WHY ARE JAPANESE SWORDS SPECIAL?
The following contains excerpts from the book, THE JAPANESE SWORD, by Kanzan Sato. The uniqueness of the Japanese sword lies in the technical innovations devised by the Japanese in an effort to resolve the three conflicting practical requirements of a sword: unbreakability, rigidity, and cutting power. Unbreakability implies a soft but tough metal, such as iron, which will not snap with a sudden blow, while rigidity and cutting power are best achieved by the use of hard steel. The Japanese have combined these features in a number of ways which have given their swords a very distinctive character. First of all, most Japanese blades are made up of two different metals: a soft and durable iron core is enveloped in a hard outer skin of steel which has been forged and reforged many times in order to produce a complex and close-knit crystalline structure. Seconds, the cross-section, widening from the back to a ridge on both sides, then narrowing to a very acute angle at the edge, combines th
