Cutting Test Rating Criteria

[seattle1]

Hello:

 In the Bonhams, NY "Arts of the Samurai" sale, Oct. 30, 2017, lot No. 415, a Kunisada, was offered with the notational remark that he was "...one of only 21 smiths assigned the rank of owazamomo (sic) by the Yamada family of sword-testers, indicating that seven or eight out of ten of his tested blades cut through the center of the chest of an adult male completely and with ease." Has anyone found reference to such specific operational criteria for the Yamada or other testing families?I have Markus Sesko's, Tameshigiri, but can't find anything that specific.

 Arnold F.

[PNSSHOGUN]

It's in Marks book.....somewhere. I tried to find it again but without an index as such it is very hard. It's worth another read anyway.

[Markus]

From my book:

 

"But what about the standards for the ranking of the smiths? [...] There had already been the term ō-kiremono (大切れ物, lit. “great cutter”) to honour a sword which had cut with ease through the central chest of an adult man. The emphasis here lies on with ease because the majority of sword blades should be able after a while to cut through a human chest. The cut going centrally through the thorax, the so-called chiwari (乳割, lit. “breast splitter”), was one of the toughest tests as it had to go through several ribs. Now, when eight or nine blades out of ten from a certain smith turned out to be ō-kiremono, the smith was ranked saijō-ō-wazamono, for seven to eight ō-wazamono, for five to seven ryō-wazamono, and for two to four out of ten wazamono."

 

[John A Stuart]

I put very little faith in this appellation. It indicates more the skill of the togishi and hence the sharpness thereby, given that the blades basic construction is competent. Even the silhouette of the ha (clamshell, straight etc.) can determine cutting ability. I think the Yamada ke may have an agenda in this endeavour. John

[seattle1]

Hello:

 Thanks Markus for pin pointing that location. I wonder if there are other known operational criteria for sorting out cutting levels in the literature that might have been used  by other testers? I had more or less assumed in the past that a cut would be done and from its difficulty and its apparent efficiency after completion, perhaps observed from the vantage point of consistency a few times, then so and so would get a given rating.  Cut off points (no pun intended) seem so mechanical. However that the Yamada had actual measured levels is really remarkable.

 Arnold F.

[Ooitame]

Were the blades chosen at random or presented by the smith?