Masamune The Master

[Music] [Music] in the centuries which have passed since he lived and worked masamune x' skills as a master craftsman have granted him almost mythical status he was the most famous swordsmith of medieval japan perhaps of all time his skills are appreciated most of all by today's master sword makers who know how much skill is required to produce the perfect blade can the centuries-old skills of Masamune we created today [Music] by watching a saw take shape through each extraordinary stage of the forging process we can reveal what made Masamune the supreme master and by learning how his swords were used how they could spell instant death we will understand why they were prized above all by the samurai who wielded them Masamune is Japan in the late 13th century was a land where fighting skills were of vital importance just across the Sea of Japan a huge Mongol army was poised ready to strike the Mongols at that time and Kublai Khan had sent emissaries to Japan demanding tribute in fact and the the Japanese had treated them rather harshly and beheading several of them and sending the heads backs of course the Mughals were not too happy with that in 1274 the mongols invaded ravaging large areas of western japan before a storm known ever since as the Kamikaze or divine wind wrecked the invasion fleet and saved the nation we can be certain that along with all japanese Masamune would have offered thanks to the gods but actua said I was born in a time of great conflict autocracy that when I was 11 years old the barbarian invaders made their first attempt to conquer our sacred land Amica zenovich occur annually but with the help of divine women they were defeated attack cigar when I was 18 years old the invaders returned and once again they were forced retreat but we could not be certain when they would try again at Kamakura just south of Tokyo and now the site of the world-famous giant Buddha Japan's finest sword makers worked around the clock Asuna Coronel a McClellan at this time in Kamakura the forges of the sword smiths glowed day and night at all times the sound of hammer on steel run throughout the destructible I became the pupil of the great master shin Togolese founder of school known as Sara me it is from him and I learn many secrets of the swordsmith art the young swordsmith realized he could turn the traditional cavalry sword the long thin tachi into a much more fearsome weapon the Mogul for samurai swords ever since during the Heian era thousand to eleven hundred years ago thought were very elegant-looking and kissaki or cutting tip was smaller then the Mongol invasion took place and the Japanese samurai must use their Thord cutting Mongolians leather euro II which is armor the point on the Japanese sword became longer and the earlier curvature on the sword was based near the hills and in his Kashi's OD the tendency then changed that the curvature moved more towards the middle of the blade and what is called Tori's only giving a much more even curve and this is far this is far better far more suitable for fighting from a foot but horseback cutting the armor was much easier and math I'm gonna contributed that shape and also the a function to slice through thick leather his swords had to cut like a razor they still do after a polishing and sharpening process lasting ten days tamesha giddy or test cutting was performed on live prisoner and prisoner was tied sometimes or they were hanged by the hook then the body was cut by the fold and there is a certain area the body or the neck or a certain area was used for test cutting Ryota machinery is used on a tight body we are not allowed to do those Bavarian act therefore we use a replacement since we cannot use the light body cutting bamboo is a resemble to cutting vertebrae of our human body [Music] in order to cut a bamboo are you study long time to make a precision cut you require the precision distance and timing and also the strength of your arm it has to be fresh member green bamboo this resemble to the fresh of the human [Music] the creation of every true samurai sword begins in the same way with a process developed even before the time of Masamune the method of smelting devised in ancient times has changed little over the centuries the steel traditionally used for sword making is smelted from a black sand called Satsuma naturally eroded from iron ore bearing Rock and recovered from streambeds [Music] smelting takes place in a trough known as a Tatara built from play a new one for each smelting cycle which lasts five whole days once the fire is lit over a period of 72 hours successive layers of oak and pine charcoal are mingled with the iron sand the Tatara is tended constantly by the smelting master using a bellows to maintain just the right conditions for the now molten iron to be transformed into steel in temperatures reaching 1500 degrees centigrade molecules from the charcoal combine with the molten iron to produce a carbon rich and therefore very hard metal the steel known as tamahagane ii on the fifth day the clay trough is pulled apart revealing a white-hot steel block in each smelting from 21 tons of ore and charcoal roughly one ton of steel is produced one school the block will be broken into fist sized pieces each enough to make a sword though at this