“Now there is so much information out there, you can almost lose sight of yourself. While people can learn about cultures around the world thanks to the spread of social networking platforms, etc., Nakanishi worries that many Japanese people view the katana – once a symbol of Japanese culture – as being no longer necessary. Steel was precious back then, so it shouldn’t be hard for modern people to understand why people of the day felt something akin to religious awe when they beheld rare, shining steel. It is for this reason that it came to be viewed also as an emotional support that helped people feel safe. From its gleaming blade and its strength as a weapon, the katana came to be infused with religious significance. This was a time when medical knowledge was basically non-existent. They believed that gods dwelled within them.” “The reason the Japanese have always finely sharpened their swords was not just because it looked good. This is what makes the Japanese sword popular even as art to this day.” ![]() “The Japanese sword is the perfect confluence of beauty and function. People are often fascinated by the shining hamon, but behind that beauty is concealed the function of cutting. The difference in the cutting edge’s hardness from the rest of the sword is what produces the hamon on the blade.” The moment a samurai’s sword broke, they lost the ability to fight, and could be killed.”įor that reason, swordsmiths carry out the tempering process on the cutting edge of the sword. However, the harder it gets, the easier it might break. “As a weapon, the katana is sharper the harder it gets. These three aspects are embodied in the hamon, or the trademark temper pattern on the blade of the Japanese sword. “There are three ways to talk about the katana: the katana as a weapon, the katana as art, and the katana as an item of psychological support.” What do you think is so good about katana? If you only do exactly what you are told, and lose your ability to think on your own, you won’t be able to practice honing that sense. “Since you work with coal and fire as a swordsmith, your sense is very important. However, he said that this taught him how important thinking things through on your own first is to the learning process. Nakanishi wasn’t taught in a detailed, systematic way. When I couldn’t make something correctly, I would think it over in my head all day as I fed the dogs and did my other duties. “My teacher wasn’t the type to go into a lot of detail, so I learned mainly by observing him at work. Starting in the second year, he began learning about the katana a little at a time while continuing to tend to the other things around the house. He made dog houses, decorative water basins for the garden, etc. It was a big hassle, so I took all seven out at once.” (laughs)Īlthough Nakanishi didn’t do any sword making for a while, he said tending to things around his teacher’s home actually wasn’t that bad. “Actually, the first year or two was mostly looking after dogs and doing carpentry-type stuff. I asked Nakanishi what his apprenticeship was like. That’s how, at age 20, Nakanishi began his apprenticeship under a master swordsmith in Fukushima Prefecture. A month later, he says he got a reply that simply said, “Sure.” To demonstrate his sincerity, he wrote his letter in a traditional style with a brush and ink. Looking back on it, I can’t say exactly what made me notice him, but at the time, I thought with total conviction, ‘I’m going to become his apprentice!’ So, I wrote him a letter.” ![]() “I just happened to be looking through an illustrated book at an exhibition, when one swordsmith caught my eye. This was still a time when it was difficult to get information on the internet, so he said “looking for a master” meant searching through books on the katana for information about swordsmiths in Japan. He did this to support himself as he looked for a master to learn from. However, after graduating high school, he started working in a factory for one of the big automakers. When he started to think about his future in middle school, he thought, “I want to become a swordsmith!” I thought they were so beautiful and cool…”įrom the moment he saw these real-life swords, he began to feel the pull of the katana. “When I was little, I saw some real katana at the Kyoto National Museum. He focuses mainly on producing katana and offering workshops where people can try making small blades of their own. Nakanishi opened his shop, Masahiro Tanto-jo, in 2014.
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