Mikatsuki Blade made by Sanjo Kokaji Munechika
By the Heian period (794-1185), Japan had become well renowned among the neighboring nations for its swordsmiths. Though for most of history prior, China had been the main producer of swords (and pretty much everything else) Japan had managed to make a name for itself by innovating on Chinese designs. Several swordsmith guilds appeared throughout the Heian period and were very wealthy and influential. One of those guilds was started by a man named Sanjo Kokaji Munechika whose swords stood out above all others at the time. His sword, the Mikatsuki Munechika (or Crescent Moon Munechika) named because it contained crescent shaped marks on the edge of the temper line is a Japanese National Treasure …show more content…
It’s tang (or nakago) is kijimomo (pheasant thigh) shaped. This would give it a curved handle alongside its curved blade. Most importantly, the hamon was very elegant and contained the peculiarities that gave it its name. A hamon, or temper line, is the line near to the edge that marks the divide between the hardened sharp edge, and the soft, flexible body of the sword. Leon Kapp calls it “perhaps the most important aesthetic feature of a blade” as it is one of the hardest parts of the sword to make correctly. The whole blade is covered in clay with the edge being covered in a significantly thinner layer so it will cool much faster and thus become much harder when it is cooled. What makes the Mikatsuki unique is that it has crescent shaped areas of harder steel that either touch the hamon (and are essentially part of it) or lie close by on the …show more content…
This quality continued to be recognized through the ages. The Mikatsuki at some point landed in the hands of Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s wife Nene who bequeathed it to Tokugawa Hidetada while on her deathbed in 1624. The blade remained in the hands of the Tokugawa dynasty as an heirloom until World War II, after which it eventually became known as a National Treasure of Japan. In spite of its recent storage as an heirloom and a National Treasure, the Mikatsuki has many marks from having been used in battle. As a testament to the quality of sword made in the Heian period, the Mikatsuki remains in almost perfect
By the Heian period (794-1185), Japan had become well renowned among the neighboring nations for its swordsmiths. Though for most of history prior, China had been the main producer of swords (and pretty much everything else) Japan had managed to make a name for itself by innovating on Chinese designs. Several swordsmith guilds appeared throughout the Heian period and were very wealthy and influential. One of those guilds was started by a man named Sanjo Kokaji Munechika whose swords stood out above all others at the time. His sword, the Mikatsuki Munechika (or Crescent Moon Munechika) named because it contained crescent shaped marks on the edge of the temper line is a Japanese National Treasure …show more content…
It’s tang (or nakago) is kijimomo (pheasant thigh) shaped. This would give it a curved handle alongside its curved blade. Most importantly, the hamon was very elegant and contained the peculiarities that gave it its name. A hamon, or temper line, is the line near to the edge that marks the divide between the hardened sharp edge, and the soft, flexible body of the sword. Leon Kapp calls it “perhaps the most important aesthetic feature of a blade” as it is one of the hardest parts of the sword to make correctly. The whole blade is covered in clay with the edge being covered in a significantly thinner layer so it will cool much faster and thus become much harder when it is cooled. What makes the Mikatsuki unique is that it has crescent shaped areas of harder steel that either touch the hamon (and are essentially part of it) or lie close by on the …show more content…
This quality continued to be recognized through the ages. The Mikatsuki at some point landed in the hands of Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s wife Nene who bequeathed it to Tokugawa Hidetada while on her deathbed in 1624. The blade remained in the hands of the Tokugawa dynasty as an heirloom until World War II, after which it eventually became known as a National Treasure of Japan. In spite of its recent storage as an heirloom and a National Treasure, the Mikatsuki has many marks from having been used in battle. As a testament to the quality of sword made in the Heian period, the Mikatsuki remains in almost perfect