Sept. 9 - Last month I visited Matsunaga Genrokurou to learn about Japanese sword making. When we arrived at his foundry in Arao City, about one hour outside of Kumamoto City, Mr. Matsunaga had already fired up his furnace. He was heating a white-hot lump of "tamahagane" iron. He showed us a bag of iron sand he had gathered from a nearby beach. He molds this iron sand, he explained, into lumps of iron for his swords. "It takes about 9 kg of iron to forge a 1 kg sword," he explained.
Matsunaga showed us how he carefully selects pieces of tamahagane iron that contain high levels of carbon. He then fired the iron billet or bar in the furnace on the end of a long iron rod. He used the bellows gently to control the charcoal fire. When I asked how he knew the iron bar in the fire was ready for forging, Matsunaga said he could judge the temperature of the iron precisely by its color and the number of sparks it gave off.
Matsunaga Genrokurou explains about his ancient craft.
Watching the sword-making process with Fukuoka Consul Jason Cubas.
After pulling the white-hot iron bar out of the fire, he dipped it in muddy water and then coated it with rice straw ash. This process, he explained, adds carbon to the iron and helps forge it into steel. When Matsunaga began pounding the bar, it gave off bright orange sparks. I could feel its heat from my seat a few meters away. Under the blows of his hammer, the bar began to grow until it became twice its original length.
This fellow had a beautiful technique.
I could cut the straw pillar with little difficulty.
Matsunaga then folded the bar in half against itself and pounded this bar back to its original length and thickness. Then he returned the bar to the furnace to heat up again. The pounding, elongating and folding, he explained, helps align the molecules of the steel to make a stronger but flexible Japanese sword.
Later Matsunaga invited me to witness a demonstration. Several gentlemen clad in white hakama showed off their skill using Matsunaga's swords to slice targets of rolled up tatami mats. After I spent a while carefully watching their technique, they invited me to try to use a sword myself. I thought it was a great honor to test a sword made with such care and attention to detail by a famous Japanese sword smith.
Until next time,
Jim
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