The Internationalization Of Japanese Blade Making?

[Peter Bleed]

A friend recently shared with me a book he thought I’d find interesting. Indeed, I have found it of interest - for all the wrong reasons. Forging Japanese Knives for Beginners by Ernst  Siebeneicher-Hellwig and Jurgan Rosinski is published in 2013 (in the US) by Schiffer Publishing.

If you get a chance to acquire this book, DON’T. It is useless to anyone genuinely  interested in Nippon-to.  More seriously, the information this volume presents to anyone interested in learning how traditional Japanese blades are made is worse than bogus. Ernst and Jurgen seem to be ambitious European knife makers who have seen some pictures of Japanese swords. They also seem to have learned some vocabulary, but there is NO bibliography. A couple of pictures suggest that one of another of them visited a Japanese kitchen knife maker but that experience is not described. The book opens with a rather long description of a bloomery furnace replication but the relevance of that activity to comparable Japanese practice is not addressed.  Likewise, the pictures that show a short blade being made and then smeared with goo so that it can be “heat treated” have no direct reference to Japanese activities. Then several pages a devoted to describing how a clunky brass  thing can be drilled out  to serve as a Habaki. Finally there is a chapter on hocho making. As a book, this volume is a waste of paper.

                Still, I think this dung ball might say something about the state and future of Japanese sword appreciation. So far interest in Japanese blades has been - largely -controlled by Japanese practice. With broader interest, this book may indicate that Japanese blades will become free of Japanese control. It is possible that a new generation of smiths will emerge who use some Japanese terms and who are adept at making things they call “Japanese knifes.”

Peter

[SAS]

if it is not made in Japan, the best that can be said of it is that it is inspired by Japanese design ethics. Some smiths are more successful than others in this regard; apparently the Chinese are coming full circle by making swords that are difficult to tell from Japanese made ones. Sword technology came from the Asian mainland prior to 1000 a.d. ; Americans used to make the best televisions........

[drjoe]

Although many western bladesmiths miss the fundamentals of sugata or are not working with tamahagane/orishigane, there are a few examples of smiths making Japanese-style blades in a traditional fashion.  Some have spent significant time, if not a full traditional apprenticeship, with Japanese smiths.  So, the internationalization is already happening.

What prevents widespread globalization is that economically, being a swordsmith is very difficult and the market doesn't need more, especially as China, per its usual manufacturing model, drives prices (and quality) down and volume up. 

For all the collectors on this site who are keeping nihonto "alive," how many buy/collect shinsakuto?





 

[Guest Rayhan]

I believe many do on this site or otherwise. The fact is commissioning a new sword is more costly than if buying the same said sword on the secondary market. I would always recommend buying great shinkensakuto from the secondary market and if possible when the time is right and finances are available commission your own sword.

[PNSSHOGUN]

Commissioning swords would be more popular among Japanese rather than Westerners as it is often custom to have a sword made for a lucky or auspicious occasion.

[Guest Rayhan]

Or a bad ass cutting machine to celebrate a 4th + Dan?

[ROKUJURO]

Peter,

I understand your criticism well. 

It has in my opinion to do with a general superficiality and a lack of feeling and interest for detail. People don't study anymore - they are masters of the craft after a short while of self-educated trial and error - mostly the latter! On YouTube you can watch many videos of wannabe bladesmiths, who show how they hammer their first knife blade. Some even call that a tutorial!

Referring to the forging, to a certain extent this has to do with the fact that many crafts are dying out in Western countries. Often there are no real masters left to carry the tradition on, This is probably not so severe in Japan, but the problem is known as well.

I had a lengthy discussion in a German forging forum. Someone showed a sword blade which he optimistically called a KATANA. I asked him about his criteria in naming a blade so, and I got a shitstorm from other forum members, calling me pedantic, not helpful, and discouraging his efforts.

Not only Japanese masters admit to the fact, that learning never stops in your life (JIRO dreams of SUSHI....), but it seems that there is a deplorable tendency to search for shortcuts. Looking deeply into a process or a subject, investing time and efforts for the benefit of knowledge and quality, really studying, seems to have become old-fashioned.  

[drjoe]

yes, craftsmanship is dwindling overall and has been for the better part of a century, but it's an overgeneralization to say that no one studies anymore. 

also, though certainly not a substitute for traditional apprenticeships and hands on learning, in the age of the internet one can learn from others in ways not previously possible -- no one is really self-taught even if they claim to be.  

i completely agree that there are many, many people out there making poor approximations of nihonto, but here are some who are doing very respectable work with links to Japanese teachers that can stand up next to Japanese work.  this is obviously true with koshirae, but also true of a handful of bladesmiths out there.

here is a good example:

https://0j.b5z.net/i/u/2043896/i/lmb_omote_1pu.jpg

[Greg F]

Hi Joe may i ask who made the blade in your link please.

 

Greg

[drjoe]

Hi Joe may i ask who made the blade in your link please.

 

Greg

anthony discristofano (sukemitsu) - http://www.namahagesword.com/

[Stephen]

Anthony has come a long way from when i first seen his swords

id like to own this

[drjoe]

Anthony spent some time in Yoshindo Yoshihara's forge and learned a thing or two. 

[Peter Bleed]

Here in Arkansas I have come in contact with some serious "custom knife" makers. This is a serious field and I respect fellows who are into it, both the makers and the collectors. There is also some serious money involved. I am sure that if Nippon-to kaji were to enter this trade (as a side light and tangential activity) they could find lots of interest in what they could offer. I am aware that there there is a custom knife market in Japan, but I am not sure how it related to shinsaku-to. In any case, it this market were to develop, it certainly would change Japanese swordsmithing. It might improve custom knives -- while also reducing sword making.

Peter

[Jussi Ekholm]

Pavel Bolf has impressed me for many years: https://www.katana-kaji.cz/en/and he might not be as well known internationally as I think he should be.

 

Likewise Stefan Roth might not be too known internationally: http://www.seelenschmie.de/wordpress/

[Surfson]

Stephen, please don't post garden tools!!!   

[Brian]

I would love to own that garden tool too

[Bugyotsuji]

Agreed.

 

But why have a link if when you click on it the resultant photo is exactly the same size?