High-quality iron sand produces numerous great swords There were master swordsmiths all over Japan, even outside of the Yamato and Yamashiro regions, but Bizen (present-day Okayama Prefecture) was the place that produced the greatest number of excellent swordsmiths. The term...

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In the history of Japanese swords, the five major sword-smithing regions are called Gokaden, each of which has developed in its own unique way. Although at first glance, Japanese swords appear to be made in the same way, in fact,...

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What is Koshirae? Japanese swords can be roughly divided into two types: Tachi and Uchi-gatana. Aikuchi Koshirae This is a type of sword without a tsuba and is made so that the mouth of the saya and the fuchigane of...

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Presently it is generally accepted that social status during the Edo period was not completely fixed. A generation earlier, we learned in school that there was a hierarchical system called shi-no-ko-sho (Samurai-Peasant-Artisan-Merchant). But this is now rejected and the word...

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