60 More Years to Master the Japanese Sword
I have seen an unbelievable news report.
Two old Japanese craftsmen have been making Japanese scissors for over 60 years.
They are brothers, 80 years old or a little younger.
They burn iron bars and hit them with an iron hammer to form each part of a pair of scissors, mainly used for garment cutting.
They started this profession just after WWII, namely in 1945.
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The technique is the same as the one employed for making a Japanese sword.
Traditionally Japanese used iron sands to make ironware. There are no large-scale iron mines except those including the mangetic iron ore in Japan.
What is worse, though we have had some coals, they are mostly deep under the ground. Therefore, until Japan introduced western technology late in the 19th century, it was not easy to make ironware, including the Japanese sword, from any types of iron sources.
However, it is well known that there are no swords or knives in the world that can match the Japanese sword in terms of quality and strength.
The nearest quality is only found in razors manufactured by German Solingen, though even Germans could not figure out another way to acheive the same quality as the Japanese sword.
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Europeans have been historically lucky to have cokes that can provide necessary heat to melt iron. Iron needs heat at 1,800 degrees Celsius for melting. Cokes meets this condition. But, Japanese had to use charcoals that can provide heat at most at 1,200 degrees Celsius, though they chose a special type.
So, ancient Japanese invented special skills to make the high-quality of ironware through the use of charcoals, which requires the striking of iron with a hammer in very many times as well as water kept at a certain temperature for delicately contracting iron heated and hit well.
Each layer of a Japanese sword (usually consisting of three layers through a blade) includes a specific amount of carbon within iron to the best ratio, respectively.
It is not only material that makes the Japanese sword superb. The warp of a blade is also a key to makeing it especially edged and sharp. With this figure, the Japanese sword has sharpness that matches a safety razor.
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In a certain test which was conducted in the U.S. and televised in Japan some time ago, they found that even a bullet fired from a heavy handgun was completely split in half when hitting the blade of a Japanese sword vertically positioned.
They needed several bullets fired from a heavy military machinegun to break the Japanese sword.
Peaceful nature of Japan's soil allowed for creation of the best and the strongest sword in the world, instaed of forcing the people to be poorly armed with, say, a hard but brittle knife.
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Europe has had enough iron and coal mines that made it easier to make any ironware. But, Japanese had to take some time to establish a unique method to make ironware using iron sands and charcoals, which was accomplished in the sixth century.
(But, in this modern age, Japan has been one of top steel-making as well as iron-ore importing countries since its massive rebuilding of the nation's economy after WWII, while defeating the U.K. and other Western competitors and helping China and Korea luanch their own steel industry.)
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If Europeans came to Japan, they could use neither iron ore nor cokes. And if Japanese visited Europe, they could not use iron sands and charcoals of a special type.
Either side cannot produce their best weapons in the foreign territory.
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However, there are such ordinary people in Japan who have spent all of their professional lives, namely for 60 years, making Japanese scissors by hands with fire, water, and a hammer.
And they are respected and so televised.
But, we may need 60 more years to master how to use Japanese swords in Europe.
Then Japanese warriors, or samurai, might be well respected and so televised.
"NOT ABONDONED IN THE WORLD OF THE DEAD"