Japanese Samurai Swords
Collectors Japanese Samurai Swords are very popular in Japan and all over the world. Sword collectors want to have these beautiful weapons among their collection. The long curved edge of the stylish looking traditional sword makes it a beauty to have. Modern Japan still honors the memory of the samurai.
Japanese Samurai Swords Popular Weapons
Japanese samurai swords are more than just weapons but also a symbol of strength, status and position, the pride to the military aristocracy who worshiped Buddha, and the emperor. Each Japanese Samurai swords were hand crafted by blacksmiths, custom made and designed for the individual warriors.
These blacksmiths didn’t just work for themselves; they worked for the government, and for the feudal lords. Japanese Samurai Swords were a man’s honor, and pride in Japan. But not just anyone could get a Samurai sword it had to be an individual samurai warriors, shogun or feudal lord. A lot of people today would say that the true spirit of Japan is the Japanese Swords above anything else. People still offer incense at the graves of the fallen Japanese warriors honoring there past history.
Japanese Samurai swords come to about 2 feet long; there about a total of 100,000 swords today in Japan and more than 200,000 have come to the United States as a warfare souvenir. The true authentic Japanese Samurai Swords never comes cheap. If you were to find a katana for a low price then it usually means it’s a replica. If you want to get these authentic swords you will be looking at prices of $500-1200 and up.
When looking for well made true handcrafted Japanese katana swords check how they’re constructed. The first thing to look for is how the blade was made. The blade should be of high carbon steel, with a full tang. The number of times they fold, heated and cooled is what gives the sword its strength without being brittle. Full tang means; that the piece that goes inside of the handle was not welded on to but part of the original construction. The handle should be crafted with the same curved shape as the blade and well secured to the tang.
Some handles on the Japanese samurai katana swords are wooden. I like the dark strained finish myself. But being made of wood the proper care and respect is needed to be taken to keep the beauty of these weapons.
History of Japanese Samurai Swords
The Japanese Samurai swords have a unique history that can be traced back over 1300 years starting with the old sword period called Koto a per 1596. The Japanese history is divided up into four groups: Koto, Shinto/shinshinto, Gendai, and Shinsaku which is the modern age.
The first Japanese samurai swords were a straight, double edged iron blade like the Chinese Jian sword called Chokuto. In the early Heian period the first swords that were uniquely Japanese in design was the beginning of what is now the modern day Katana sword.
In the beginning the curve of the sword was only at the tang. The full curve of the blade of the samurai sword was common by the end of the 10th century.
It was at this time that the Japanese started to cut ties with china. Also during this era the Samurai warriors were the gentlemen of the provinces and military guards of the capital, this help to stabilize their new society.
Exactly when the first swords was made they are not sure, there was very little written records of the history in that early period. Japanese mythology likes to credit the turning point of Samurai sword history to a blacksmith by the name of Amakuni.
The legendary sword maker Amakuni Yasutsma was called the father of the Samurai sword. He and his son, Amakura were the Emperor’s head blacksmiths, and they forged the swords for the emperor armies.
As the history of the Samurai swords goes according to the legend, there was a battle that the Emperor and his army fought and when they returned they passed the forge where Amakuni worked and didn’t speak to him like they usually did. It brought shame to Amakuni when the warriors returned from battle and most of their swords were broken or badly damaged, he got a horrible sinking feeling.
When they examined the broken and damaged blades, Amakuni and his son realized to their deep disappointment that they hadn’t forged the swords correctly. They made an oath that they would fashion a superior sword, and earn back the respected of the Emperor, Amakuni and his son prayed to their shinto Gods for the answer on how to make the sword.
After locking themselves in the forge for seven nights, they had the same dream of a single edged sword with a curved blade.
When the first early dawn light shone into the forge they knew it was time to begin, without speaking they started to work each knowing how the finish sword would look like because of the dream (kami). This was the beginning of the first Japanese Samurai sword.
The other sword smiths thought that Amakuni had mentally lost it when he told the emperor that the shinto Gods had showed him how to forge it. A year later when the warriors came home from battle, he got his reward for all his hard work, his technique had worked not a single sword was destroyed. The words spoken to Amakuni let him know the pride the Emperor had for his skill in making these beautiful Japanese Samurai swords. Amakuni lived a long and peaceful life dyeing a happy old man knowing that he had won back the favour of the Emperor.