stage the metal is still riddled with impurities Masamune skill lay in actually using those impurities to his own advantage creating a finished blade that combined elements both brittle and pliable it's what made him a master 700 years ago but who are the masters who follow in his footsteps today one of the greatest of them is yoshimitsu Ohno a winner four times over of Japan's national sword contest where the finest swordsmith enter a single blade for judgment to be a swordsmith at all in Japan requires a government license issued only after an apprenticeship of at least five years the dedication of the apprentice is tested in an extraordinary way for the first of those years he will typically do nothing but chalk charcoal into the exact shape and size prescribed by the master it's a way of instilling discipline but a uniform size for the charcoal pieces also ensures a steady heat during the crucial stages of forging first the master needs fire he can make it almost by magic as Masamune would have done with the friction of rapid striking the tip of this slender iron rod becomes red-hot enough to light a taper of rice paper and bring the forge to life now the master selects the first of the pieces of raw steel which he will coax almost sculpt into a work of art the master controls the temperature of the furnace with a bellows uniquely designed to blow air both on the inward and outward stroke ensuring a steady heat it's the master who dictates the whole complex process which is to follow while a more senior apprentice wields the hammer according to his directions the first stage of forging is designed to even out the distribution of carbon in the raw steel to produce a metal of uniform hardness once the steel has been hammered flat its quenched in water and the brittle slab is broken into small pieces what follows is like mixing the ingredients in a recipe but since these ingredients are unyielding metal it has to be achieved in a remarkable way the Masters experienced I tells him how to mingle carbon-rich fragments with others in exactly the right proportion then follows something which really does look more like the work of a chef than a swordsmith the pile of fragments is wrapped in wet paper a little rice straw is sprinkled on top before the whole package is dosed with silicon clay the wrapping and clay coating are there to bind the pile of fragments together and also to prevent the metal itself from burning as the furnace temperature is raised to around 1,300 degrees centigrade masamune used no thermometer and neither does the modern master he knows by long experience just when his steel sandwich is ready to be hammered once again to fuse the layers together once he's satisfied with the basic mix of his steel the master begins the process of creating a complex layered structure within the metal it's done by repeated flattening and folding the steel is folded six times in one direction then another six times the other way and so on you fold it back over across itself you've got immediately two layers do it again you've got 4 8 16 32 64 if you fold it 10 times you've got a thousand layers you're effectively creating a kind of mesh and mesh as we know is a terribly terribly strong formation so that I'm a fan dangerous you got it so the talk ya kiddin understood there are certain stages of the forging process which it is absolutely crucial to get right one of the most important of all is this layering of the steel this isn't done correctly if at this point the metal is damaged perhaps being cut in the wrong place then the billet of Steel is discarded we'd have to start again as each folding operation has doubled the number of layers by the time the metal billet is ready for second stage forging it will contain upwards of 30,000 individual layers fused together by heat and hammering giving the sword enormous strength but also once the layers are revealed by polishing enormous beauty [Music] it's one of the ironies of the samurai sword that an object accorded such spiritual power prized by the connoisseur is essentially a tool for killing if not now then certainly in Masamune is time but actually not saw was actually my nameís down so that my swords and daggers have been code beautiful some people have called them works of art I'm glad if they appear beautiful but that is not why they were created perfectly balanced sword forged from the finest steel from which all flows have been removed is the most effective weapon the most finely tempered blade is also the hardest and sharpest the true beauty of my soul is demonstrated not in the palace no in the temple accelya there has been on the battlefield the most familiar samurai sword is the gracefully curved katana they were often individually tailored to the height and strength of a customer but also special forms were made for special tasks [Music] this is a touchy touchy means the thorn with a deeper curvature and how you hold it is this way or sometimes one hand to hand dota and the catotti and two hands are used for leverage this is a touchy about thousand years ago [Music] this study was used by the category forger on the horseback riding now I want to show you the katana which is a shorter and less curvature and katana normal length is about 27 28 inches long the cutting motion