Japanese Swords

Japanese Swords posts cover the nihonto, the curved single-edged blade developed during the Heian period and refined through the centuries that followed. Articles look at the difference between a tachi, a katana, a wakizashi, a tanto and a nodachi, the famous schools like Bizen, Soshu and Yamashiro, the role of smiths such as Masamune and Muramasa, the polishing process that takes weeks and is done by a separate specialist, the meaning of the hamon temper line and the long postwar dispute over whether antique blades count as cultural property or as weapons.