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The Japanese Sword: Weapon and Work of Art
© Courtesy David E. J. Pepin 1977
The NIPPON BIJUTSU TOKEN HOZON KYOKAI (N.B.T.H.K.)
Life Member -The Society for the Preservation of Japanese Art Swords
The Japanese Sword Museum -Tokyo, Japan
The Japanese sword, more commonly know as the Samurai sword, was a superb weapon. Its unique edge-tempering (compared to the full-blade tempering of the famous Toledo and Damascus swords of Europe) allowed a degree of hardness and razor- sharpness impossible to attain in European swords without danger of brittleness and breakage. The fear and respect which the Japanese warrior and his sword inspired among Oriental foes is recorded in many contemporary accounts. But beyond its quality as a weapon, the Japanese sword is important as one of history's finest expressions of the metal worker's art.
The art of sword making required high technical knowledge, great patience, persistence and a true religious devotion. The greatest Japanese sword smiths led a
religious form of life, abstaining from all excesses, and accompanying each step of the work with prayer and ritual.
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