is this way and a blocking in the job and this was use foot soldier or samurai since shorter and much easy to use [Music] this short thought is called wakizashi and approximately 450 years old and one side is a kata Kili has a hoodie which has an age and the other side is a hero super flatmate often used by the bandit and private and the one hand is used often while he is shooting the Tanegashima musket gun or grabbing some object much easier to use [Music] this data is called Tonto and used by the foot soldier against all soldiers who fell on the ground first [Music] todo may what is done fatal stab then followed by a decapitation and sometimes this is used for harakiri with a samurai himself the tanto is good weapon of the few dozen surviving blades believed to have been forged by Masamune himself most of them are daggers or tanto this is one of them a priceless treasure held at the Hayashi Barra Museum in Okayama but what distinguishes blades of the great masters from all the rest it takes an expert eye to judge the answer lies almost at microscopic level steel which to the untrained eye all looks much the same contains barely visible particles which give a clue to its composition and the skill of the Smith who forged it the key characteristic unique to the samurai sword is what's called the ham on the gently flowing pattern just behind the cutting edge it proves that the blade has been correctly tempered but it's also where the swordsmith becomes a true artist creating his own signature patterns some are said to resemble clouds others the petals of a flower it's that which makes the blade of a master worth more than its weight in gold and so cleaning this 700 year old Masamune blade is something which also requires the skill of a master careful never to touch the blade with his fingers the swordsmith removes the hibachi the metal collar which secures the blade in its scabbard then he carefully apply a powder called Ichigo Mori made from stone pulverized almost to dust the powder acts as the gentlest possible abrasive to remove any traces of rust which may have developed from airborne moisture finally to protect the blade until its next examined the Smith apply is a thin coating of oil Tsubaki the swordsmith treats the tanto not just with professional care but a kind of reverence a clue to the mystique surrounding a master Masamune but how easy is it to tell his blades from the others at London's Victoria & Albert Museum they have a sword which may or may not be the work of the great master it's been at the museum for almost a century Masamune blades and nowadays hardly ever auctioned its value if it were around half a million pounds although it bears Masamune sneb sword dealers and appraisers began faking his signature three centuries ago I think sometimes you have to go with a gut reaction and the more that I look at this blade the more that I see that's going on there the incredible beauty within the steel the subtlety the the grain of the flat of the blade the what's happening within the harmone itself it couldn't be made by anyone else than a real master and the only real master at that time was in fact my family so yes I mean I would I'm probably going out on a limb on this one and to say that it's by my Samedi but I feel it is although the hamon created by Masamune have inspired almost poetic descriptions they were put there for a reason [Music] the broad Hammond the tempered edge which is a hallmark of my blaze means that if the blade is damaged or chipped in combat the sword can be read round this would not be possible if the damage extended into the software area of Steel behind him here is an example where something that is considered beautiful the broad hamon is in fact a practical solution to solve the problem of restoring and damaged soul the hamon is the clearest sign of the sword smiths skill modern fakes like this one try to simulate the undulating tempering line but it's the work of a machine not a master and the material is inferior metal used for the making of the car or the mobi or something like that the samurai demanded the very highest quality in a sword because quite simply in battle his life depended on it even in modern day Japan now the land of big business and the bullet train the image of the samurai is still highly potent movies continue to celebrate these free-spirited warriors a set of these Seven Samurai models in a Tokyo store will cost you one thousand US dollars business leaders study the samurai code of discipline loyalty and courage I think that sometimes in the West you have a wrong idea about the samurai almost as if they were gunmen outlaws it wasn't like that it's a very important part of the philosophy that goes with the samurai sword is that it could just as well remain in its scabbard it doesn't have to be used then it's a symbol of concealed or latent strength sameer I enjoyed a privileged status imagine not the crowded streets of modern Tokyo but ancient eddo where it could mean death to even touch a samurai let's say somewhere I walking in the street in the townsmen or farmers or civilian touch their scalpel they were samurai were allowed to cut them on the spot Oh Taguchi or instant execution and samurai is not punished and this was done until late 1860's not too long ago it was