Shinto Nanban Tetsu

[Bizento]

Dear all,

This is my first post as a new member to the message board and it is about 'foreign steel' used for blades.  I am particularly looking at Echizen blades around the Kanbun period, Yasutsugu and Kanetsune groups in particular.  I would be very interested to know where they were sourcing the steel and was it specifically imported for this purpose.  It obviously held some importance as various smiths signed their nakago stating that the sword was made with such. Was this more about fashion and trend demanded by the clients or was it a sales pitch!!? or indeed did it make excellent blades and therefore worth noting?  any thoughts on this would be appreciated.  I hope this is acceptable as a first post to the group, apologies if this topic has been covered in the past.

thanks in advance

David Fuller

 

 

[YOJIMBO]

http://www.tokensugita.com/NT.htm

[seattle1]

Hello:

 Thank you Simon for the very educational and interesting reference!

 Arnold F.

[Bazza]

Simon,

 

Thank you very much for the reference.  Exciting reading and a tribute to the dedication and devotion to the Nihonto Arts of the gentlemen concerned.  To any of us whose interest might flag from time to time due to the exigencies of life, this article should surely help to keep one's spark burning brightly.  I know it fanned my spark!!

 

Thank you again Simon.

 

BaZZa.

[Bizento]

I echo the others sentiments, many thanks for the link to great info on Nanban Tetsu.  will digest the info

David

[Peter Bleed]

Yep!. What those others guys said!

Peter

[Hoshi]

Great article. The wikipedia entry of the dutch sailor who earned the shogun's trust is also worth a read. 

[Dave R]

 This one has been bugging me, and eventually I found the picture in my files. Made from the steel of a Russian anchor. There is a question as to where the anchor came from, and my guess is a shipwreck.

  One of the reasons given for the 19th C. Western intervention in Japan was the Japanese treatment of shipwrecks and their survivors, the isolation policy and its attendant penalties extending even to such involuntary violations..