the Sword of Old Japan. 27 
versation indulged in by the guests must be of such a character 
as to raise no arguments or ill-feeling, yet left on record the 
saying, ‘‘ The girded sword is the living soul of the samurai,” 
he, the famous Iyeysan, the greatest of all the Shoguns, con- 
sidered the sword the central point in the morals and customs of 
___ the land, the badge of honour and the token of chivalry. 
The sword-forger was no ordinary artisan, his was a high social 
standing ; nor was his occupation unworthy of his position. The 
skill and care necessary to produce a first-class blade was not 
common property ; each forger of repute had his own particular 
methods, the twist and turns he gave to his metal, the degree of 
heat necessary for his tempering bath were secrets unknown to 
___ all but the master himself, even his assistants and pupils might 
be ignorant of them; hence it is that there are characteristics 
which enable Japanese experts to recognize the work of a par- 
ticular master even if there is no signature to guide them. I can, 
therefore, in describing the forging of a sword, give but a general 
idea of the process. A bar of iron or steel, or of both combined, 
would be carefully chosen; this would be heated to white heat 
and then bent double and hammered until it attained its original 
length ; this hammering and bending would be repeated fifteen 
times ; then four of these bars would be welded together and the 
bending and hammering repeated five times, until, at the final 
hammering, the number of layers would amount to 4,194,304 
(a very simple calculation will verify these figures). The metal 
would at this stage have a texture like the grain of wood. It was 
then beaten out to the required length; in the final hammerings 
the sword-forger sat alone while he gave these subtle touches to 
his work which were to distinguish it from all others. 
Apparently simple, but really requiring the utmost care, was 
the process of tempering. The blade at this point was entirely 
composed of soft metal; it was then covered over with a mixture 
of red earth and charcoal; before this hardened it was removed 
from a narrow streak at the edge. Thus prepared, the blade 
_ was placed in the fiercest part of the wood fire, and as soon as 
__ the proper colour was reached it was plunged into the tempering 
bath ; the exposed and highly heated portion was by this process 
rendered extremely hard and capable of taking a very sharp edge, 
_ while the remainder of the blade, protected by the paste, con- 
tinued tough and capable of bearing any reasonable strain 
without breaking. 
Each master regulated the heat of the tempering bath to his 
own fancy, judging entirely by the feel, and jealously was the 
secret guarded. ‘There is a well- authenticated story of a great 
swordsmith who struck off the hand of a too venturesome pupil 
who, to learn the secret, plunged his hand at the critical moment 
into the bath; but, terrible as the penalty he had to pay, the 
