Hamon

[Jacques D.]

I suggest some reading exercises of hamon, there is nothing to gain except knowledge; to do this thank you leave the books aside it would be cheating 

 

What is the correct way to read a hamon (way of holding the sword)?
1 - vertical,  edge to right
2 - vertical, edge to left
3 - horizontal, edge down
4 - horizontal, edge up 

[Lewis B]

1

[Brian]

All of them. Different angles and light falling on it shows different features. You start with 1 usually.

[KungFooey]

5. Not with a broken arm due to a dog/bicycle collision.

[nulldevice]

1, but I’m left handed so probably 2 because I do everything backwards.
 

When I’m holding a sword in my left hand, 2 comes more naturally with the curvature of a sword and having the edge pointing away from my right hand supporting the blade with a cloth. 

[Mark S.]

Very dark room.  Blade at an angle away from you with single light source opposite you as look down the length of the blade. Degree of angle up or down is based on angle of light source and eye to get best view.  Hamon left or right does not matter as it depends which side of blade you wish to observe.  I guess if your not being exact, this is relatively more horizontal.
 

Then sometimes turn and have light source behind you (over shoulder).  Different angles, light sources, etc provide different results. I guess if your not being exact, this position is relatively more vertical.

 

Pic: angle view, light from front.  Both images are from Usagiya website.

[Jussi Ekholm]

I would agree that changing angles is important. Of these I would choose 4, horisontal edge up and supporting mune with cloth. From the horisontal position you can turn the sword on either side and to me it is the easiest to catch the light at good angle.

[O koumori]

4.

[Benjamin]

I would also have said horizontal with an active movement to search the reflection of the light on the steel by inclining the tip.

Honestly I took a sword to test 3 "horizontal, edge down" and had a similar result with 4 "horizontal, edge up". My best result was with a perfectly horizontal blade, assuming the light source is in front.

So I would answer 4 but not confident.

[nulldevice]

23 minutes ago, Benjamin said:

I would also have said horizontal with an active movement to search the reflection of the light on the steel by inclining the tip.

Honestly I took a sword to test 3 "horizontal, edge down" and had a similar result with 4 "horizontal, edge up". My best result was with a perfectly horizontal blade, assuming the light source is in front.

So I would answer 4 but not confident.

It really depends for me on where the best lightsource is as well in my experience as a good solid color wall where you can use the reflection against a solid backdrop to focus on just the hamon and not the stuff the wall is reflecting onto the sword and into your eyes. 

[robinalexander]

4 is my natural go to ...Jussi summed it up nicely for me 

[GeorgeLuucas]

For hamon, I typically oscillate between 3 and 4

But I likely go through each step to see what gets revealed 

[Natichu]

I'm not entirely clear on terminology, but as most seem to have interpreted it as physical orientation based on light source, 4.

[Jacques D.]

The answer is 3 because there is a reading direction for the hamon (imagine yourself watching an oshigata); the explanations will come later because there are other questions first.

 

What is hamon?

1- part of the blade 
2- a separating line

[Benjamin]

I'm a bit confused, I read "the blade" as the whole object (the "to"), are you talking about the cutting edge (the "ha")?

In that case I would answer 2.

 

And sorry if my understanding is wrong, I don't know how to use Japanese terms.

[Jacques D.]

Quote

 I read "the blade" as the whole object (the "to")

That's right (toshin)

[Benjamin]

4 hours ago, Jacques D. said:

That's right (toshin)

 

Sorry but I'm even more confused

Why does the hamon wouldn't be part of the whole blade?

I understand the hamon as a separating line between the Ha and the Ji (even if it is sometimes referred as the whole whitish pattern among the ha).

 

So I would say answer 1 and 2 are true

[GeorgeLuucas]

I don't think English is Jaques first language; and I have also occasionally gotten confused.

Maybe he can help clarify, or possibly reword the question?

Absolutely NO offense intended - I WISH I was multilingual .
I am also diagnosed dyslexic... Further complicating things on my end. 
Cheers,
-Sam


 

[Jacques D.]

Ok, I'll pass on that, the hamon is the hardened part of the blade it goes from the nioiguchi (separating line) to the cutting edge.

[Lewis B]

I based my response on this article I read on Saturday. The description says the blades are displayed vertically to best appreciate the blades activity. 

 

"The sword "Spring Dawn (not for sale)", which won the Masamune Award in 2014, is also on display at the venue. Usually, when it comes to the exhibition of swords, it is placed horizontally, but this time it is placed vertically, and you can see its beautiful "figure 姿" and "refl 映り" up close."

 

[Franco D]

[Jacques D.]

Can you tell me what the following words refer to? Still no books

Tani

Koshi 

Yakigashira 

[nulldevice]

30 minutes ago, Jacques D. said:

Can you tell me what the following words refer to? Still no books

Tani

Koshi 

Yakigashira 

 

Spoiler

These terms refer to the valleys and troughs of the waves in an undulating type of hamon (gunome, midare, notare)

 

[sabiji]

12 hours ago, Jacques D. said:

Ok, I'll pass on that, the hamon is the hardened part of the blade it goes from the nioiguchi (separating line) to the cutting edge.

I don't really know...

Your purely technical paraphrase above is the definition of “Yakiba” and could possibly lead to misunderstandings!

 

I would describe “Hamon” as what the root word already contains: “pattern of the cutting edge” (defined by the course of the Nioiguchi).

[Benjamin]

16 hours ago, Jacques D. said:

Tani

Koshi 

Yakigashira 

 

It refers to the pattern of the hamon / nioiguchi : valley (tani), slope (koshi) and top (yakigashira) of each wave.

[Jacques D.]

Considering the number of participants, I'm giving up

 

Benjamin has the right solution, the tani are the lowest points of the hamon and the yakigashira the highest, that's why you have to read a hamon horizontally and the cutting edge downwards. 

[Natichu]

1 hour ago, Jacques D. said:

Considering the number of participants, I'm giving up

 

Benjamin has the right solution, the tani are the lowest points of the hamon and the yakigashira the highest, that's why you have to read a hamon horizontally and the cutting edge downwards. 

While I haven't had time to throw in an answer on the latest (I would have been correct on tani, incorrect on the other two), I for one would enjoy you continuing the line of thought. 

[Benjamin]

Anyway, thank you for the try Jacques, that helped clarifying some things for me.

 

[Jacques D.]

OK, i'll try to go further.

 

 

What are the main kinds of hamon ? 

 

Remember, no books and no internet.

[Natichu]

Best guess (read: you get what you pay for):

 

Spoiler

Suguha and midareba, with the latter having a number of subcategories (notare, gunome, etc.)