Katana Kaji - Post WWII Japanese Swordsmith Documentary

This video features a post WWII Japanese setting in the life of a sword smith who eventually became recognized as a living national treasure. The work today bares incredible resemblance to the shop settings for Japanese sword smiths today.

[@giog279]

What a gem of a film. I appreciate the work it took to translate even though I’m sure there are some flaws. Thumbs up for me.

[@robsonez]

Many. The narration is basically made up and I dont even speak fluent Japanese. There are major errors in explaining the technique.

[@ALPHAGALACTICOMEGA]

This is fascinating and noticeably different than other katana making documentaries made in the past 3 decades. Seems there was some improvising being done around WW2 whereas the more recent blades are actually made from real tomohagana steel. Also, in other movies, the softer steel is sandwiched into an opening made into the harder edge steel while everything is hot, or at least the edge portion is anyway. I've also always assumed that the tip was hammered into shape and this is the first I've seen the tip shape cut out first then finished with hammer.

[@goldnutter412]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/iGHdiGuYpr-Cmbc Masamune The Master is a fabulous other video, not sure how much is carried over into this video ! haven't watched yet already have 20 browser tabs 🤣 Master of the curve and more ! its an understanding of quantum mechanics through focus and intuition.. its art, its beautiful.. many ways to do the same thing ! but how close to perfection can we come in life ? pretty close in very rare cases. VERY rare..

[@TheGroundedAviator]

Varies on the style of forging, some are hammered, some cut.

[@モリタコウキ-j2k]

貴重な映画ありがとうございます。

[@gregf8167]

Great video. Thanks for sharing this

[@althesmith]

And people don't believe me when I told them scrap metal was regularly used in making swords and armour. This was done for centuries.

[@dmcs5103]

+Al M I have one on my hand which is made of scrapt metal from ww2. Every thing, to the katana handle.

[@Joebunkyss1]

+Al M damascus steel was never just indian wootz....it had to be a mix from old broken iron swords and hi carbon peices....ie scrap....as you see and say.

[@simonc4764]

Not any scrap metal, only iron wih the right carbon content. Old japanese kettles are of the right quality.

[@LarryJ602]

I don't believe you told people that.

[@althesmith]

@@simonc4764 That's probably because of the fairly high carbon content in the brittle cast iron. Easier to reduce the carbon than get it back in.

[@carlpbrill]

I am making a sen right now to use on my knives. I haven't ever used one before but I think it will be cool and effective. I have heard that it makes keeping a flat easier than with a file.

[@christianandresloboSinPerj-TDR]

Love it! Thank you very much.-

[@ludibutlig1080]

amazing sword i wish one day i could have one

[@althesmith]

What's interesting is the processes that most Japanese smiths no longer tend to use. For one thing, charcoal sizing is more simply done with a strainer rather than chopping it up.

[@islandblacksmith]

you can sort with screens but it still needs to be chopped today! ^____^

[@arceusmaster91]

it is usually produced as thick strips. You then chop to size, and sort the smaller bits that broke off through screens, and also your fines, along with finer powders used to yaki-ire.

[@Tremulousnut]

They still chop by hand, but they tend to get the apprentices to do it.

[@atulananda6824]

So more biutiful video tks🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏😇

[@Zatracenec]

Very interesting. I just expected to see the finished blade.....what tease. :-)

[@user-zb6gt7og9q]

Amazing how Japan managed to keep the legacy of their swordsmiths while their neighbouring countries lost it over the centuries, even the one that claims where swordmaking arts originates from

[@cretudavid8622]

If your sword is part of your culture and religion of course you are not going to forget it's origins

[@k.3004]

Well the countries surrounding Japan were colonized. Not so long after the Portuguese and Spanish reached Asia, Japan enforced national isolation or Sakoku. Had Europe colonized Japan it might have been different.

[@outsideiskrrtinsideihurt699]

@@k.3004 Portugal made contact with Japan almost a century before the isolation period

[@k.3004]

@@outsideiskrrtinsideihurt699 Yes, I know. The Portuguese main focus was invading strategic points which resulted to the fall of the Malaccan Sultanate, and Moluccas being the source of spices under Portugese dominion. They were present in other Asian countries while not for colonialism hence lot of South East Asian cannons have such influence in their manufacture. So did Japan learn the manufacture of guns from wrecked ships of theirs. Nonetheless be it contact, cultural exchange, colonialism their presence was the start of European imperialism in the region. With the Spanish being more aggressive, so too the other countries that followed.

[@outsideiskrrtinsideihurt699]

@@k.3004 doesn’t change the fact that the notion of Japan isolating “not so long after” the Portuguese and Spanish made contact with them is just wrong.

