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Purchasing Considerations for
Japanese Swords - Traditionally-made and American
Implementations
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Japanese swords have soared in popularity over the last few decades,
creating a massive demand for these elegant, hauntingly beautiful weapons.
Meeting the demand are ancient era Japanase swords, World War II
gunto swords, modern era swords, and also swords made here in the
United States after traditional means.Of swords made here in the States, there are yet further categories! Some swords made in America are forged from imported powdered ("tamahagane") steel from Japan by swordsmiths who have sat under master Japanese swordmakers for many years in apprenticeships. This reflects the truest representation of the original Japanese swordmaking art. Bladesmith Michael Bell, who trained after the traditional method, has also experimented with forged twisted cable pieces and have created swords of tremendous cutting power. This is perhaps one of the only exceptions where a sword can still be truly called a Japanese sword. Then, there are some that depart from the traditional methods. However, these are considered Japanese-style swords. These vary in quality. Some are eagerly marketed with better cutting power, toughness, etc. and have the cutting tests to prove their properties. The steels used may either be factory-milled stock steel, or may be hand-forged from the same, including AISI 1050, 10xx, 5160, A2 tool steel, and in some cases, 440 stainless steel (which is metallurgically and molecularly weaker than the aforementioned). For purposes of classification, these swords will be refered to as American implementations. Thus, special care and consideration must be taken. The following are the general criteria by which Japanese and Japanese-style swords are judged by collectors:
1. Are they forged like Japanese swords? And thus, a sword's trueness to tradition depends on these qualities. There are some swords that look remotely similar to tradition, and while they may perform extremely well, their design may not, for example, allow for removal of the blade from the hilt which allows for polishing, sharpening, rust-removal, etc. However, an American implementation may not even exhibit the aesthetics and beauty as the traditional do to merit such maintenance. Further, the ability to almost see into the beautiful steel of a traditionally-made katana is a breathtaking experience worthy of consideration in Japanese sword purchase alone. The spirit of Japanese swords is sometimes captivated by the qualities of its beauty and its effectiveness as a weapon. To emphasize one in detriment or sacrifice of the other essentially departs from this spirit and thus becomes a non-traditional implementation, regardless of how effective the sword is as a weapon. At a recent knife show, I met one knife maker who created a wakizashi. The blade was forged from 440 stainless steel, which is the steel knives (and cheap Taiwanese imitation katanas) are made of. This sword was a dull unpolished gray, with a silk Japanese-style handle wrap. The handle and blade was a contiguous single piece of steel. The guard was a simple black sqaure. While the knife maker took pride that the edge had a higher Rockwell hardness, its middle was slightly softer, and it spine had an even lower Rockwell hardness, the sword was essentially very ugly and extremely expensive and weighed too heavy for my tastes! Yet for the same price, I could lay a hold of a Japanese World War II sword. Many such swords had machine-milled blades. These were ground from bars of factory-produced bars of stock steel, and some even had fake acid-etched hamon "temper" lines. At one point during the War, the Japanese government provided steel billets for swordsmiths to hammer out into blades, thus preserving some facet of traditional sword manufacture which, at the time, was close to endangerment and extinction. Surely were these swords made in America, they would not be accepted by collectors. However, they too are true Japanese swords. In short, some American interpretations may not look all that nice, but it is possible that some may have some breakthrough properties. Only time and experience will tell - as well as practical use - if American interpretations made of AISI 1050, 5160, A2, etc. will succeed in their own right, but to the Japanese sword collector, such swords could never take the place of the traditional.
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