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Special vacation


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I have just got back from a 7 day driving holiday of the Chugoko region which is the western area of the Japanese Honshu Island, and thought I would share my experiences.

 

Drove from Tokyo to Hagi and checked out the ceramics which are especially liked for tea ceremony.

http://www.reggie.net/album.php?albid=529

 

Went to Matsue and to Izumo Taisha, the second most important shrine in Japan that is famed for it its giant size shimenawa (twisted rope hung over the entrance to a shrine)

http://www.Japan-guide.com/e/e5804.html

 

Went to a place called Iwami Ginzan (but the kanji reads Ishimi Ginzan) which is an old village that is connected to a silver mine that (apparently) produced about a third of the worlds silver. An interesting place as I imagine the silver that we see in kodogu or habaki could very well have been mined there.

http://www2.pref.shimane.jp/ginzan/e/index.html

 

Drove down to Bizen and checked out the local pottery there too.

http://www.e-yakimono.net/guide/html/bizen.html

 

Oh yes, nearly forgot. Went to Bizen Osafune Token village and spent the day wondering around the museum and connected grounds. Saw a nice collection of Bizen Osafune swords spanning all the eras of sword making. The collection however I think was not as good as the swords that are in the NBTHK museum however as they told me at the museum, us in Tokyo tend to be spoiled when it comes to top quality swords. Noticeable names in the Osafune museum where Kanemitsu, Motomitsu, Kagehide etc. Noticeable smiths who I did not see where Nagamitsu and Kagemitsu

 

I saw a sword making demonstration in the traditional manner (no power tools) which was very very interesting resulting in me staying in the forge for about two hours. The demonstration began with the sakite lighting the fire and getting the charcoal nice and hot. The smith took over by heating the tamagane and tending the fire with the bellows. The material was removed and it was pounded by two sakite. The sakite were quite young (about 20 yrs) and were still mastering the heavy hammering and I was surprised at how difficult it was. The heating and the hammering was performed a number of times, each time the block was rolled in dust and straw before being reheated for about 3 minutes.

 

The smith put the block to the side and produced a roughly made large tanto sized blank and continued with the demo, as the sakite after about 30 minutes were struggling with the work and handling the heavy hammers and getting them to hit the right place on the block. The smith repeatedly heated the blank and shaped the blade using his eye, a piece of chalk and a set square to get the dimensions right. At this point I went for a walk and watched a bit of polishing. Saw a teacher put his apprentice through the paces of appreciating lacquered koshirae. Saw a habaki being made but missed the tsuka wrapping. All in all a very interesting day and a place well worth the time and effort to go to. I was very interested in the forging and was very surprise at how physically demanding it is. The poor sakite were filthy from the charcoal and really finding it tough to be accurate. The smith was very patient and in a sweat from the heat of the fire, never mind the sparks flying around from the heavy hammering.

 

Went also to the multi media video section which is a manageable size and full of charts, computer games for the kids that teach them about the local area and videos, books and magazines on sword making.

 

I enjoyed sitting around outside and listening to the hammering, looking in the direction of the nearby Yoshii river and absorbing the atmosphere while casting my imagination back to the time of when Osafune was one of the centres of sword production. I must say that my first sword, a Bishu Sukesada and it's mei was firmly in my mind as I was wandering around.

http://www.city.setouchi.lg.jp/~osa-token/english/index.htm

 

After that we headed to Ise shrine, the most important shrine in Japan dating back to the 3rd century. Saw examples of pre-Buddhist era architecture which the shrine is famous for and paid my respects to the Sun Goddess who is enshrined there.

http://www.Japan-guide.com/e/e4300.html

 

Polished of a bottle of Bushmills whisky with my wife's family who live near Ise.

http://www.bushmills.com

 

And got back to Tokyo last night.

 

Basically we drove about 2,500 kilometers and saw an awful lot of Japanese crafts which I feel has really added to my appreciation of nihonto and kodogu.

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Henry,

 

That is an absolutely wonderful vacation and a great read too.

The Osafune experience sounds like something that every Nihonto enthusiast should do at some stage. I think they only do the demonstrations on certain days weeky?

All in all it sounds like a great experience. 2500km is a long way, but with such interesting sights, I bet it didn't feel like it. :)

This is the type of trip to do every few years if you get the chance.

 

Regards,

Brian

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Hi Brian

 

Yes, a wonderful experience and it did not feel the distance at all until the Bushmills :beer:

 

Before I got to Osafune I thought the demo was bi-monthly and held on Sundays but because it is a holiday period in Japan and there were plenty of people around they decided to do a demo as the smiths and sakite were around any way.

 

There is also a kogatana work shop that they have were you can make a kogatana completely from scratch (bits of raw tamahagane as a starting point), similar to what Guido did once in Tokyo. I missed that day but I have a pamphlet somewhere and can dig it out if people are interetsed.

 

I can not stress enough how benefical the whole experience was in broadening my undersatanding and appreciation of Japanese craftsmanship which resulted in consolidating my interetst in swords and kodogu. The Osafune village of course has left an impression but also the whole journey, including the 2 most important shrines in Japan and looking at another side of Japanese crafts.

 

I forget to mention that I got a guided tour of a traditional Bizen ceramics kiln and got a look at Hagi ceramics kiln in operation as well. Quite similar to swords in a way and meet the operators and talked to them which was great. Persoanlly speaking I think there is nothing better than meeting the people, smelling the air of the work shop and seeing how everyone works together to make a single item based on ideas and methods dating back hunfreds of years.

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Sounds like an awesome trip Henry. 2,500km in Japan ........ must have cost a bit in tolls. It seems every major freeway in Japan has at least 5 sets of toll gates.

 

Thanks for posting it up.

 

Regards

Justin

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Hi Mike

 

I am glad that you copied my post as it was a great experience that I want to share and hope others will try out. Especially the non-sword side of the journey.

 

I think driving in Japan is not so bad. Tokyo is difficult as it is congested and narrow but down where we were, the roads were good, well surfaced and we could move along quite well.

 

As for tolls etc that Justin mentioned before. Cheaper than plane and bullet train but still pricey. We are waiting for the visa bill from the ETC machine (electronic toll counter ?????) but we did most of the long hawls at night which I think results in a significant discount (about 30 percent but could be wrong).

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Forget the insurance, get a car with a navigation system! I got lost more often than I care to remember because of road signs that lead you straight down a rabbit hole. Leaving Kyôto for Uji is my all time favorite: if you follow the signs, you end up cruising in circles forever ... :(

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Not usually Milt.... usually you have a Japanese female voice that sounds very cute, telling you which way to go.... in Japanese obviously!

 

You would love it!!

 

Not sure if the software on the Japanese systems switches to English or not.... not that I have seen so far.

 

Cheers

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