[@gamerkinetingz4135]

Fascinating

[@BroosDager]

Outstanding and subbed

[@demonic4774]

There are so many translation errors in this the mud is a clay slurry and the rice straw is not a flux but to keep out the carbon that would be added from the charcoal fire in the forging process the rice straw and clay slurry work to seal in the steel and promote even heating and protect the steel during forging . The smith had to use iron pots because they had not restarted making iron sand steel or tamahagane yet . This was right after WW2.

[@hemanag1020]

Nice

[@althesmith]

There are some smiths now who still make and refine their own steel in oroshigane from, among other things, old wrought iron nails and bolts. The point is that the smith has to use traditional methods, not always pre-smelted tamahagane, rather than just buying and forging a steel bar.

[@simonc4764]

He is not the quickest swordsmith. Everything he did methodically and he became a benchmark for modern Japanese swordmaking. In the olden days and into WW2 when swords were still made for battle Akihira struggle to make swords fast enough for the war effort.

[@mjkhan9664]

Weren't the old tea kettles made from cast iron? How is it able to be forged?

[@john914]

Many details lost in translation.

[@althesmith]

john914 Certainly. But bear in mind that this was likely less than 10 years after WW2. One should reflect that at least, in this obviously done for western consumption translation, Japanese are not being shown as stereotypes here but as people who love their families, as artists, craftsmen, and appreciative of beauty. A huge step.

[@woozy96]

The method from this footage is the original way of making Katana dating back 1500s.

[@Unholy_Triforce]

Yea, we know

[@Unholy_Triforce]

It's the only way lol. They still make them this way

[@keison1616]

お弟子さんの正座ひとつとってみても厳しく指導されているのがわかります。 全日本で優勝した剣道家でもきちんと座れない人がいるなぁ

[@SquillyMon]

This must have been a dangerous film to make so close to the end of WWII...

[@SquillyMon]

WHY? Anti Japanese Sentiment...was RIFE after the war.

[@SquillyMon]

I agree but this was filmed and dubbed in the time frame I am referring to...that's my point

[@sander7165]

@@SquillyMon i am quite certainly that the dubbing is modern

[@micahcampa]

because it was dangrous to makes swords that is why they sometimes did not sign the tangs so they would not get in trouble because it was Basically illegal to make them after the war

[@furrymaster69rabies4life7]

Put on subtitles for 1:23

[@furrymaster69rabies4life7]

It says "putting you out earlier when I was fucking with them"

[@7071t6]

I wonder what the block of steel the Swordsmith is banging on made, to take the white hot steel not bend it at all, all i can think off is maybe its a harder flat volcanic rock or harder steel that has been tempered with different types of carbon steels to take the heat of the white hot sword to be hammered into shape. :)

[@nerxboy]

must be a softer steel so it doesnt chip when struck

[@hiko77]

What is the name of the swordsmith?

[@islandblacksmith]

miyairi shohei

[@novac0844]

Muramasa. :)

[@majin527]

宮入行平刀匠ですね こんな映像有るの知らなんだなぁ、大分古そうだし貴重だ

[@hakimabdul6395]

あのこれ☝️は現代刀ですか

[@majin527]

@@hakimabdul6395 明治9年以降に作られた刀を現代刀と呼ぶので、この刀は間違いなく現代刀になります

[@makatadaito1351]

Quarantine brought me here I'm a Japanese blades maker

[@Contact_Info]

Do you have website to show blades?

[@franznunez845]

How much your blade cost?

[@makatadaito1351]

I'm still a student or studying Japanese sword making even though I have the basic methods it's still not enough for such standards skills

[@franznunez845]

@@makatadaito1351 do you have a another social media account so that I can message you on private? I really love japanese sword Im here in philippines

[@makatadaito1351]

@@franznunez845 you can message sir nicholos Bunag the owner of SKS-ph (samurai katana sword Philippine) or giesha's blade in Facebook im still not open for commission blades yet I need more practice

[@thomashobbes8786]

Interesting. Shows several steps skipped in most modern documentaries.

[@novac0844]

Это они, так делают свои замечательные мечи , из старых чайников?

[@BIGBOSS-mb7wm]

but they used that very sword that takes a million lives during the WWII.

[@Eshayzbra96]

Very suspicious that you didn't show the tang.

[@fransthefox9682]

Why?

[@micahcampa]

he did he signed it at the end

[@Eshayzbra96]

@@micahcampa i dont even know why i commented that. Ya know, being 3 years ago.

