Japanese smiths solved this problem by controlling the amount of carbon in the tamahagane steel very carefully.
A weapon made with a hard metal will keep its edge but will be brittle and more prone to breaking.
One of the biggest problems in making a sword is keeping it sharp. The smiths who created katana for the samurai are widely regarded as some of the finest sword makers in history. Together the two swords were referred to as daisho, meaning "large and small." The word dai (large) represented the katana and the word sho (small) represented the wakizashi. A katana was never worn without its companion sword - the wakizashi, a shorter weapon with a broader blade. The most famous weapon associated with the samurai is the katana, a curved sword. Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images However, some samurai masters warned their students not to dwell on words and paintings too much, fearing their minds would become weak.Ī collection of 14th-century samurai swords is displayed, including the katana, wakizashi and tanto. During the Tokugawa period, a peaceful era, the samurai were not needed much as warriors, so these academic skills were especially useful. In addition to warrior skills, samurai were expected to be well-educated in other areas, such as literature and history. One story tells of a master who would strike his students with a wooden sword at random times throughout the day and night, until the students learned to never relax their guard. Swordsmanship was taught in a similarly relentless manner. For a time, living dogs were used as moving archery targets, until the shogun abolished the cruel practice. Some archers practiced on targets tethered to a pole, which could be swung to make a moving target. Firing a bow while riding a horse was a difficult task, and mastering it required years of constant practice. However, for the first few centuries of their existence, samurai were better known as horse-riding archers. The image of the samurai that is probably most familiar is that of a sword master wielding his curved katana with deadly skill. It should be noted that there were some female samurai, who also participated in combat, but most of the samurai were men. Sons of wealthier families were sent to special academies, where they were tutored in literature, the arts and military skills. Training in martial arts began at a young age. Rather than a simple question of age, a boy's readiness to be a samurai depended on rites of passage he had to undergo to advance.
Girls were taught to run samurai households as future samurai wives, while boys were trained to take over as heads of families and as warriors. Part of their education may have been formal, but they also learned social values from their families and others in their tight-knit communities. History/Universal Images Group via Getty ImagesĬhildren of samurai families were taught to serve different roles in samurai societies. Although most samurai were men, there were several female samurai. Female samurai Tomoe Gozen (known for her bravery) kills samurai Uchida Ieyoshi and escapes capture.
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