Randy McCall

Ah yes, "search before posting"

I ran across this masters thesis and thought the group might find it interesting: The Namban group of Japanese sword guards: a reappraisal: Lissenden, John Philip (149 pages) http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/4129/1/4129_1648.pdf?UkUDh:CyT Abstract: "There has always been a distinct dearth of scholarship with regard to the Namban group of tsuba. Many reasons can be proposed to explain this neglect, but one of these is undoubtedly the very large and disparate number of tsuba that were originally included under this heading. Ogawa's redefinition of the group in 1987 was not without its problems, but has resulted in a much more clearly defined and manageable corpus of work; it is against this background that the present reappraisal is submitted. The early confusions resulting from the use of the term 'Namban' are described and the group is redefined in the light of Ogawa's intervention — many of these defining characteristics are individually examined in some detail. No statistical analysis of tsuba has been published since Gunsaulus' work on a mixed group of 746 artefacts in 1923. In this reappraisal, her results have been compared with those obtained from the examination of a corpus of 273 Namban tsuba, gathered from public and private collections in Europe, and this comparison casts some doubt on Gunsaulus' figures. A comparable analysis of 1,045 arbitrarily selected tsuba, of mixed groups and periods, reinforces this doubt. The case for the use of modern physical methods of chemical analysis in the study of Namban tsuba is considered. It is concluded that the time is not yet ripe to enable the optimal use of such studies, although a case is made for the limited use of electron microscope scanning in order to define the place of mercuric gilding in the often profuse decoration of this group of tsuba. Finally, casting techniques are discussed and evidence is produced of their widespread use in the production of Namban tsuba. It is apparent that the new definition of the Namban group of Japanese sword guards enables a much more focused study of the group, although the absence both of any detailed knowledge of the many Namban workers scattered throughout Japan, and of any inscriptions on their work, remain serious barriers to the systematic attribution of these tsuba."

Only too happy to share On how they determined quenching methods: On page four of the report, it describes how they took small sections of the blade, heated them to 1600 F, quenched them in air, water and oil, and then compared the hardness to the original blade. The air quenched section had a hardness of 35-38 Rockwell; both water and oil quenched came in around 64 R. This compares to the original blade hardness of 41 R. From this it would appear that quenching the steel of this sword in any medium other than air greatly increased hardness beyond the blade's original level, suggesting those had not originally been used. Additionally, by examining the blade's microstructure -- and knowing what structures would form at what temperatures during quenching -- they were able to draw their conclusion. At least, this is what I understand from the report. Not that this is a speciality of mine...

Some of our members may be interested in my latest blog article: Metallurgical analysis of Japanese gunto by US War Department, 1946 http://www.tameshigiri.ca/2014/04/03/me ... ment-1946/ This is taken from a declassified War Department report; a link to the source article is included in the posting. Unfortunately, this is a digital copy of a mimeographed copy (possibly microfilmed) of the report, so many of the actual photographs are unreadable... which is unfortunate, as they included a picture of "writing on the tang".

Ah, I didn't catch that, thanks Klaus! Looks like an update to the website software caused the story to have a date change... the date being part of the URL, it broke the old link!

Not on nihonto per se, but may be of interest to members. An article, written for the general public, on the practice of kaishaku and on kaishakunin, drawing on forensic anthropological research to provide evidence of how it was practiced over a number of centuries, The Honourable Second: Forensic evidence of medieval kaishaku in seppuku http://www.tameshigiri.ca/2014/02/05/fo ... n-seppuku/ A potentially morbid and delicate topic, I approached this solely as historical review, a short look at how this is echoed in modern Iaido kata, and an exploration of the forensic evidence.

It's working, but apparently some web browsers are having trouble realizing the file is in Adobe Acrobat format. I've just uploaded the file to the starting post, so you can download it directly.

To save trouble, I've uploaded two of the files directly into the appropriate posts. The third, "Strength—toughness Balance of the Japanese Sword" apparently exceeds the file size limitation of the forum.

