NihontoEd
Gold Member
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2011
- Messages
- 646
In Japan, Nihonto or the Japanese sword is considered a cultural art and carries a cultural status far above mere knives or knife making.
One of the fundamental differences between Japan and other countries is Japan requires proper education and licensing for many cultural activities such as becoming a sword smith or sword polisher.
You must first become an apprentice to a licensed smith or polisher.
You must complete that apprenticeship, enter government sanction competitions until you are determined competent to perform independently.
Then, and only then is one provided with the proper licensing and is able to work own his own within Japan.
Sword smith's must apprentice for a minimum of 5 years, sword polishers 10 years.
That is why there is only one licensed Japanese sword smith and two fully licensed Japanese sword polishers in North America.
Sadly, there are no governing requirements here.
You can apprentice a year or two, return to the US and call yourself a sword polisher, though calling a Volkswagen a Mercedes doesn't make it so!
Outside Japan, such as here in the US, many knife makers make replicas and variations of Japanese influenced swords.
Is there anything wrong with that, no. We have artistic freedom of expression and make what ever we like.
However, in my opinion, there is a fine line where freedom of expression and spreading misinformation sometime overlap.
This freedom of expression often leads to the innocent spread of misinformation regarding things like terminology and nomenclature related to Nihonto.
Though unintentional, this spread of misinformation yields the same end result of incorrect knowledge being spread and accepted by those who come here with a desire to learn.
Look through this site and other knife oriented sites, you will see a variety of blades with Japanese names.
Does that make them Japanese? No. Is the terminology or nomenclature terms correct? Many times, no.
Again, calling a Volkswagen a Mercedes doesn't make it so!
In the world of Nihonto, etiquette, nomenclature, terminology, etc., are very stringent, very precise.
It is very important if you are interested in Japanese swords, to correctly learn the basics.
My advise would be to seek out a site which specializes in Nihonto, if you wish to learn about Nihonto.
Here is a good page for the novice to learn some basics:
http://yakiba.com/beginner_page.htm
Here is one with additional information:
http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/nihonto.htm
One of the fundamental differences between Japan and other countries is Japan requires proper education and licensing for many cultural activities such as becoming a sword smith or sword polisher.
You must first become an apprentice to a licensed smith or polisher.
You must complete that apprenticeship, enter government sanction competitions until you are determined competent to perform independently.
Then, and only then is one provided with the proper licensing and is able to work own his own within Japan.
Sword smith's must apprentice for a minimum of 5 years, sword polishers 10 years.
That is why there is only one licensed Japanese sword smith and two fully licensed Japanese sword polishers in North America.
Sadly, there are no governing requirements here.
You can apprentice a year or two, return to the US and call yourself a sword polisher, though calling a Volkswagen a Mercedes doesn't make it so!
Outside Japan, such as here in the US, many knife makers make replicas and variations of Japanese influenced swords.
Is there anything wrong with that, no. We have artistic freedom of expression and make what ever we like.
However, in my opinion, there is a fine line where freedom of expression and spreading misinformation sometime overlap.
This freedom of expression often leads to the innocent spread of misinformation regarding things like terminology and nomenclature related to Nihonto.
Though unintentional, this spread of misinformation yields the same end result of incorrect knowledge being spread and accepted by those who come here with a desire to learn.
Look through this site and other knife oriented sites, you will see a variety of blades with Japanese names.
Does that make them Japanese? No. Is the terminology or nomenclature terms correct? Many times, no.
Again, calling a Volkswagen a Mercedes doesn't make it so!
In the world of Nihonto, etiquette, nomenclature, terminology, etc., are very stringent, very precise.
It is very important if you are interested in Japanese swords, to correctly learn the basics.
My advise would be to seek out a site which specializes in Nihonto, if you wish to learn about Nihonto.
Here is a good page for the novice to learn some basics:
http://yakiba.com/beginner_page.htm
Here is one with additional information:
http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/nihonto.htm
