Subject: 侍 samurai warrior
Culture: Japanese
Setting: Edo period, Japan 17th-19thc
Object: 大小 daishō 'long/short' paired sabers, 拵え koshirae fittings, 木剣 bokken wooden saber
Daisho
* Chester Beatty Library
"Samurai and Swords The samurai sword was the symbol of a warrior's status. During the Edo period (about 1600-1867), samurai wore two swords at all times. These were worn thrust through the sash with the cutting edge uppermost, so that they were easy to unsheathe.
"To make a samurai sword, short strips of steel were welded together, then folded over, hammered out and cooled. The process was repeated several times until eventually there were many thousands of layers of steel. Finally the sword was heated and quickly cooled in water to harden the edge. The result was a shallow, curved blade that was strong yet flexible and extremely sharp."
* Armure et guerrier 2011 p
Koshirae
* Bottomley 2017 p86
"Sword fittings no longer had to withstand the knocks and damage of battle and, rather than iron, could be made from softer, more decorative metals and alloys. Craftsmen rose to the demand, creating tsuba and hilt fittings that are miniature works of art which have never been surpassed. Because the mounts of a sword could be changed, the rich sometime had sets of mounts made for the same blade for use on different social occasions or seasons of the year. For centuries there had been a group of sword-fitting makers called the Goto who worked for the courts, creating designs executed in gold on a background of an alloy of gold and copper called shakudo chemically patinated to black. As the prosperity of the general population increased, shakudo and other alloys chosen for the colour they assumed when patinated began to be employed more widely.
"These alloys gave the makers of fittings a considerable colour palette that included reds and browns from copper, greens and browns from bronzes and iron, greys from an alloy of silver and copper called shibuichi, black from shakudo as well as gold and silver themselves. Iron, always patinated with a controlled coating of rust, was chiselled in relief, apparently with the same facility as wood. Using inlaying and other techinques, masterpieces were created that might take for themes scenes from history or legends, animals, birds, fish, plants or inanimate objects."
* Museum of Fine Arts > Art of Asia, Oceania, and Africa
"LETHAL ELEGANCE The Art of Samurai Sword Fittings Celebrated as the 'soul of the samurai,' the Japanese sword was adorned with fittings that are among the finest examples of metalwork ever created. Tsuba, hand guards made of iron, probably were first mounted on swords in the fourteenth century. During the fifteenth century other fittings were developed, including the kashira and fuchi, placed at either end of the hilt, and the kozuka, the handle of a small knife carried in a slot in the scabbard. These fittings originally served practical purposes, but when peace was restored in the early seventeenth century, they continued to be made, chiefly as fashion accessories for men.
"During the Edo period (1615-1868), craftsmen decorated hand guards and other fittings with a vast range of motifs that reflected not only the taste of the samurai but also that of the urban merchant class, whose members often were permitted to wear a single sword. These fittings were made of gold, silver, and a variety of copper alloys, including shakudō and shibuichi. Shakudō, a combination of impure copper with a small percentage of gold, turned a lustrous purple-black color when treated in a hot chemical solution. Shibuichi, an alloy of copper and silver, could be treated in the same way to produce a variety of gray-green hues.
"Even before 1876, when Japan's Westernizing rulers abolished the samurai privilege of wearing two swords, some of the most skilled metalworkers had started to create ornamental items for export." ...
* Calizzano 1989 p156
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* Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology > Arts of War
"Samurai warriors used several types of swords and knives. A long sword, or katana, was typically paired with a shorter sword, called a wakizashi. Scabbards and hilts were the focus of decoration. Over time, the hand guard between the blade and the hilt, or tsuba, came to be highly decorated. The handle of a small knife, often housed in the scabbard of a sword, was also the focus of elegant designs."
* Chester Beatty Library
"Tsuba A number of sword fittings accompanied the blade. Among the most widely preserved in the West are tsuba, the metal guards that protected the sword hand. Roughly circular in shape, tsuba were pierced with one wedge-shaped hole to admit the sword blade and often with one or two smaller holes for a small dagger and skewer."
Bokken
* Ratti/Westbrook 1973 p311
"The third specialization [of staff fighting] was the art of the wooden sword (bokken), a staff carved and shaped in accordance with the contours of a real sword, often so skillfully that the result became a much appreciated object of aesthetic enjoyment and display. This art is not mentioned as frequently as one might expect, simply because it was linked so closely to kenjutsu that it was generally identified with or subordinated to the latter. Yet most duels among masters of different schools, all the tournaments among clansmen, all the examinations for rank, and so forth involved the use of the sturdy bokken which every bushi used as a part of his training equipment. In certain exceptional cases, it could even be substituted for the katana; for example, when skilled swordsmen became itinerant monks or men of peace and developed an aversion to the shedding of human blood, under any circumstances. In such cases, the bokken was used primarily as an instrument of pure defense."
* Calizzano 1989 p137
"La caste militaire produisit en revanche une version en bois (chêne ou merisier) de l'épée caractéristique des samouraïs (Katana). La Boken, conçue au départ pour l'entraînement, révéla rapidement ses propriétés offensives si bien que de nombreux guerriers l'adoptèrent en remplacement de l'épée en acier. La plus fine lame du Japon féodal, Miyamoto Musashi, utilisa plusieurs fois la Boken pour ses duels l'opposant à des adversaires armés d'un Katana."
* Lowry 1986 p18-19
"No doubt some form of wooden mock sword existed earlier in Japanese history, but it was with the birth of the ryu system that craftsmen began to fashion the bokken still in existence today, little changed. The bokken offered several advantages over a live blade in training at the ryu dojo. Aside from the obvious safety factor it afforded trainees, it was also a good way to preserve the edges of expensive steel swords. The Japanese katana is forged so that its spine is quite malleable, yet it has a brittle, razor-sharp edge that permits its great cutting power. From this combination of hard and soft emerged a deadly bladed weapon, but one that could easily be damaged if the cutting surface came in harsh contact with another hard object. Frequently, katana were nicked and even broken in combat. Therefore, rather than risk flawing an expensive blade, the use of the bokken permitted the novice fencer to make contact with an opponent's weapon in the training hall, without serious damage to the sword.
"By the middle of the 16th century, there were over 500 ryu in Japan devoted to kenjutsu, the art of the sword, and the bokken was the central training weapon of virtually all of them. And, as kenjutsu grew ever more refined, the improvement was reflected in a more sophisticated employment of the bokken. It was only a matter of time before some enterprising swordsmen discovered that the bokken had not only an important place in training, but a more practical value as well, as a formidable weapon in its own right."
