly difficult application to learn. But if you understand your sword then you have a better chance of succeeding with it. Your sword is divided into 3 parts. The end 1/3rd of your blade is where you have the most power and the best cutting ability, the middle 1/3rd has a lower power strike, and the last 1/3rd is the weakest part for striking. Knowing this it is possible to be struck by the lowest 1/3rd of the blade without beng cut and allowing you to counter and strike your opponent with the first 1/3rd or the strongest part of your blade thus killing your enemy. To learn this technique takes proper training and much practice to master.

The Iga Ninja

                                                                  Iga Ninja


Who were the best ninjas of fuedal Japan, that is a question that is not easily answered. Though virtually every clan throughout Japan had its own form of ninjitsu training, there were only a couple whose name and reputations bacame legendary. The shinobi were used as spies, sabatuers, and assasins by the most powerful and wealthy leaders in Japan and virtually every province had some form of its own ninjas so there were no shortages of the elite warriors.

In time there were two schools of ninjitsu that continued to show the excellence of their training. First were the warriors from the clans in the Iga provence. Iga is located in the central area of Japan in a mountainous region. Its location being a basin surrounded by mountains afforded it good protection from outside forces and also provided excellent terrain for the ninjas to train. As their reputation grew the need for them to prove their abilities was not needed. For in fuedal Japan before a ninja was hired for a specific mission he would be required to perform a less critical mission showing that he would be capable of executing and surviving the orginal mission that he would be hired for. But the excellence of their training and the past success of previous Iga ninjas cemented their reputation so much that just stating that you were from Iga gauranteed immediate hire for the primary missions. Now back in the late 1500's the warlord Oda Nobunaga had come to hate and fear the Iga ninjas because they would not bow down to him and perform any mission that he declared. He felt that if they would not bow to him then they should be conquered. In 1579 Oda sent his son and a force of soldiers in to Iga to dominate them, that attack however failed miserably. Two years later in 1581 Oda launched another attack this time though he sent somewhere between 40,000 and 60,000 soldiers and attacked from 6 different directions. This attack succeeded as Oda's men slaughtered a large population of this regions inhabitants. He did make one error in that he called a cease fire before everyone was killed and this allowed for some of the remaining ninjas to escape in the surrounding countryside. Though the strength of Iga never returned some believe that the teachings did and this training helped other provinces to improve their ninjas abilities.

Shuriken

                                                                           Shuriken

The shuriken is a small hand held weapon that was designed to act as a distraction more then a killing weapon. The literal translation is "sword in hand". They were made from everyday items such as needles, nails, knives, coins, and a variety of flat plates of metal with sharpened edges. It was an inexpensive weapon to make, that would be easily hidden, and yet could be a tactical advantage in a fight or even a battle.

The shuriken was not just a ninja's weapon, but was part of the minor martial arts training for many martial arts schools back in fuedal Japan. It was a supplemental weapon to the Nihonto family of weapons, i.e. the katana sword, spear, etc.. Its exact origins are still unknown, but research is still going on. However, there is documentation showing that the shuriken and the art form of throwing it was around in the 1600's and was part of the general training. This particular school was called shurikenjutsu.

A common type of shuriken that was used was the Bo-shuriken. It was a straight piece of rod usually four-sided but sometimes round and had a single-pointed end. Their length varied from 5" to 8 1/2" in length and weighed between 1.2oz and 5.5 oz.. The Bo-shuriken was a very popular due to the many different ways it could be thrown. Overhead, underhand, sideways, and rearward, but in each case the release is about the same with the blade slidingout of the hand through the fingers to give it a smooth controlled flight.

There is a wide variety of forms of hira-shuriken and they are now usually identified by the number of points the blades possess. As with bo-shuriken, the various shapes of hira-shuriken were usually representative of a particular school or region that preferred the use of such shapes, and it is therefore possible to identify the school by the type of blade used. Hira-shuriken are constructed from thin, flat plates of metal and had a different number of points ranging from 3 points up to and including 8 points. These are sometimes called "ninja stars" or throwing stars as ninja are consistently seen throwing this which looks like a star. They often have a hole in the center and possess a fairly thin blade sharpened only at the tip. The holes provided a means of being able to secure the stars by tying them together and it affected their aerodynamics, of course the holes were originally in them because they were made from old coins, washers, and nail-removing tools.

The Sai

                                                                            The Sai




The Sai is a 3-pronged weapon used in close combat like a knife. Though the design my very from nation to nation it still maintains a central long spike with 2 shorter spikes on either side which helped to protect the hands of the individual wielding it. Now some show that the 2 shorter pronges may have 1 facing the same direction as the central spike and 1 facing down towards the handle, or that both short spikes face the same direction as the longer central spike.

Now like many of the other weapons that the ninjas would employ, this was also a tool that was used by the peasants in everyday operations. Its exact use can not be certain, some believe it was used for digging holes for rice, or measuring the stalks of plants. Others believe that this was used to lock cart wheels so the cart would not roll away. Either way in the hands of a trained martial artist this was a deadly weapon.