approximately hundred forty years ago this kind of practice was done by the samurai here as nowhere else in the world the sword is treated with a respect close to worship as a gift from the gods [Music] in one of the great Shinto legends the storm god Susanoo brother of the sun goddess is called to do battle with a fire-breathing serpent eventually he slays the beast and discovers inside one of its eight tails a magical sword known as Kusanagi still today the Kusanagi remains one of the three items of Imperial regalia the nation's crown jewels the sword and the skills it takes to produce it have long been revered in Japan though within living memory those skills came close to being wiped out in 1945 it was the Allies celebrated victory much of Japan lay in ruins on the 2nd of September aboard the battleship USS Missouri General Douglas MacArthur presided over the ceremony of surrender I now invite the representatives of the Emperor of Japan to sign the instrument of surrender at the places indicated let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always these proceedings are closed [Music] immediately after the signing the Americans issued an extraordinary decree on occupation it was a law every sword had to be surrendered and because they were regarded both as weapons but perhaps even more than that is the fact that the sword is one of the three symbols of the Emperor the mirror the jewel and the sword and so the sword was inextricably linked with Japanese Imperialism so the sword was completely and totally banned all swords had to be surrendered and they were gathered up they were taken away in trucks they were taken away to be melted down into cutlery Mitsubishi Company apparently had them taken away I would also say that of course not all swords were surrendered as as part of these edicts issued by the Americans meant that many many famous swords were locked away because people were aware of what happened to them post-war Japan turned its back on all things military sword making was banned until 1953 and after that only allowed with a strict limit on how many blades each Smith can produce new young editors towards Tyra nor I Lord sword smiths are limited to producing two swords per month but you have to bear in mind that for every sword that I complete to the final polishing stage I will discard probably five blades that have not turned out as well as I wished [Music] the limit on sword production ensures that there can be no mass production though it's difficult to see how the complex and lengthy process could be hurried this section through a blade shows how two very different types of metal are used the paler outer jacket is hard carbon-rich steel which can be sharpened like a razor the dark inner core is softer metal to absorb the shock of impact to prevent the blade snapping to achieve this the Smith must fuse together two pieces of steel with just the right carbon content he starts by beating what will be the outside of the blade including the cutting edge into a rough u-shape at this stage the sword is still no more than this lump of metal the iron bar it's attached to is merely the handle the Smith needs to work with a billet of lower carbon steel the core of the blade has been shaped ready to fit inside the jacket once again liquid clay is used to prevent the steel burning now the composite bar is brought almost to white heat and the master hammers the steel to fuse both elements together it's from this point on with the Smiths satisfied that he's created the correct layering and variations of carbon content in the steel block that the sword will begin to take shape [Music] [Music] the blade is drawn out to roughly the length that's required and then the first crude cutting tip the kissaki will be marked out with a few swift blows with a chisel [Music] [Applause] now for the first time something like a sword slowly begins to appear blow-by-blow the smith starts to flatten the steel bar producing what will be the curved cutting edge but he's careful not to make it too curved at this stage once the blade has been hammered into a recognizable sword shape there comes the most remarkable stage of this whole process one where the master summons all his skill and experience to add his own distinct hallmark to the blade to create the ham on pattern near the cutting edge the Smith needs to once again alter the crystalline structure within the steel to do that the blade is carefully painted with a mixture of liquid clay and charcoal powder it's a highly delicate operation the master needs the mixture to be slightly thicker in some places than others in the split-second moment of quenching that soon to follow because of the insulating properties of the clay those areas will cool fractionally slower than the others imprinting the hamon pattern through the metal [Music] this is the moment of truth when the sword will be imparted both its look and its shape [Music] both the speed and the angle at which the sword is dosed are critical at a very instant of quenching something remarkable is happening watch closely as the sword begins to bend the hard and softer Steel's within have cooled at different speeds causing internal tension imparting exactly the curve the swordsmith was looking for it's now almost ready to become a weapon