Chopping up Criminals with my Katana Sword!!

Early Japanese swordmakers were a breed apart. The very best of these blacksmiths became famous and their blades were much sought after. The process of handmaking a sword was meticulous and difficult to follow consistently. Think about the movie "Kill Bill". Each of the top characters carried a "Hattory Henzo" blade. Other blades pit against the Henzo blades invariably broke. Defending yourself against such a blade with a lesser sword was futile. The Henzo blade could slice through weapons, obstacles, and the human body with no effort whatsoever. In a quote from the movie Henzo himself tells Uma Thurman's character when speaking of the newly-forged blade he was bestowing upon her, "If, on your journey, you should encounter God, God will be cut."

There was only one major issue with the legendary Japanese swordmakers. While it was clear that a blade made by a legendary craftsman would be of superior quality to one made by an unknown apprentice, since each sword was made by hand, natural variety in both the materials and the actual forging process would lead to a variety in the quality of swords made even by the greatest of blacksmiths. Going back to our Hollywood example, the question would be: How do you know if one Henzo sword is better than another Henzo sword?

This quality variety led to the rise of an interesting cottage industry. This industry was one that would use criminals (both alive and dead) who had been sentenced to execution to test the blades turned out by the greatest swordsmiths. Keep in mind, hundreds of years ago, it wasn't uncommon for the governments of the world to treat convicted criminals in ways that would cause our litigious modern world to melt down.

The actual testing process consisted of twenty different cuts. The first cut would be removing the hand, followed by cutting through progressively heavier portions of the anatomy. The ultimate cut in this process was referred to as the ryo-kuruma (meaning "pair of wheels" cut). This cut was a single slice through the thickest part of the human spine. The results of the testing would then be inscribed on the tang of the sword.

On old examples of Japanese swords, you can often see inscriptions such as: eight hands severed, two men cut, or five legs severed. Some rare seventeenth century examples have the inscription "mitsudo setsudan" which means "three bodies with one cut".

This testing of blades was what determined the prices that could be asked for such swords. Now, not just anyone off the street could be handed such a sword and duplicate these cuts. Rigorous years of training and practice were required to master the techniques that allow one to inflict such terrible injuries. The point of the testing was that such incredible hand-to-hand power was a function of 50% blade, and 50% wielder. A very skilled wielder wanted tangible evidence that the blade he carried was one worthy of the dedication he had put into learning warcraft.

BladeMaster Steve is a staff writer at HeavenlySwords.com, your online retailer and importer of high quality fantasy swords. For great deals on anime swords visit them today!