Because of the time we’re recently waking up (jet lag from Europe is still serious) and the generally bad weather over the Oshogatsu period, we didn’t go out and attend events as we have been planning. 
On January 4th, the last day of the festivities, we woke up too late and merely ended up visiting the Yasukuni jinja again.
There was an exhibition on Japanese swords that attracted our attention. I have always been fascinated by these Katanas and other Japanese blades. Here was a chance to see a few nice ones as well as the man who were making them.
I thought that sharp edged swords had become illegal in Japan since the American occupation. I certainly should review my history book to refresh my memory and update my knowledge on the subject.
Patrick holding a “Katana”
Akiko holding a “Tachi”
We discussed a bit with a couple of young swordsmiths and found out a few things about this old traditional Japanese art form. I learned that while they require actual registration (like guns do in Europe) and cannot be freely exported, real swords can be owned by people. There are currently about 300 people involved in this trade, but only 100 of them are full time professionals, A few among them have been designated as Intangible Cultural Assets, or more commonly known as Living National Treasures, because they embody knowledge that is considered to be fundamentally important to the Japanese identity.
These swords are truly beautiful, and can be quite expensive. A regular one costs about yen 300,000 and takes several months to finish. A real nice one costs about yen 1,500,000 and takes even longer to finish. We were invited to visit the place of Ishida san in Gunma to see the whole process.
# posted by Famille Hochner @ 9:22 AM