in the hands of a master swordsman the correct way to use a samurai sword is governed by traditions every bit as old and rigorous as the method of making it this is I our dough the discipline of drawing striking and then sheathing the sword what does it tell us about the mind of the samurai why is the sword always worn curved side uppermost that's the cutting edge if it's on top the samurai can draw and strike in one swift action and at the end of each exercise why does the sword master make this strange flourish it's not just for show in battle that's how the samurai would shape the blood from his blade if you put the phone back into the scabbard with the blood on you will have a rust inside rust is the worst enemy for the samurai thought hey yeah with blades that are razor-sharp little wonder that when two swordsman practice their art they give each other plenty of clearance often we used a book cane which means a wooden sword at the beginning after we have a skill developed or after a few years we start using a sink the live sword hey yeah there is the attacker and also the receiver or as a defense and this offensive and the defensive technique will teach you balance timing and a coordination but there is something that offers some clue to the fury of samurai combat kendo literally the way of the sword is the closest we now come to seeing samurai sword being wielded in anger instead of a blade the competence use a shinai made from bamboo and though it looks fast and furious samurai combat training Ken Jitsu was even more arduous kendo and the conduces of different kendo was established after the war but kenjutsu exist before Kendall is more like a sports oriented many actual fighting methods were forbidden plus the limited time was given to fight in a Kendall however can do two training we don't have a time limit there is no judge [Music] welcome to the first hour came jesus style is a very similar to the live boy used in the battlefield [Music] we fight sometimes half now to 45 minutes or even more until one gives up from exhaustion whoever survived is winner [Music] there's a final and critical stage in the process which has seen crude iron turned into a blade of the finest steel it requires skills as old and highly valued as those of Masamune himself it is in the Forge that the sword is conceived that its future characterized determined but it can be said that it is not until the polisher has done his work that the sword is truly born that its nature is revealed I have respectful skills of the sword polisher he must understand just as well as I the potential of the steel the hidden beauty which is there to be revealed sword polishing as a craft all of its own not even the finest swordsmith would attempt it himself Oki Sato fujishiro is a master in this field the third generation of his family to follow the profession when he first sees the sword it's covered in fine scratches and none of the tempering patterns is visible [Music] it takes 10 days to polish a newly made sword using no machines just a succession of stones the surface of each one a little smoother than the last once all hammer marks and scratches from the forging process have been completely removed the precision work begins for this the polisher uses just the tiniest flakes of stone at the next stage he's using little more than his bare skin and a delicate paste of powdered stone and water now the vision of the swordsmith will finally be revealed with the tempering pattern the hamon visible at last exposing the sole of the blade it's only when the blade is returned by the polisher that the sword Smith can inspect his own handiwork can see whether the decisions he made in the darkened Forge with the right ones swords from a master like Ono yoshimitsu purchased now by rich collectors or museums can cost anything over twenty five thousand dollars as one of the great modern masters he says it's his duty to pass on his skills teaching part of his time at a sword school but even the teacher recognizes that neither he nor his pupils will ever quite match the genius of Masamune it's the normal Condon that there are many reasons for that masamune was working centuries ago so we can't be exactly sure how he achieved what he did mr. Cara this much so gotta sit though of course techniques are passed off but each time the knowledge is transferred from teacher to disciple the changes may be ever so slightly so we can never say for sure this is how he did [Music] yoshua today chutney walked off a Roman and MIT Weston colony what oxygen I was caught many secrets during my apprenticeship and have perhaps been able to add some useful techniques of my own the techniques of the sword Smith have been developed over many hundreds of years to bring us to the present day where new secrets be discovered when new methods of forging be devised by the sons of my disciples Oh have we reached the limit of the sword masters are these are questions which interest me greatly though of course I cannot answer them [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music]

Channel: mike davis

Views: 345,503

Keywords: masamune, samurai, nihonto, iado, kendo, making a Japanese sword, bushido

Id: R0zW8bqZOcU

Length: 45min 37sec (2737 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 09 2017