Modern day testing

[Rich T]

In discussion with a friend today, we were talking about Tameshigiri and Tameshi mei. In the Edo period (give or take) human bodies acted as a test medium, but not being appropriate in these modern times, we wondered, are swords today tested for Wazimono at all, in any way ?, or are they judged purely on their artistic merits.

 

I also seem to remember a story of a Japanese Colonel or General stationed in China that used prisoners of war as test subjects for his swords ?.

 

Removing the old days and war from the equation, are swords tested for wazimono with bamboo, or matting or something in these modern times, and if so, awarded and form of ranking ?.

 

Cheers all

 

Richard

[Andrew Ickeringill]

G'day Rich,

 

I'm pretty sure there is no official wazamono ranking of modern swords. However, there are modern smiths that have reputations for making good cutters, I guess this spreads by word of mouth.

 

I know that smiths will test their swords for strength and cutting ability themselves occasionally, usually when they are trying something new.

 

Hope that helps.

[Ken-Hawaii]

Rich, I think there would be quite a bit of publicity if modern swordsmiths were to test their blades, & I've certainly never heard of any of them doing so. I've privately tested a number of shinken for a friend of mine who manufactures them, & give him a written report based on how well each cuts in tameshigiri on tatame omote & bamboo, but that's not the same as a formal wazamono test. Which is good because of how Nihonto used to be tested.

 

Here's an excerpt from an article that I found a few months ago:

 

"Japanese swords have long been noted for their sharpness (wazamono) and cutting ability. In olden times this was judged by testing the cutting ability of the sword on bodies of condemned criminals. The practice of test cutting is called tameshigiri. The bodies were mounted on a cutting stand and specific cuts were made. The sword was judged on how many bodies were severed with each type of cut. In 1815 an article in the Kaiho Kenjaku ranked the cutting ability of approximately 200 swords by various Koto and Shinto smiths. The swords were ranked as:

 

Saijo O-wazamono - (best cutting swords)

O-wazamono - (excellent cutting swords)

Ryo-wazamono - (very good cutting swords)

Wazamono - (good cutting swords)

 

 

Among the blades ranked saijo o-wazamono were swords by: Kanemoto I, Kanemoto II, Osafune Motoshige, Nagasone Kotetsu, Mutsu Tadayoshi, Sukehiro, Kunikane, and Okimasa.

 

Among the blades ranked o-wazamono were swords by: Yasumitsu, Mino Kanesada, Osafune Sukesada, Higo Kuniyasu, Nobuyoshi, Kanewaka I, Omi Daijo Tadahiro, and Kaga Kanemori.

 

Among the blades ranked ryo-wazamono were swords by: Norimitsu, Kanesada III, Kanabo Masazane, Tsunahiro, Tadamitsu, Katsumitsu, Masatoshi, Ujifusa, Tanba Yoshimichi, Sukenao, Yasutsugu, Korekazu, Yoshihiro, Hisamichi, Kunimune, and Naomichi.

 

Among blades ranked wazamono were swords by: Kiyomitsu, Sukehiro, Tadakuni, Sadahiro, Masatsugu, Kuniyoshi, Kinmichi, Masahiro, Yoshimasa, Kunikiyo, Morikuni, Aizu Kunisada, and Tadayoshi.

 

 

None of the great Koto masters were tested. Among blades not tested were swords by Soshu Masamune, Soshu Sadamune, Bizen Nagamitsu, and Ise Muramasa. Their swords were considered too valuable as historical art objects to risk damage by testing. Their swords have traditionally been considered among the finest blades ever made."

[Guido]

...

Here's an excerpt from an article that I found a few months ago:

...

Ryo-wazamono

...

The information given in that article isn't entirely correct.

1. The "Kaihô Kenjaku 懐宝剣尺" was originally published in 1797 (寛政九年), and reprinted in 1805 (文化二年).

2. Even though many (most?) Japanese read "Ryô-Wazamono", the correct pronounciation is "Yoki-Wazamono".

3. In 1830 (天保元年) the "Kokon Kaji Bikô 古今鍛冶備考" was published; all swords in the Kaihô Kenjaku were re-tested, as well as quite a few more swords by other smiths. This brought the number of tested smiths from 170 up to 1.111 in total, including many of the "old masters". The Wazamono ranking in the Fujishiro books, the Tôkô Taikan etc. is based on the Kokon Kaji Bikô.

[Brian]

Thanks for the clarification Guido,

 

Interesting that they were all re-tested. Is there any info on how many had their categorisation drastically changed, and how many retained their original rank? I am sure some went down, and some went up, but did the overall results show the earlier testing to have been fairly reliable?

 

Regards,

Brian

[Guido]

Of those re-tested, there was only one upgrade:

Izumi no Kami Kanesada from Ô-Wazamono to Saijô-Ô-Wazamono

and four downgrades:

Nidai Kanemoto from Saijô-Ô-Wazamono to Ô-Wazamono

Fujishima Tomoshige from Ô-Wazamono to Yoki-Wazamono

Shodai Tsushima no Kami Sadashige from Ô-Wazamono to Yoki-Wazamono

Echizen no Kami Nobuyoshi from Ô-Wazamono to Wazamono

Also, some of the former Wazamono smiths are omitted from the Kokon Kaji Bikô.

[kusunokimasahige]

comes a creepy thought in my mine about swords being truly tested the old way during world war two.......

 

any info on that??

 

KM

[Ed Harbulak]

A few years ago at I believe the Tampa sword show, I saw a video of a sword newly made by Yoshindo Yoshihara being subjected to a cutting test on a traditional style Japanese steel helmet. The cutting test was carried out by an expert while Yoshindo Yoshihara could be seen rather nervously watching the proceedings. It was quite impressive to see the blade cut about 6 inches into the helmet with no obvious damage to the sword. The swordsmith looked quite relieved and satisfied that his blade cut so well and didn't break. I believe the video is commercially available, though I don't know where it can be purchased. I rather suspect that most modern smiths want to know just how well their swords really do cut after putting so much work into making a blade, so probably more blades than one would think do get a cutting test of some sort just to satisfy the desire of the sword smith to know if he's doing a good job.

Ed

[Toryu2020]

Rich -

The was an article in KENDO NIPPON monthly a few years back about a Kendo/Iaido teacher in Australia, who did his testing on wallabee. That is until his daughter caught the act and complained that they were too cute to be treated so cruelly. He went to look for a suitable alternative and found shark to be not only useful but a better target. Harder to cut but no bones to threaten a good blade. After some practice he found a good hand could manage two or two and half shark.

What you need is a good meikiri-shi and a source for shark. Then you could offer sword testing tours of OZ, complete with a chance for the would be swordsman to have his efforts recorded on his own blade...

-tom

[kusunokimasahige]

or make a body of ballistics Gel.....

 

or try to buy a dead Pig.......

 

its all in the mind........

 

 

 

KM :lol:

[Mark Green]

Hi Gang,

My Dad was in china in the 30's

I have a lot of pics of Japanese troops chopping heads off, using people for bayonet, and machine gun practice, and many other nasty things.

My Dad told me he saw one Japanese nco chop a half dozen women into many bits. Just for fun, and sword practice.

Very ugly, what thinking people are subhuman, can make other people do.

So, I'm very sure, that many thousands of folks were used for cutting practice durring WW2.

Mark G