The Japanese Sword.
Katana wa Bushi no tamashii (The Sword Is the Soul of the
Samurai)
Source: Museum of Fine Arts Bulletin , Aug., 1906, Vol. 4, No. 21 (Aug., 1906), pp. 29-31
Published by: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.com/stable/4423299
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MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS BULLETIN 29
Upper blade j?shikaga.
Lower blade ^ol^ugawa.
The Japanese Sword. caused it to lose the beautiful lines and aristocratic
Katana wa Bushi no tamashii. delicacy of the " old school."
(The Sword is the Soul of the Samurai.)
The sword ennobled to a greater or less degree
all who had to do with it, from the smith himself,
who enjoyed the full privileges of a samurai, to the
GREAT as has
the sword been the
has always beenestimation in which
held throughout artisans who fashioned the magnificent mountings
the world, and numerous as are the legends con- and lacquered scabbards with which the samurai
cerning famous blades, nowhere has the symbol of paid devotion to his weapon as another might to
knighthood and the lore of the sword attained so his mistress. Every sword was supposed to have
high an eminence as in Japan. its moral as well as its physical characteristics, for
Since the mythical days when Amaterasu, the at the critical moment of hardening, when the
divine ancestress, gave to her descendant Jimmu smith plunged the glowing blade into the water, a
Tenno, first earthly representative of the Imperial part of his spirit was believed to enter the steel,
House of Japan, the mirror, the stone and " Cloud- and as was his frame of mind at that instant so
Cluster," ? the sword her brother Sosano? rent was the after conduct of the sword. For this
from the dragon's tail, ? these three heavenly gifts reason the hardening of the sword, and indeed the
have been preserved as the imperial regalia of whole process of its making, was attended with
Japan. religious ceremonies and purifications extending in
" Cloud-Cluster " is a straight, two-edged sword scope from simple rites performed by the smith
similar in form to those found in early Japanese himself to elaborate rituals participated in by a
dolmens. As time went on this style of weapon number of priests high in the Shinto hierarchy.
was superseded by one having a curved blade Among the most renowned smiths of the Kam-
with but a single cutting edge. This later form akura epoch were Muramasa and Masamune.
is considered to have reached its culmination Long after the death of the former it chanced that
of excellence at the hands of the Bizen smiths of both the great grandfather and the grandfather of
the later Kamakura ( 1 186-1 394) and early Tokugawa Iyeyasu were attacked and wounded
Ashikaga (1 394-1 587) periods. by men carrying swords of his fashioning. In con-
In Japan, as in other countries', the sword showssequence of this, when Iyeyasu attained the Shog-
a progressive tendency to increase in weight com-unate he forbade the wearing of Muramasa blades,
mensurate with a like increase in the weight ofwith the result that a vast amount of fable soon
armor, and after the experiences of Hideyoshi'sbecame current concerning the evil ways of
army during the invasion of Corea in the latterMuramasa and his swords. The character of the
part of the sixteenth century arose the " new Kamakura smith could not be painted in too dark
school," in which the blade of the sword becamecolors, and it was even affirmed that he was wont
heavier, wider, and, with the more general adop-to harden his weapons in human blood, and that
tion of the thrust, straighter, ? changes which his swords, once drawn from their scabbards,
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30 MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS BULLETIN
Mounting of upper blade jlshi\aga cavalry style (^ofaugawa workmanship).
?^Counting of lower blade ^okugawa infantry style.
however innocently, wouldagain ever refuse
put through to process
the same return followed by a
until they had again tasted second of the elimination.
warm According
draught. to the degree of
Among the many stories connected excellence desiredwith for thetheintended
name sword, this
of Muramasa is one which well treatmentillustrates
is continued untilthefromdif-
an amount of
ference in moral quality between metal perhaps histwenty swords
or thirty timesand as great as
those of his high-minded rival Masamune.
that destined to appear in the completed weapon
The two smiths once set a only day on which
sufficient to test
material remains for its forging.
the relative merits of their Thehandiwork.
result of this repeated % selection
At the is a number
appointed time each swordofproved its ability
pieces of laminated steel of an toexceedingly
cut through copper basins, iron tough and complex
bars, silktexture. These are welded
handker-
chiefs and floating feathers. No
together fordecision
the last time and seemed
beaten out into the
possible as to the superiority of either
shape desired weapon.
for the sword. The cutting edge
Then Masamune bade Muramasa follow
is ground, grooves him designs
or decorative to a intended
neighboring stream and both planted
to lessen their
the ultimate weight swords
of the blade are cut
upright in its bed. The floating twigs
in its surface, and the and
wholeleaves
is then ready for
which bore down towards Muramasa's sword hardening.
