Your vid did help clarify some of the confusion I have with Japanese sword terms. I have gotten some very contradictory information in the past but through deduction was thinking I had it mostly figured out. Seems i was mostly right but a few points you have helped clarify so thank you.
LK Chen offers a couple Dao that are direct precursors to the katana, one of which is actually a replica of a Chinese one that resides in a Japanese museum.
I would not rely on those for historical accuracy form LK, is a bad idea to use swords from Japan as reference, hard to tell if these blades are made during that time a lot were created much later and have features that did not exist at that time those swords are examples of them. You can read this if you want by the way. "Wantō (湾刀): Early Curved Japanese Swords"
Looking forward to cutting with it finally too. I'll take a look at LK Chen, I haven't looked at their site for years. I don't remember seeing anything about dao in Japan, but I've never been focused on Chinese weapons or armor and it doesn't stick in memory for me. I'm a "samurai times" guy and since those weapons pre-date the samurai I'm not nearly as knowledgeable on that earlier periods.
As someone who loves all swords but is from a Euro background I really would like a replica of a chokuto, as I prefer straight swords & often am drawn to lesser known types. I want one with the small pommel as the ones with bigger pommels to me look to weird & I feel would get in the way of how I'd want to use the sword. I may get a "ninja sword" blade & make a hilt as close as I can some day.
@@SamuraiJames they do. i've seen a few cheap 1045 versions out there too; I believe Shinwa has made some for example. I think I've seen some rarer types of Chinese Jian that actually have round/oval guards..so the double edged ninja sword isn't totally fantasy.
@@SamuraiJames Korean swords mirror the look/styles of Chinese & Japanese swords; but also have a few original designs. One I love is like a katana with a straight blade or one could say like a ninja-to with a round or oval tsuba. I don't know the name of it for sure I assume it's a type of jikdo as jikdo means straight single edged sword as far as I know although most jikdo tend to have very small guards. I made a vid about some th-cam.com/video/onvO56MCiQk/w-d-xo.html
Were Japan sword makers keen enough to magnetize the steel blades? Reason I ask is because quality strait razors are commonly stamped "MAGNETIZED'. Reason for magnetizing a steel edge is it will always give you a keener edge because in a short time the magnetic edge will aline to a finer edge sitting idle. Thank you for your quality video James.
Thanks for the compliment. Metallurgically iron is magnetic, and both low and high carbon steels contain iron, so I would assume that the swords have some level of magnetism as a result. I don't think it was intentional, or that it would "fix" an edge by aligning itself. Basic maintenance with a leather strop or similar will take care of any small deviations from usage, and any fixable large damage would have to be re-profiled or re-sharpened to get it back into proper condition. I don't have a specific source to cite for that, just the decades of experience with swords and having sharpened quite a few over the years too.
You could try contacting some vendors such as RyanSword and Hanbon Forge to see if they would sell you just the tsuka. You would probably need to take it apart to shave it to fit and possibly to shim it if you want a tight fit and that would mean rewrapping the ito. And drill out the tang for the mekugi.
hi james-san!!!🙂👍thank you so much for showing more about swords and explaining more! I have a quick question for you that... if you had the chance to go back in shogun time in japan and you got the chance to meet miyamoto musashi .... what is the first thing you want to say to him?🤔 take care and be stong!
That is a great question. Depends how old he is. I think I would ask him if he really fought at Sekigahara. That seems to be something people can't agree on. That used to be accepted as true but recently there was a document of some kind (journal entry or correspondence?) that says he was somewhere else and never made it to that battle. Well that would be my first question. The first thing I would probably say is "hi, I don't want to duel you" and hope he is polite.
The more traditional katana or tachi tip existed before kogarasu Maru. There's also another type of double edged tip on Japanese curved swords. Also. Ninjato wasn't actually Hollywood but a Japanese comic book author, and interestingly enough during the Oei period among ashigaru and low ranking samurai mu sori or no sori katana were pretty popular but it fell out of fashion quick.
The tip style did, what I have for dates is the kogarasu maru is 8th century (700-799) and the tachi as Heian period (794+). I'd wager that with the variety of smiths, and number of regions in the early years of Japan, some probably went directly from a straight double edged sword to a single edged tachi style. Maybe even more often than not. Amakuni is such a popular person / legend it's hard to tell. I've seen a few variations of double edged tips. Japan had a really nice assortment of blade types. Interesting about the ninjato! Do you know which author / series it was? One of the things that defines a ninjato for me is having a squared tsuba, I've seen the straight blade style katana but haven't seen any with the square tsuba. Of course, we're talking centuries after their use and the tsuba could easily be replaced or missing. I'd love to check out that comic.
