Kawakami

Okay, so I was doing some research a while ago and ran across an article. I just remembered it and managed to find it again, and it continues to press buttons and flip switches in my mind. It relays in some detail some of the findings of a man named Suishinshi Masahide. He is known as THE sword smith who brought around the Shinshinto period of sword making. Rather than focusing on the wide, pretty, flashy hamon that many liked during the earlier Edo period, he re-invented his sword smithing to focus more on the Koto pieces.

What he found is actually kind of expected. Blades with big hamon broke more often. Makes sense. With a larger percentage of hard, brittle metal, it's only natural that it would break more easily than a blade made of more soft metal.

In the end, bending is much better than breaking.

So, since I have lost my train of thought, let me conclude by saying this:

My next sword will have a very Koto-esque blade...and, also...I really want a nice naginata.

Maybe I should blog about naginata.