Nihontō

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The parts of a Nihontō blade and their Japanese names
Japanese blades and koshirae

A Nihontō ( Japanese 日本 刀 ), sometimes referred to as a Nippon-Tō or Shinken , is a Japanese sword made using traditional methods. Nihon stands for Japan and tō for sword.

Periodic classification

The swords or the blades are assigned to different periods: the oldest are called Jōkotō ( 上古 刀 , "ancient swords"), those from the middle of the Heian period (794–1185) to the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1573–1603 ) or Keichô - era (1596-1615) as a koto ( 古刀 , "old swords") ,, up to and including the An'ei era (as from 1772 to 1781) Shinto ( 新刀 , "new swords") to 1876 as Shinshintō ( 新 新 刀 , "newer new swords"), and then as Gendaitō ( 現代 刀 , "present swords ").

Swordsmithing traditions

There were originally five classic swordsmithing traditions ( Gokaden ) for Nihontō in Japan, to which about 80% of all swords made in the Kotō period are attributed. These included the Yamato tradition , the Bizen tradition , the Sōshū tradition , the Yamashiro tradition and the Mino tradition .

features

A Nihontō usually has a dowel hole in the nakago (the tang ) and a blade length of at least 15 cm. By remounting the blade, however, older blades in particular may have several dowel holes. In the case of newer blades that were made for purely aesthetic purposes, those for attaching the classic mount ( koshirae ) may be completely absent. In addition, such a blade is only referred to as a real Nihontō if it was made in the traditional way and, in the case of Gendaitō, by a blacksmith licensed in Japan.

species

Naginata, Ken, Tantō, Uchigatana and Tachi

The Nihontō include:

Nihontō do not include industrially produced:

literature

  • Inami Hakusui: Nippon-Tō, The Japanese Sword . Kyoei Printing Co., 1948. OCLC 1747709 .
  • Gregory Irvine: The Japanese Sword, the Soul of the Samurai . V&A Publications., 2000, ISBN 978-1-85177-314-5 .
  • Leon Kapp: Japanese swordsmithing . Ordonnanz-Verlag, 1996, ISBN 978-3-931425-01-2 .
  • Noel Perrin: Giving Up the Gun: Japan's Reversion to the Sword, 1543-1879 . Boston: David R. Godine, 1979, ISBN 978-0-87923-773-8 .
  • H. Russell Robinson: Japanese Arms and Armor . New York: Crown Publishers Inc., 1969. OCLC 49140 .
  • Clive Sinclaire: SAMURAI: The weapons and the spirit of the Japanese warrior . Motorbuch, 2004, ISBN 978-3-613-30510-6 .
  • John M. Yumoto: The Samurai Sword - A Manual . Ordonnanz-Verlag, 1995, ISBN 978-3-931425-00-5 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. Hakusui, Inami, Nippon-Tō - The Japanese Sword , Kyoei Printing Co. 1948
  2. ↑ 古 刀 . In: デ ジ タ ル 大 辞 泉 at kotobank.jp. Retrieved October 10, 2012 (Japanese).
  3. ↑ 古 刀 . In: 大 辞 林 第三版 at kotobank.jp. Retrieved October 10, 2012 (Japanese).
  4. ↑ 新 刀 . In: 大 辞 林 第三版 at kotobank.jp. Retrieved October 10, 2012 (Japanese).
  5. ↑ a b 新 新 刀 . In: 大 辞 林 第三版 at kotobank.jp. Retrieved October 10, 2012 (Japanese).
  6. ↑ Yumoto, John M .: The Samurai Sword - A Manual, p. 28.
  7. ↑ Kapp, Leon / Yoshihara, Yoshindo: Modern Japanese Swords and Swordsmiths - From 1868 to the Present, p. 17.