The Best Sword in History

The way a Ninhoto Katana is made is very difficult, and requires perfect precision while melting, smithing, smelting the Tamahagane, and cooling. First, is the way you make the Tamahagane. First, A clay vessel about 4 ft (1.2 m) tall, 12 ft (3.7 m) long, and 4 ft (1.2 m) wide is constructed. This is known as a tatara. The clay tub must then be fired till perfectly dried. Then a fire is started with pine charcoal. Then you must wait for the fire to reach the perfect temperature. Then you have to add iron sand called by the Japanese satetsu. Over the next 72 hours, you must tirelessly add layers of pine charcoal and satetsu. After this is done, you must break the tub. The steal there is called Kera. The process takes 9.1 tons of satetsu, and 11 tons of charcoal. What’s left is about 2.5 tons of Kera, and even less of that will become Tamahagane. Then you must carefully separate the high and low carbon parts of the steel. Hocho-tetsu is the name of the lowest carbon steel, which is used for the core of the blade. The higher carbon steel is then forged in intricate layers. The steel is forged and bended as much as 16 times! This combines hardness and ductility to create toughness. As you can see, just making the Tamahagane is hard work!

When making this amazing kind of Katana, the metal must be bent and beaten flat many times. This requires a lot of strength. All this work is for hardening the metal, as the bending strengthens its molecular structure. Then it is smithed in the shape of a typical sword. The edge is then covered in clay, rust, and ashes during quenching to strengthen the blade. This makes it sharp, and might somehow cause the serrations. While cooling, extra care must be exercised or if it cooled too fast or unevenly, the pieces will break apart. If the Ninhoto Katana has one mistake in any process, the Katana is pretty much ruined.

Now, considering today people don’t run around chopping people with Katana like an anime series, you may think that the Ninhoto Katana is useless for today. As if the inspiration for serrated blades and syringes wasn’t enough, the Ninhoto Katana is considered a work of art. Though in Britain things this sharp are illegal, many do have them for artistic reasons. How does this relate to art?

First, is the making of Tamahagane, which takes many years of training. Tamahagane is probably the most expensive material known, worth more than gold. Also, it takes 4 years to master the art of making a Ninhoto Katana, and because of this the Ninhoto Katana is considered a work of art when made using traditional methods. Also, it takes 5 years to master Katana polishing, and is also considered a Japanese art. Lastly is the use of Ninhoto Katana in martial arts. Martial arts are a major part of Japans culture, and the Ninhoto Katana plays a major part in it. As you can see, the Ninhoto Katana is a work of art on multiple levels!

In addition, the Ninhoto Katana was a major part of Japans survival. As the Ninhoto Katana gave the Japanese a huge edge in battle, it played a major part in its survival. If the Ninhoto Katana was never invented, Japan may have been taken over by another country. This would result in the world losing a lot of what Japanese culture has to offer, including Sushi, a large variety of martial arts, Anime like Blood+, Bleach, to things that little kids like, such as Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh. In addition, think of all the inventions Japan has given to the world, like Nintendo, Play station, and companies like Samsung that put competition in the market for electronics. Not only did the Ninhoto Katana inspire many inventions like serrated blades, but also protected future inventions that we get to enjoy now.

The Ninhoto Katana is an amazing part of Japanese culture, and Amakuni’s invention is an important invention that should keep him remembered.