[@Super33Saiyan]

One can tell a good vs a bad samurai during battle by the length of time past between each movements or blows with or without their katanas. As a rule of thumb, each movements made requires a "pause" of 2 to 3 seconds. But the truly great masters were able to make pauses lasting up to 35 seconds (or more!!) following each moves, made possible only by a strictly disciplined mind, decades of training and practice and astounding concentration!!! In a duel, unlike in the west where a fight could be done in an instant, the samurai's fight could take 2 to 3 hours! But to witness 2 truly great masters duelling with their katanas, one would have to book at least a week off work as the duel could last up to an incredible 6 full days and nights!!! Thus leaving all spectators at the edges of their seat, filled with anticipation to know whom will be victorious in this battle of life and death. This was truly a dangerous era to live in...

[@fransthefox9682]

You obviously saw that in anime, or just came up with this. Regardless of culture, a swordfight should be done as quickly as possible.

[@kaiser3232]

Guy is nuts

[@leedavis7508]

Calling Bullshit ! Pot Metal to make high quality Katanas ? Maybe to sell to American Servicemen stationed in Japan after the War as souvenirs, but not true swords. Actual Katana blades are made of Tamahagane. This is a specially smelted steel available Only to licensed Japanese Swordsmiths. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamahagane

[@wolfygamer4275]

Today i went to the fleamarket and this guy had a world war 2 japanese katana for sale on 100 dollars but i didnt really cared much plus i didnt know if it was from the actiol world war 2

[@althesmith]

Naihlea Perez If you see it again, get it. You may luck out. Many officer's swords had older blades. Even many WW2 blades were hand-forged.

[@andrewherring9468]

Sad I would have picked it up

[@fransthefox9682]

Possibly a machine produced gunto.

[@hemanag1020]

I watched a japanese swordsmith doco yest, and they said most ww2 swords were mass produced.

[@GonzalesGigi-n9s]

United States soldiers stolen ower 3 million Swords from Japan after ww2.

[@marianiurea6217]

Love these people. Anybody knows what happens to a clay tempered blade on a misaligned cut. You get a pretzel. Blade will bend. Take a plain 1075 carbon steel well tempered that flexes and you good to go. Hollywood made Katana sword as super steel. All garbage.

[@CareOnePlumbingOntario]

1000 yrs of sword making and you know better!??? your comparing modern steel to old japanese steel??? you obviously have no clue! sit down and shut up!

[@fransthefox9682]

Japanese swords are not garbage and they don't bend THAT easily.

[@cretudavid8622]

@@CareOnePlumbingOntario Yeah true but even medieval crucible steel would not bend as easy as a katana if you are not diferenial hardening it.

[@cretudavid8622]

@@fransthefox9682 they are not garbage true, but they do bend a lot easier than a longsword or anything that isn't diferential hardend. They were made to cut trough flesh and used mostly as a symbol of status defense weapon and execution tool from the 1300s to this day.

[@cretudavid8622]

@@fransthefox9682 while a long sword could take a full on parry from a katana and suffer quite a lot of edge damage, if you reverse the roles, a katana will most likely bend and take minimal edge damage. We have to understand that parrying was not used that much, just becuase of this simple reason. The japanese and other cultures tought that a parry could only be a last resort. The japanese katana could be re forged to it's original shape while the longsword would need some grinding to cut well again. So it's a trade off.

[@warlord8954]

Real Katanas made by Master Japanese swordsmiths are made from tamahagane steel. not scrap metal. Japanese temples didn't use nails in their construction until recent times. True Japanese Shinto temples and shrines were made with interlocking joints and dowels and pegs.

[@CareOnePlumbingOntario]

shows what you know? nothing! in the 1600's-1800's many smiths used foreign steels! namban tetsu! they used recycled steel on the regular!

[@micahcampa]

@@CareOnePlumbingOntario yes nanban tetsu form the dutch and spanish and yes your right big big temples had to be held together by nails because they where to big to be held together by friction alone

[@jonajo9757]

@@micahcampa Not only them, but since the Kofun era, Japan reguarlly initiated trade with China and Korea for ingots aswell.

[@ducontra666999]

i can't stand the cartoonish music lol

[@diqucnaicbiliaoeaoeo]

tamahagane is so overrated it's just scrape iron or iron sand + charcoal

[@PainkillerDCXVI]

Japanese overprice everything, they are also the masters of overrating, from swords to fruits and meat they will find a way to make something so incredibly expensive just by embellishing the living shit out of it.

[@nerxboy]

edgy

[@kanekikirigaya3346]

+Painkiller DCXVI not true bud.

[@smittywerbenjaegermanjense2350]

So a katana made from tamahagane isn't as strong or sharp as say a production katana made from production steel?

[@kanekikirigaya3346]

overrated my ass kid

[@zoesdada8923]

This is full of mistakes

[@damuses1452]

What mistakes? Don't cry foul when you don't identify that which is incorrect. Spit it out.

[@OldAgeTeddyboy]

So how many swords have you made, and when did you become a master swordsmith??

[@warlord8954]

This isn't even worth watching.