In The Art of the Japanese Sword, master swordsmith Yoshindo Yoshihara offers a comprehensive view of the makng, finishing, and appreciation of Japanese blades.

The Japanese sword, a unique work of art in steel, can be appreciated from a number of viewpoints. Its functionality as a weapon, the sophisticated metallurgy and scientific thinking utilized by the swordsmith, the shape of the blade itself, and the different crystalline forms in the steel all contribute to the beauty of these remarkable weapons. The purpose of The Art of the Japanese Sword is to convey to the reader a basic background regarding the Japanese sword, as well as to explain how to view and appreciate a blade and to show the details of how a sword is made and finished today.

Modern craftsmen use completely traditional methods from the past to prepare their steel, forge the sword, and create the unique hardened edge. By gaining a good understanding of how a sword is actually make, the reader wil be able to appreciate the Japanese sword more fully.

Yoshindo Yoshihara is the third-generatin swordsmith inhis family. His grandfather Kuniie began making swords in 1933 in Tokyo and was ranked among the top swroddsmiths in Japan during his career. Yoshindo lives and workds in Tokyo with his son, who represents the fourth generationof swordsmiths in the famiy. Yoshindo, who is always training young srodsmiths and currently has five apprentices working with him, has been named an Improtant cultural Property of the cit and prefecture of Tokyo, and is a mukansa (top-ranked swordsmith) in Japan.

Leon Kapp, a molecular biologist,lives with his wife Hiroko in san Rafael, California. He has been seriously interested in Japanese swords for over twenty-five years, and has spent a grat deal of time lerning about them from oshindo.

Hiroko Kapp is a writer for Senken Shimbun News of Toyo and writes about fashion and the fashion industry in the US. She graduated from Musashino Art University in Tokyo. For twenty-five years she was active in the apparel business and designed scarves for her own line in the US.

The Kapps and Yoshindo have written three previous books on Japanese swords.

Contents

Introduction
Chapter I Kansho: Appreciating the Japanese sword
Chapter II Rekishi: A brief history of the Japanese sword
Chapter III Tamahagane and the tatara: Traditional Japanese steel-making
Chapter IV Sakuto: Making the sword
Chapter V Finishing the sword: Polishing, habaki, and saya
Japanese Nengo Eras and dates
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Author information
Contact information

An excellent and comprehensive book on its subject. Good discussion of sword appreciation, a summary of the history of swords types in Japan, and fairly extensive discussion of how sword steel is made, how the sword is forged, and finishing (including how the sword furniture is made and fitted. ( )