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Featured Swordsmith: Kawahara Sadachika
Click
here to learn how to buy a sword crafted by Kawahara-Sensei
Tsuchi for Yaki-ire
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Mugendo Budogu, LLC
is proud to announce that classically trained and licensed Japanese sword smith Kawahara
Sadachika has chosen us to represent him to the world.
Kawahara Sensei served his apprenticeship under Japanese Living
National Treasure, Gassan Sadaichi Sensei. After studying under Gassan Sensei for 6 years,
in 1994 he received his license to make swords under his own name.
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Two years ago, Kawahara
Sensei established himself in Eigenji-cho, in Shiga Precture, outside of Kyoto. He built
his own home on a hill looking out to the Eichi River. His home is dominated by his
workshop and forge, which take up two-thirds of the house.
Kawahara Sensei is a meticulous
craftsman, and just making one sword can take up to two weeks. Relying on the
traditional techniques for making Japanese swords, he does not use stock metal to forge
his blades. Rather, he starts with semi-smelted tamahagane, which he breaks up into small
pieces. These he hammers flat. Then, just by sight, he sorts them according to their
carbon content. With these pieces, called mizubeshi, he constructs a loose block of metal
which will be hammer-wielded into the solid block which will become a katana. |
Applying Tsuchi for Yaki-ire |
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Just Prior to Yaki-ire
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He then
repeatedly heats and folds the block of metal to drive out any impurities, slag that
remains from the smelting, and air pockets left when the block was constructed. When the
block has reached the proper consistency, he shapes the blade. This is a difficult
process, because the metal will curve inward along the thin cutting edge if one is not
very skilled. Once the blade has been
shaped, the yaki-ire must be done. Yaki-ire is the process that gives Japanese blades
their
unique temper line. The blade is first coated with a mixture of clay, ash, earth, and
water which serves as insulation. It is
then heated, and quenched in water (unlike western smiths, who usually use oil). If
everything has been done perfectly, the blade will be ready to be polished. If anything is
not quite right, the entire yaki-ire process will have to be repeated. A blade can go
through the yaki-ire process at most three times before it must be melted down to begin
again. |
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 Yaki-ire in Progress |
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 Quenching After Yaki-ire (The small trough is
used so the temperature of the water can be
precisely controled) |
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 Removing the Tsuchi Following the Yaki-ire |
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 Removing the Tsuchi Following the Yaki-ire |
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 Rough Polishing (Final polish is
done by a professional polisher) |
When Kawahara Sensei is satisfied
with a blade, he will send it to the togisha, or polisher. The togisha's craft is a
meticulous one, requiring every bit as much skill as that of the sword smith. The blade
will be polished completely by hand. The togisha polishes the blade on stones of
ever-finer grit, until the scratches made by the stones are actually finer than the grain
of the steel. He does not use any power tools for this. Not even a pedal-powered wheel.
The togisha sits on the floor of his workshop and pushes the sword across the stone
entirely by hand. Anything faster than this painstaking process would almost certainly
damage the sword. Two other master
craftsman are necessary before the blade is finished. The habaki, or collar for the sword
is made by one craftsman, and the saya (sheath)) is made by
another. Only when all of these master craftsman have finished their work is a blade
finished. |
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You can see images of some of
Kawahara's blades here
We will update this page to show Kawahara Sensei working on swords in their various
stages, so check these pages frequently.
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