Second of Three Parts Part 1: Samurai Spirit of Fukushima: The Shonentai Youth Corps of Nihonmatsu Castle In the late Edo period, the...
Recently, the current Emperor Heisei emerged from Ise shrine with the three sacred treasures of the Imperial regalia, known collectively as the, Sanshu-no-jingi. These...
(First of 3 Parts) At the end of the Edo period (1600-1868), Japan was in turmoil. There had been over 260 of rule by...
The revival of the tatara method of traditional steel production has begun! A new era in traditional Japanese steel (watetsu) manufacturing has been established...
The town of Setouchi in Okayama Prefecture is home to the Osafune Japanese Sword Museum. Osafune, a village in the archaic province Bizen,...
The Tokyo Art Club in Shinbashi is host every year to the world’s largest Japanese sword show called the Dai Token Ichi. ...
Paul Martin for JAPAN Forward The city of Yasugi has a long history with Japanese steel. Hitachi Metalworks — co-sponsors of the...
Part 1: Traveling the San’in: Orochi and the Mythical Origins of the Sword Part 2: Japanese Swords: ‘Tatara,’ the Traditional Iron and Steel Culture...
Three years ago, Touken Ranbu, an online game with personified legendary sword characters, kindled the Japanese sword trend, but the craze is even bigger...
The traditional dance performance of Iwami Kagura tells the story of the discovery of steelmaking in Izumo, Japan, through the metaphor of the deity...
The raw material used to make Japanese swords is called tamahagane. On January 24, production of the annual batch of tamahagane for Japan’s swordsmiths began...
I recently took a trip to Shimane Prefecture, also known as the San’in region, to research some of the mythical origins of the sword and...
