Academic articles in Japanese (NOW POSTED)

[Randy McCall]

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.

[Brian]

Randy,

Post all 3 here, and let's see where it goes? I can always separate them later.

 

Brian

[Randy McCall]

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

 

Micro-strucure, micro-hardness and micro-absorbed impact energy in the Japanese sword have been investigated to clarify excellent mechanical properties of the Japanese sword. The Japanese sword specimen used in the present research has been made by using TSUKURIKOMI process which combines four kinds of steels; HAGANE (edge), SHINGANE (core), MUNEGANE (back) and KAWAGANE (side) steels, with different carbon contents. By this process, HASAKI (edge) side becomes high carbon steel and MUNE (back) side possesses low carbon steel. The cooling velocity in quenching of the Japanese sword is controlled by TSUCHIOKI treatment which coats the clay thinner in the HASAKI side and thicker in the MUNE side. The HASAKI side is quickly cooled and the MUNE side is slowly cooled. The micro-structure in the HASAKI side shows martensite while the MUNE side shows the coexist structure of ferrite and pearlite. The HASAKI side has a lower value while the MUNE side shows a higher value in the micro absorbed impact energies obtained with the 1.0 and 0.7 mm square miniaturized specimens. It has been shown clearly that the TSUKURIKOMI and the TSUCHIOKI processes give the excellent gradated balance of strength-toughness to the Japanese sword. The ORIKAESHI (folding) forging has an effect both on the carbon content and as quenched hardness in HAGANE steel.

[Randy McCall]

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:

 

The metallurgical microstructure and mechanical properties of the spear blade manufactured in the Edo period have been investigated. The purpose of this work is to obtain metallographic data of the spear blade, and to clarify the manufacturing technique of the spear blade. The specimen examined was estimated to have been made from the end of the Muromachi period to the Edo period and has the signature of Shinano no Kami Minamoto Takamichi. The spear is 31 cm in length and 10.7 mm in maximum width. The metallurgical microstructure and nonmetallic inclusions of the spear blade are observed using an optical micro-scope. The carbon concentration is determined by chemical analysis. To evaluate the hardness, micro Vickers hardness (Hmv) is used. The microstructure is observed using an optical microscope and a scanning electron microscope (SEM).

 

The concentration of nonmetallic inclusions is obtained by electron dispersive X-ray analysis (EDS). A cross-sectional image of the spear after chemical etching shows a metal flow pattern formed by deformation, possibly created by hammering. The striped structure of layers of two types of steel containing different carbon contents stacked on top of each other was observed. The bright areas after etching corresponded to the edges and ridges of the spear, which were cooled rapidly, forming the martensite structure. The other dark areas consist of pearlite and Fe (ferrite) grains. Optical micrographs of near-edge areas contain pearlite and martensite grains, and core areas contain pearlite and Fe grains. The nonmetallic inclusions in the core steel consist of a few metal oxide particles and a glass matrix. There are Fe-Ti oxide grains in the glass matrix, and an unknown oxide particle adhering on the Fe-Ti grain surface was also observed.

spear.pdf

[Randy McCall]

Research on the Three Sacred Treasures

Toshinobu SAKAI

https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/bu ... /36_1/_pdf

 

Abstract

The "concept of a double-edged sword," which we often hear about in kendo and swordsmanship, is a symbolic reference to the sacred sword (Kusanaginotsurugi) of the three sacred treasures. The three sacred treasures themselves have very unique circumstances surrounding them, and the image of Kusanaginotsurugi, which is one of the three treasures comprising the imperial regalia, represents the "concept of a double-edged sword" and describes this most symbolically. The "concept of a double-edged sword" itself departed from the field of faith and religion in ancient Japan, and had another value system differing from that of the martial art. Then, in the Edo period, the "concept of a double-edged sword" was determined as a benchmark that symbolized the cultural nature of the martial art. Namely, that the "concept of a double-edged sword" passed through various changes during the medieval era, and it was the Kusanaginotsurugi, one of the sacred treasures, that represented this notion. This study aims to identify th circumstances surrounding the "concept of a double-edged sword" from the perspective of the three sacred treasures, paying special attention to the medieval era. In this research, the circumstances in which "the concept of a double-edged sword" came to combine with the martial art, and the subsequent directionality are clarified by examining the notions regarding the three sacred treasures in the medieval era. The contents are described as follows and are summarized for each period...

treasures.pdf

[Ken-Hawaii]

Randy, I think there's an error in your listings. All of them refer to a file called "_pdf" without an actual filename. Could you please check to make sure you've listed the links correctly?

 

Thanks!

Ken

[John A Stuart]

They come up just fine Ken. If you save them you just have to rename them. John

[Ken-Hawaii]

Interesting. I was able to download & save them, but couldn't read them on-line. That's a first.

 

Ken

[ROKUJURO]

I cannot open or upload them either. I only get

 

Japan Science and Technology Aggregator, Electronic

An error occurred. We are sorry for the inconvenience. Please view from the J-STAGE top screen

[Randy McCall]

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.

[cisco-san]

I cannot open or upload them either. I only get

 

Japan Science and Technology Aggregator, Electronic

An error occurred. We are sorry for the inconvenience. Please view from the J-STAGE top screen

 

me too