The side prongs allowed the wielder to block or catch the blade of a long sword and with a twist of the wrist it may have been possible to crack or break the sword blade. Though the central spike was not sharp as a sword blade would be its long tapered design would allow it to be punched into an enemy causing death or severe injury. On the back side of the Sai was a ball or knuckle which allowed for a solid blunt force that was able to break or crack bones in your enemy giving you a chance to escape or disarm and kill your enemy.

So, given the commonplace of this agriculturaltool/weapon a trained ninja would be able to carry it around and not raise suspicion from gaurds and soldiers. This allowed ninjas to travel the countryside well armed and also able to protect themselves or kill their enemies at anytime.

What is a Japanese sword?

Photo by Paul Preacher

   The Japanese sword came in varying lengths and, depending on the swordsmith that created the blade, had various degrees of curvature to the blade itself. The Katana sword is the name most commonly used by people to describe the Japanese sword. However, in truth there are several different types of swords and they are called:  Katana (a single edged curved long sword favored by the Samurai starting around the 1400's, the Wakizashi is the shorter single edged sword that was usually paired with the Katana, the Tsurugi was a double edged long sword, the Nodachi or Otachi were older and longer singe edged swords. And due to the similar methods of the way they were forged the pole-mounted weapons called Naginata and Yari were part of the same family.
   These weapons of a previous time are still seen, manufactured, and purchased even today. The process of making them truly dictates the value and cost of these splendid weapons. In Japan there are still a few hundred swordsmiths today that create, forge, temper, and produce these beautiful pieces of art. Japan still holds a yearly competition which allows these masters to show their wares and compare them with other swordsmiths around the country.

The Japanese Sword

      There are few weapons that carry the same mystique as the Japanese sword.  It is forged under rites that are directly connected to Japan's Shinto religion, and labeled the "Soul of the Samurai," the Japanese sword serves as both a work of art and as a deadly weapon. For literally hundreds of years, the Japanese sword also served as a symbol of rank for the Samurai class.
         According to legend, there was a swordsmith by the name of Amakuni that created the first true Japanese sword sometime around 700A.D. Although there were small changes in the overall design of the blade during the next thousand years the actual shape of the weapon has changed very little since it was invented. 
       I do not believe that there will ever be a weapon that will fill the dual role or last as long as the Japanese Katana sword has.  Alot of that may have to do with the fact that  no one ever sees the romance of single combat anymore, we prefer to use weapons to just kill from as far away as possible.  We will never again see the likes of the men and weapons like we have for the past 1000 years. 

Making a Samurai Sword

The hardening of steel involves altering the microstructure or crystalline structure of that material through quenching it from a heat above 1,472 °F (bright red glow), ideally no higher than yellow hot. If cooled slowly, the material will break back down into iron and carbon and the molecular structure will return to its previous state. However, if cooled quickly, the steel's molecular structure is permanently altered. The reason for the formation of the curve in a properly hardened Japanese blade is that iron carbide, formed during heating and retained through quenching, has a lesser density than its root materials have separately. The katana gets its gentle curve from quenching during forging, as it is straight prior to quenching. A process of differential tempering causes martensite to form predominantly in the edge of the blade rather than the back; as the spine has lower retained lattice strain, it cools and contracts, and the blade takes on a gently curved shape.

A coating of clay mixed with ashes and a small portion of rust is applied to every surface but the edge of the blade during hardening. This provides heat insulation so that only the blade's edge will be hardened with quenching. This process also creates the distinct swerving line down the center of the blade called the hamon which can only be seen after it is polished, a katana forger's signature.

After the blade is forged it is then sent to be polished. The polishing takes between one and three weeks. The polisher uses finer and finer grains of polishing stones until the blade has a mirror finish in a process called glazing. This makes the blade extremely sharp and reduces drag making it easier with which to cut. The blade curvature also adds to the cutting power.

The katana is characterized by its distinctive appearance: a curved, slender, single edged blade, circular or squared guard, and long grip to accommodate two hands. It has historically been associated with the samurai of feudal Japan and is also known as the "Soul of the Samurai", and has become renowned for its sharpness and cutting ability, to the point that its purported cutting capabilities have reached almost mythical status.

Japanese Martial Arts

    In martial arts, no other weapon held the same status as the Japanese sword.  It was central to training.  But it had to be considering that this weapon was being carried by all warriors as was their right too.  When you look at the older schools their kata has the sword as the central element.  As the students would start to learn the staff or spear they learned to use it first against a sword.
  Regardless of whether you are learning jujutsu, aikido, or judo there is a very strong influence of swordsmanship.  Even the notorious ninjutsu was influenced by the ever present Japanese sword.  Ironically, you will find that people training in martial arts that have been influenced by the Japanese sword are unable to hold that weapon correctly.

Samurai Swordsmen

     There are tales of single swordsmen fighting and beating large numbers of enemys at a single time, however these are for the most part just tales.  The famous swordsmen Musashi, Ittosai, and Yagyu had all at one time faced several opponents  and not only survived but managed to win those encounters.  Combine theses feats with the dueling record of Musashi and you have what it is that makes these swordsmen remembered as the best in Japan's rich history.
       Most who followed the way of the sword did not realistically expect to live to an old age, and most didn't.  But the men mentioned earlier all died of natural causes despite the number of duels and battles that they had fought in.  All these men started their own schools and essentially their own martial arts.  They continued to wander the countryside looking for opponents with whom they can improve their skills.