Wakizashi Koshirae Edo Period

Wakizashi Koshirae Sea Dragon Edo Period (1603-1868)

In the pictures you can find a Wakizashi  Koshirae, this type means a secondary sword which paired with the longer main sword. The design, a Sea Dragon, and the steel worked in many layers, can be dated in the era of Genroku, around 300 years Old.

The Edo period or Tokugawa period (1603 to 1868), is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family.

The Tokugawa period brought 250 years of stability to Japan, ended in 1868.

During the Edo period, master of swordsmiths created masterpieces on Samurai swords, and can be divided into 5 periods of development;

Keigen-shinto period (1596-1623)

Kanbun-shinto period (1658-1683)

Genroku-shinto period (1684-1763)
First half of shinshinto (1764-1829)
Second half of shinshinto (1830-1868)

Issaku Menuki

Tsuba detail

Fuchi detail

Kashira detail

Genroku-shinto period, was as a golden period for manufacturing and art, swordsmiths began to add designs to the Tauka, Fuhi, Kashira and Tsuba, one of this design is the Dragon, usually you can find Dragons winding through sand and clouds, and in some special swords, a dragon winding in the Sea, associated to water deities, rainfall and bodies of water.

Kashira detail

Issaku Menuki

Tsuba

Japanese sword is made from a specialized Japanese steel called Tamahagane, which consist of combinations of hard, high carbon steel and tough, low carbon steel.

Swordsmiths put this combination of raw material, in a furnace at 800 degrees.

A normal katana is folded no more than sixteen times, a basic sword shape.

Some special swords, has more than 1.000 folded, in a very slow process where the Swordsmiths and his assistants hit the steel and fueled the fire of the forge.

Another chapter is the edge of the blade of the samurai sword. How they could get it?

To get an idea, the best kitchen knife, carbon alloys, nickel and steel, have perhaps between 9,000 and 12,000 Grit sharpening, however, Japanese natural sharpening stones, especially from the District of Narutaki, just north of Kyoto, can reach up to 30,000 Grit, when combined with a special stone sedimentary of Iyo, which is used to create a paste or slurry on the sharpening stone, and get an extremely fine finish.
This is also possible for the layers in that folded steel, the primary layer is hidden under thousands of other layers of steel.
To prepare the Katana to give the final edge, they used a medium grit stone, it discovered the primary layers, then the fine-grained stone, combined with the slurry stone gave the finishing sharp.

The secret of the strength of steel was the right combination of steel and carbon, and the cooled of the steel, if  they cooled slowly, the material will break back down into iron and carbon and the molecular structure will return to its previous state. However, if cooled quickly, the steel's molecular structure is permanently altered.

Years of trial and expertise forged the legendary Katanas, representing the soul of the Samurai.

A  mystical creation in an Era where time does not matter.

Tauka

Tsuba detail