Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The word katana first appears in Japanese in the Nihon Shoki of 720. The term is a compound of kata ("one side, one-sided") + na ("blade"), [6] [7] [8] in contrast to the double-sided tsurugi. The katana belongs to the nihontō family of swords, and is distinguished by a blade length (nagasa) of more than 2 shaku, approximately 60 cm (24 in). [9]
Amakuni Yasutsuna (天國 安綱) is the legendary swordsmith who supposedly created the first single-edged longsword with curvature along the edge in the Yamato Province around 700 AD. He was the head of a group of swordsmiths employed by the Emperor of Japan to make weapons for his warriors.
He insisted that the bold and strong kotō blade from the Kamakura period to the Nanboku-chō period was the ideal Japanese sword, and started a movement to restore the production method and apply it to katana. Katana made after this is classified as a shinshintō (新々刀), "new revival swords" or literally "new-new swords."
Archaeological excavations dated the oldest sword in Japan from at least as early as second century B.C. [2]: 4 The Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters) and the Nihon Shoki (History of Japan), ancient texts on early Japanese history and myth that were compiled in the eighth century A.D., describe iron swords and swordsmanship that pre-date recorded history, attributed to the mythological age of ...
The nioi is made up of niye, which are single martensite crystals surrounded by darker pearlite. The curving of a katana as it cools at different rates. Having a single edge provides certain advantages; one being that the rest of the sword can be used to reinforce and support the edge. The Japanese style of sword-making takes full advantage of ...
Created Date: 8/30/2012 4:52:52 PM
Two other Kogarasu Zukuri blades exist from this era, but many other blades of this type have been created throughout Japanese history. Murata Tsuneyoshi , a General of the Imperial Japanese Army during the Meiji era, created the first Gunto, famously known as Murata-To which is a Kissaki Moroha Zukuri style double edged Katana.
Perhaps one of the most famed Kotetsu blades was a fake: that of Kondō Isami, the commander of the late Edo-era patrol force called Shinsengumi.However, this sword was not a Kotetsu, but instead a sword made by the foremost smith of that era (known in Japanese swordmaking history as the shinshin-to era), Minamoto Kiyomaro, and bearing a forged Kotetsu signature made by master signature-faker ...