I don’t think the katana design was standardized during the Edo period. I’ve come across many antiques with koshirae from the edo period with all different kinds of designs. I think the black is seen very often because black is one of the easiest dyes to make and we rarely see samegawa colored in any time period
Yes, great point. It wasn't for all of Japan, if I remember right it was Tokugawa Ieyasu that said all of the imperial guards and / or army were to have standardized swords with a black saya, white samegawa, and black ito. I don't think it was the shinsengumi.
Black and some colors you could say were close enough were basically all that was allowed on official swords. There were also bans on having Solid gold fittings and rules as far as shakudo or shibuichi fittings and ito color. Depending where you were rules were more or less strict and depending on rank and social standings rules were more or less strict. Kinda like muramasa blades. Then you have swords that weren't for official business and could do whatever.
It is from Ryan sword. Most of their tachi are more classic katana shaped but this one is longer and deeper sori. Custom steel request but the rest is normal customization options.
If you go to japan to buy a authentic sword a carry permit as well as a export permit must be obtained from vendor, you cant just buy and then waltz around with a deadly weapon.
Good video man I would like to point out the handles you showed would not have been use on double-edged swords and they are native Japanese designs. I don't think the the ninja sword is invention of Hollywood more so Japanese Cinema likely inspired by katanas. Something to read by the way. "Wantō (湾刀): Early Curved Japanese Swords"
Thanks! Yes, that's what I had on hand to show as the closest examples. Japan didn't evolve their own swords until after they split away from the Chinese / Chinese inspired designs. If I remember right, Wantō is the umbrella term for the early curved swords like the warabiteto, but covering everything, and not just the north? I've heard that before, but it's been a while.
Very impressive knowledge of the different swords. Far better than any other video I've ever seen.
Well done mate 👌
Thank you!
Your vid did help clarify some of the confusion I have with Japanese sword terms.
I have gotten some very contradictory information in the past but through deduction was thinking I had it mostly figured out. Seems i was mostly right but a few points you have helped clarify so thank you.
You're welcome and glad it helped
LK Chen offers a couple Dao that are direct precursors to the katana, one of which is actually a replica of a Chinese one that resides in a Japanese museum.
Good, informative video dude.
Definitely would like to see you cut with that Unokubi Zukuri. Spoiler alert, they cut extremely effectively.
I would not rely on those for historical accuracy form LK, is a bad idea to use swords from Japan as reference, hard to tell if these blades are made during that time a lot were created much later and have features that did not exist at that time those swords are examples of them.
You can read this if you want by the way.
"Wantō (湾刀): Early Curved Japanese Swords"
@@eagle162 I'll take it. Lol.
Looking forward to cutting with it finally too. I'll take a look at LK Chen, I haven't looked at their site for years. I don't remember seeing anything about dao in Japan, but I've never been focused on Chinese weapons or armor and it doesn't stick in memory for me. I'm a "samurai times" guy and since those weapons pre-date the samurai I'm not nearly as knowledgeable on that earlier periods.
As someone who loves all swords but is from a Euro background I really would like a replica of a chokuto, as I prefer straight swords & often am drawn to lesser known types. I want one with the small pommel as the ones with bigger pommels to me look to weird & I feel would get in the way of how I'd want to use the sword.
I may get a "ninja sword" blade & make a hilt as close as I can some day.
RyanSword has a double edged straight blade ninja-to style sword for $140. I'm tempted to pick one up to have as an example of it.
@@SamuraiJames they do. i've seen a few cheap 1045 versions out there too; I believe Shinwa has made some for example. I think I've seen some rarer types of Chinese Jian that actually have round/oval guards..so the double edged ninja sword isn't totally fantasy.
@@SamuraiJames Korean swords mirror the look/styles of Chinese & Japanese swords; but also have a few original designs.
One I love is like a katana with a straight blade or one could say like a ninja-to with a round or oval tsuba. I don't know the name of it for sure I assume it's a type of jikdo as jikdo means straight single edged sword as far as I know although most jikdo tend to have very small guards.
I made a vid about some
th-cam.com/video/onvO56MCiQk/w-d-xo.html
Were Japan sword makers keen enough to magnetize the steel blades? Reason I ask is because quality strait razors are commonly stamped "MAGNETIZED'. Reason for magnetizing a steel edge is it will always give you a keener edge because in a short time the magnetic edge will aline to a finer edge sitting idle. Thank you for your quality video James.
Thanks for the compliment. Metallurgically iron is magnetic, and both low and high carbon steels contain iron, so I would assume that the swords have some level of magnetism as a result. I don't think it was intentional, or that it would "fix" an edge by aligning itself. Basic maintenance with a leather strop or similar will take care of any small deviations from usage, and any fixable large damage would have to be re-profiled or re-sharpened to get it back into proper condition. I don't have a specific source to cite for that, just the decades of experience with swords and having sharpened quite a few over the years too.