were cut in two by its blade, but those which The first step in this most critical period in the
came to that of his rival swerved to either side and
genesis of the sword is the covering of its entire
passed on uninjured. " Herein," quoth Masa-surface, with the exception of the cutting edge and
mune, "y?u behold the superiority of my swordpoint, by a thin coating of very fine clay. Ac-
in that it does no wanton damage." cording to the fashion of the period, or the fancy
The Japanese sword, like all other objectsof the smith, the uncovered strip along the edge
worthy of respect, is the result of long-continued may be narrow or wide, and bounded by a
and painstaking labor. Fragments of carefullystraight, waving, cloudlike or other irregular line,
selected iron are welded together, beaten out flat,the contour of which is shown on the finished
creased in the middle, folded and again beatensword by a difference of color and surface. Often
out flat. After several repetitions of this treatmentthe clay is applied with the most delicate brushes
the mass of iron is plunged into cold water. The in carefully adjusted degrees of thickness, produc-
resulting plate of brittle laminated steel is thening on the finished sword those subtle variations
shivered by the blow of a hammer, and such
of color so dear to the eye of the connoisseur.
pieces as do not meet with the approval of the After the clay has dried and the proper cere-
smith are cast aside. The pieces remaining frommonies have been carried out, the sword is placed
this and a number of similarly treated plates arein the fire and the entire forge darkened so that
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MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS BULLETIN 31
the smith may judge by the animal's
evenly distributed
every habit and motion. F or sheerrosebeauty
color of the iron the proper moment
of execution look at theto plunge
farmyard ita
sketched with
into the hardening trough. few master strokes of dry point, or at the three prints
The exact temperature ofinthe
Case 42,water,
or again at thethe addi-
little cottage (Case
46).
tion to it of various ingredients, the composition of
the clay used to cover the blade and
This last-named plate many
is surrounded inother
Case 46
important details are secrets carefully
by the guarded
work of Appian, effective by
with its interest-
the various families of smiths.
ing play ofAfter
light and shadehardening,
expressive of many
the Japanese sword shows, united
moods. Delauney,inof one structural
whom several examples are
whole, a very tough, fibrous shown, hasbackbone and
set himself problems of light an
; the floods
of sunlight
extremely hard, brittle cutting edge.of a summer morning silhouetting the
delicate
With a final sharpening and leafage of a tree (Case
polishing, the 54), per-
sunlight
fected weapon is ready to struggling
prove its
with mists moral
and clouds, and
or filtering in lu-
physical qualities on whosominous
chances
shafts through to
the coolencounter
shades of overarch-
its razor-like edge. ing trees (Case 67). Daubigny's exquisite skill as
The Museum is most fortunate in
an etcher should not having
be judged on
by the series shown,
exhibition and in the Department
which cannot dorooms the
him justice, owing large
to wear of the
plates. Etchings by Lalanne
and exceedingly valuable collections of fill the desk-cases,
Japanese
swords belonging to Dr. W. S. examples
and these Bigelow of masterlyand Dr.
skill in etching,
C. G. Weld, which include wonderful
examples of many
keenness of observation of
and delightful
the most famous smiths of expression
bothmerit the " old
the most " and
careful inspection. They
" new schools." deserve more detailed notice than can be given
them in these pages.
Print Rooms.
Exhibition of etchings and dry points by Charles Jacque, Plans of the Galleries.
together with plates by Appian, Delauney, Daubigny,
and Lalanne.
THEdevoted
are first and part ofwork.
to Jacque's the second print room
The examples
selected show different phases in the artistic career
of this pioneer in the revival of etching in France
about the middle of last century. We may detect
in his early plates a penchant for sentimental pretti-
ness and in his late productions an excess of finish,
but the splendid middle period of his activity leaves
us a wealth of charming scenes, eloquent with
Jacque's intense love of country life. His skill in
etching, his mastery of the dry-point technique are
used for the expression of the ever-recurring theme,
the peasant, his work and his world, ? peaceful,
rolling plains, with fields, pastures and woodlands.
Unlike the playing, drinking, smoking, carousing
peasant of former art, different also from the heroic
son of toil of his close friend Millet, the peasant
of Jacque, robust, hard-working, perhaps a little
awkward, harmonizes perfectly with his rustic sur-
roundings. All is so natural, so truthful, that it
brings back reminiscences of half-forgotten vaca-
tions spent at the farm. Here is the quiet, restful
village at the water's edge (Case 2 1 ), a beautiful
bit of dry-point work ; the shepherd with his flock
in the pasture (Case 29), and his return to the fold
(Case 2 3), drawn with an astonishing suggestion of
motion (Case 7) ; herds of cattle drinking (Cases 1 8
and 2 1 ), and driven in the gloaming along the river's
bank (Case 20). There are blacksmiths and farriers
(Cases 30, 20, 21, 26, 27), and more numerous
than all these, there are pigs, ? pigs resting and
feeding, in pasture, farmyard or sty. Even their
sad end at the butcher's hands (Cases 20 and 22) SECOND FLOOR
is shown us, with consummate knowledge of the
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