Research on the Three Sacred Treasures Toshinobu SAKAI https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/bu ... /36_1/_pdf Abstract treasures.pdf

Metallurgical Microstructure of the Spear Blade Manufactured from the End of the Muromachi Period to the Edo Period Nahoko Sugioka, Masahiro Kitada, and Masahiko Nishijima Japan Inst. Met. Mater. Vol. 77, No. 5 (2013), pp. 185 #191 2013 The Japan Institute of Metals and Materials https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ji ... 12069/_pdf Abstract: spear.pdf

Strength—toughness Balance of the Japanese Sword and Changes in Carbon Content and as Quenched Hardness of HAGANE Steel with Cyclic Folding Forging Naohiko SASAKI, Tanetada HORII, Mikio FUJIWARA, Hideyuki SAITOH and Toshihei MISAW https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/te ... _1_45/_pdf Abstract

In conducting research this morning, I came across three articles which may be of interest to members. However, while the abstracts for these articles appear in English, the text of the papers is in Japanese. I thought perhaps Japanese-fluent members might be interested in these, or might be willing to provide summaries of interesting sections from these articles for those of us who are not fluent. The items are posted separately, below.

Oops! My mistake... the link is correct now. I was mining several databases this morning, on a wide variety of historical, cultural, metallurgical and anthropological topics, with about 20 tabs open at any given time. Unfortunately I clicked-and-copied the wrong item. Apologies.

This may only be of interest to members with a special interest in steel-making and forging, but I thought I would pass it along: Iron-sands in the Kuji region: James W. Neill, Consulting Mining Engineer and Metallurgist. Address before the joint meeting of The NIPPON KOG YO-KWAI and The NIPPON TEKKO-KYOKWAI in Tokyo on Jan. 26, 1925. (.pdf 25 pages) https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/sh ... 9_137/_pdf The article examines the history of mining in that region, describes the opening of very old mining tunnels and what they found, the mine's geology, chemical analysis, mining methods, etc. Refers in passing to the use of ore in making of swords. In part a history, in part a geologist's report on future mining potential. First page: 41_137(1).pdf

Yes, and linked to in the paragraph prior.

Not sure if this has been posted previously, but it's an interesting if odd bit of sword-related news: http://www.tameshigiri.ca/2014/01/22/bl ... ord-found/ "In the anime series Rorouni Kenshin ( also known in North America as Samurai X ), the hero carries a sword called a sakabato, an unusual sword shaped like a standard katana, but “… with its edge forged on the opposite side than normal, making it a sword ill-fit for killing.” News outlets in Japan are saying that a short sword very much like a sakabato was discovered in an old Chiba Prefecture family storage cellar last October. Experts have declare the blade, designed to be used with the sharp edge up and curved “spine” or back of the blade down, was made during the Edo period (1603 to 1868)..." Asahi News report: 「るろうに剣心」でおなじみの刀、文化財に　千葉・白井 http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASG1J5SJ0G1JUDCB016.html “Asahi News reports that the entire weapon, which it’s calling a “kogatana” (小刀) or “short katana,” was covered in rust and measures 11 inches, with the blade measuring 8.6 inches. This reverse-blade, which is also covered with dragon engravings, is different from traditional Japanese swords.”

Hello all, My name is Randy McCall. Amongst other things, I am a martial artist (Sandan, Shoshin Yama Ryu Iaido), minor sword collector, and blogger at Tameshigiri.ca ( http://www.tameshigiri.ca ) , a relatively new blog which looks at "the Art of Cutting" as is practiced today by both traditional Eastern martial arts, the newer Western / European martial arts (based on the rediscovered Fechtbuch or instruction manual of medieval and Renaissance weapon masters), and recreational hobbyists (ala United Backyard Cutters). Tameshigiri.ca's purview includes research and articles on: academic papers, weapons, ryuha / schools / styles, culture, history, weapon smiths, weapon effects (forensics), philosophy, theory and more. We're also attempted to compile a public database of tamershigiri/test-cutting groups, instructors, organizations, and the businesses and services which practitioners of the Art of Cutting might require. Finally, I'm slowly building directories of links related to all of the previously mentioned topics. Since this is more or less a one-man-show, everything is a work in progress. Lastly, I am have recently joined the JSSUS. Those who want to learn a little more about me can check the Tameshigiri.ca web site, or check my LinkedIn profile: http://ca.linkedin.com/in/randymccall/ I've already discovered a wealth of information here, and look forward to participating! Randy McCall