Hmm never heard of any good knife/Sword because when carbon steel is properly tempered when it is NOT magnetic
This is an awesome vid!, very cool!
Thanks!
I am looking for a Nagamaki handle to convert a katana. I can find Nodachi tsuka sold online, but no luck with a Nagamaki tsuka.
You could try contacting some vendors such as RyanSword and Hanbon Forge to see if they would sell you just the tsuka. You would probably need to take it apart to shave it to fit and possibly to shim it if you want a tight fit and that would mean rewrapping the ito. And drill out the tang for the mekugi.
hi james-san!!!🙂👍thank you so much for showing more about swords and explaining more! I have a quick question for you that... if you had the chance to go back in shogun time in japan and you got the chance to meet miyamoto musashi .... what is the first thing you want to say to him?🤔 take care and be stong!
That is a great question. Depends how old he is. I think I would ask him if he really fought at Sekigahara. That seems to be something people can't agree on. That used to be accepted as true but recently there was a document of some kind (journal entry or correspondence?) that says he was somewhere else and never made it to that battle. Well that would be my first question. The first thing I would probably say is "hi, I don't want to duel you" and hope he is polite.
The more traditional katana or tachi tip existed before kogarasu Maru.
There's also another type of double edged tip on Japanese curved swords.
Also. Ninjato wasn't actually Hollywood but a Japanese comic book author, and interestingly enough during the Oei period among ashigaru and low ranking samurai mu sori or no sori katana were pretty popular but it fell out of fashion quick.
The tip style did, what I have for dates is the kogarasu maru is 8th century (700-799) and the tachi as Heian period (794+). I'd wager that with the variety of smiths, and number of regions in the early years of Japan, some probably went directly from a straight double edged sword to a single edged tachi style. Maybe even more often than not. Amakuni is such a popular person / legend it's hard to tell. I've seen a few variations of double edged tips. Japan had a really nice assortment of blade types.
Interesting about the ninjato! Do you know which author / series it was? One of the things that defines a ninjato for me is having a squared tsuba, I've seen the straight blade style katana but haven't seen any with the square tsuba. Of course, we're talking centuries after their use and the tsuba could easily be replaced or missing. I'd love to check out that comic.
I don’t think the katana design was standardized during the Edo period. I’ve come across many antiques with koshirae from the edo period with all different kinds of designs. I think the black is seen very often because black is one of the easiest dyes to make and we rarely see samegawa colored in any time period
Yes, great point. It wasn't for all of Japan, if I remember right it was Tokugawa Ieyasu that said all of the imperial guards and / or army were to have standardized swords with a black saya, white samegawa, and black ito. I don't think it was the shinsengumi.
Black and some colors you could say were close enough were basically all that was allowed on official swords. There were also bans on having Solid gold fittings and rules as far as shakudo or shibuichi fittings and ito color.
Depending where you were rules were more or less strict and depending on rank and social standings rules were more or less strict. Kinda like muramasa blades.
Then you have swords that weren't for official business and could do whatever.
i love that you have a deeply curved tachi
where did you get that one?
It is from Ryan sword. Most of their tachi are more classic katana shaped but this one is longer and deeper sori. Custom steel request but the rest is normal customization options.
@@SamuraiJames hell yeah thank you!
You're welcome. Ryan1371 is their model number, I just checked.
@@SamuraiJames yoooo that’s so cool i have that one saved
i love that it’s 32”
Nodachi always been my favorite like the European rival the Zweilhander
I like big swords and I cannot lie! :-D
Indeed, my main weakness
If you go to japan to buy a authentic sword a carry permit as well as a export permit must be obtained from vendor, you cant just buy and then waltz around with a deadly weapon.
Yes they have quite a few restrictions there
Good video man I would like to point out the handles you showed would not have been use on double-edged swords and they are native Japanese designs.
I don't think the the ninja sword is invention of Hollywood more so Japanese Cinema likely inspired by katanas.
Something to read by the way.
"Wantō (湾刀): Early Curved Japanese Swords"
Thanks! Yes, that's what I had on hand to show as the closest examples. Japan didn't evolve their own swords until after they split away from the Chinese / Chinese inspired designs. If I remember right, Wantō is the umbrella term for the early curved swords like the warabiteto, but covering everything, and not just the north? I've heard that before, but it's been a while.
姿かたちはパクれるが地鉄と焼刃はパクれ無い。例え努力研究をしてパクっても所詮パクリの範ちゅうであり次元が違う。お分かり頂けるでしょうか？。