Japanese katana6/11/2023 ![]() ![]() Thanks to the help of a Japanese friend we were able to contact him and make an appointment to visit his forge and listen from him the secrets of these formidable swords.Ĥ The use of Katana at present time Main features of the Katana Master Matsunaga is not descended from a family of producers of Katana, but his strong passion for the history of his country and its traditions led him to resign from his job to undertake a long apprenticeship with a renowned teacher, then, once acquired all the knowledge, he opened his own forge in traditional style. One of these forges in which the Katana are forged following the ancient systems is located in the southern island of Kyushu, in the small town of Arao of the prefecture of Kumamoto and is managed by the master Matsunaga Genrokurou. ![]() Nowadays in Japan still survives some ancient forge of Katana, generally managed by descendants of the ancient masters, they are Japanese National Heritage and also receiving subsidies from the state to preserve such as important and characteristic art of Japan. The production of a single Katana could also take 6 months of work and was divided into many different phases, and not all performed by the same craftsman. ![]() In Japan the production of swords was not just a job, therefore, but rather an art with a spiritual meaning, and the best producers of Katana in the various eras of Japan were considered almost like the Samurai, despite their manual work, as a craftsman, consequently certainly not worthy of the Samurai nobility acquired only by right of birth. Subsequently, with the explosion of the Samurai epic, in many cities and villages, the best smiths became katana molders. They were alchemists, poets, writers, fighters considered unbeatable and blade-makers, had vast knowledge and for them to forge a blade constituted a real ascetic practice. The first Japanese sword-makers were Buddhist Tendai monks or mountain warrior monks called Yamabushi. In this article I want to bring you into the fascinating ancient Samurai world through the explanation of their legendary sword, the now famous, even in the West, Katana.Įveryone knows that the Katana is the Japanese sword and its main characteristic is to be bent and have only one thread (only one sharp edge), but there is much more to know about this sword, considered by many to be the perfect sword. ![]()
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