Tag: Japan
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Kata: Making a sword pattern
A good to way to learn proper sword sugata, or silhouette, is to make a kata, or pattern, from 1.25-1.5mm thick sheet of mild steel. I bought a full sheet and cut it in about forty 5 cm wide bands of various lengths. The longest tachi won’t usually exceed 100 cm of zen-nagasa (full length,…
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A tour of the forge
Wishing you a truly successful new year! This morning I fought my way out of my futon, and into winter. It was three degrees. Inside. The pipes were frozen. No water. They keep telling me “Aren’t you tough?! It’s much colder in Canada!“. “Yeah, but we have heating in our insulated houses,” I always reply.…
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The Making of a Sword – Blog Project
The Soulsmithing Web site has been up for years now, but it’s always been my dream to publish a regular newsletter, in the continuation of Kogei, to diffuse as much information on the world of japanese swords, swordsmithing and the culture in general. Editing and publishing a newsletter has proven too much work to fit…