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The steel used in sword production is known as tamahagane (玉鋼:たまはがね), or "jewel steel" (tama – ball or jewel, hagane – steel). Tamahagane is produced from iron sand, a source of iron ore, and mainly used to make samurai swords, such as the katana, and some tools. Diagram of a tatara and bellows
This allows the sword to have the strength and the ability to hold a sharp edge, as well as to cause the sword to tend to bend rather than flex under stress. The process starts in the combining of the iron and carbon, by heating iron sand to 1200-1500 degrees Celsius in a traditional furnace, or tatara , for 72 hours.
The nagamaki was a long sword with a blade that could be 60 cm (24 in) or more and a handle of about equal length to the blade. [3] The blade was single-edged, resembling a naginata blade, but the handle (tsuka) of the nagamaki was not a smooth-surfaced wooden shaft as in the naginata; it was made more like a katana hilt.
Other types of Japanese swords include: tsurugi or ken, which is a straight double-edged sword; [19] ōdachi, tachi, which are older styles of a very long curved single-edged sword; uchigatana, a slightly shorter curved single-edged long sword; wakizashi, a medium-sized sword; and tantō, which is an even smaller knife-sized sword.
The sword can also be legal provided it was made in Japan before 1954, or was made using traditional sword making methods. It is also legal to buy if it can be classed as a "martial artist's weapon". This ban applies to England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The wakizashi was one of several short swords available for use by samurai including the yoroi tōshi, and the chisa-katana. The term wakizashi did not originally specify swords of any official blade length [10] and was an abbreviation of wakizashi no katana ("sword thrust at one's side"); the term was applied to companion swords of all sizes. [11]
As the samurai class was officially dissolved at this time, kenjutsu fell into decline, an unpopular reminder of the past. [3]: XIII, XIV This decline continued for approximately 20 years, until rising national confidence led to an increase of the uptake of traditional sword arts again, particularly in the military and the police.
[1] [2] Naginata were originally used by the samurai class of feudal Japan, as well as by ashigaru (foot soldiers) and sōhei (warrior monks). [3] The naginata is the iconic weapon of the onna-musha, a type of female warrior belonging to the Japanese nobility. A common misconception is that the Naginata is a type of sword, rather than a polearm.
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