A Living National Treasure Documentary Ota,Tokyo HON'AMI Koshu(Polishing japanese swords) 

Obviously. However one can only enjoy the beauty in the forging pattern in the steel once it is properly polished by a skilled polisher. Remembering that the sword was the soul of the samurai and to leave it dull and unpolished only speaks badly of the owner. The reason why polishing is done by hand with gradually smaller and finer grain stones is to allow control of removing as minimal metal as possible to achieve a perfect shine. Polishing by machine will not allow fine work and damage the blade. Also a polisher needs to be skilled enough to identify the style in which the blade was forged so they can restore it by bringing out the characteristics of what the swordsmith intended. In lamens terms, imagine if someone gave you a completely rusted Ferrari and you couldn't identify which model it was so you restore it to look like a completely different model or worse, you mistaken it for a Porsche! Often old swords are in such poor condition that it's initially difficult to identify the pattern in the steel. Particularly difficult if the sword is unsigned by the Smith. A good polisher has the ability to make an old blade look new and how the original swordsmith forged it.

Interesting, I have watched a few documentaries that suggested to me that the apprenticeship is extremely unforgiving in today's standards. I agree it should be updated, just enough to attract new blood, but I wonder if demand remains high?

I've trained quite a few apprentices in my trade (toolmaker) and it really depends on how quickly your apprentice can demonstrate mastery of a particular method. Some are quicker than others, and to be a good teacher you have to be able to spot this. Considering these guys are going to be cut loose with a priceless artifact and a water stone, they probably need a lot more training than mine did.

Sword making is 5 years and polishing is 10 years. You can master these in about half the time. There are lots of people still doing this. Enough to keep up with demand and Japan's strict rules to keep prices high.

Yes. It's been theorized that the techniques of forging and steel lamination originated from the asian mainland and it is apparent that the Chinese had perfected steel forging when the Europeans were still in the iron age. There are early examples of straight blades found in Japanese tombs of Emperors which are similar to those used in China.They are called Chokuto. Buddhism, written calligraphy, art, clothing and food culture was originated from China and Korea also because Japanese Emperors use to visit China and trade with them during the Tang and Song dynasties. However they stopped visiting China after they changed leadership due to wars. Like many things the Japanese copied from other cultures, they improved on them and made it their own style.The swords are just one thing they improved. Sushi and ramen also came from China but is now more associated with Japan. Still until these modern times the Japanese continue to copy ideas and improve on them. Jeans, handmade shoes, clothing, watches and even whisky have won awards in international competitions

@@terryl7749 Actually, there are actual Ancient Chinese Swords in Japan Museums that date to the Yamato Period of Japan. The successive waves of trade between the two Sino Cultures are more than evident given their extreme close poximity. It would be compairing the Irish to the Welsh? I am in fact Japanese and Chinese. The Emperors of Japan are 2683 years and the Ancient Chinese date back over 5000 years and GROWING. The Nippon Tokogawa Swords are kind of like a Sham in that the Japanese spoke fluent Mandarin up until the end of WWII and the Japanese Language is a mish mash of Mandarin, Cantonese, and Fukienese mixed with a Yayoi phonetics. Over 60% of the Japanese Text in Kanji aka Hanja (in Korean) or HAN CHARACTERS. It would be appropriate to say that EVERYTHING Japanese IS ANCIENT CHINESE. Even the Toshodaiji (People of Tang Thank you- translation) Temple that has Largest Wooden Buddha in the World was built by the Tang Dynasty for the Japanese and that Kyoto from the Heian Kyo Period is a exact copy of Chang An the Capital City of the Tang and several other Ancient Chinese Dynasties before being moved by Meiji to Tokyo. Japan is the Tang Dynasty that never ended. If we are going to understand the TRUTH then one must remember that to speak false is not the way of the Japanese. If a persons mind is on a very high plane they do not easily find anyone to share their pleasure; they offers entertainment, but nobody accepts it. That gives them, in certain circumstances, a comically touching pathos; for he has no right to force pleasure on men. He pipes, but none will dance: can that be tragic? The complete irresponsibility of man for his actions and his nature is the bitterest drop which he who understands must swallow. Truthfulness. He will never willingly tolerate an untruth, but will hate it as much as he loves truth ... And is there anything more closely connected with wisdom than truth? There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true. The truth is rarely pure and never simple. The purpose of today's training is to defeat yesterday's understanding. The path that leads to truth is nearly always littered with the bodies of the ignorant. Peace Favor YOUR SWORD.

@@user-ti5nq4lc1m I wasn't aware Japanese spoke Mandarin? Certainly the written language has shared meaning, but spoken as well? Interesting! Don't forget the Japanese also have some breeding with the Ainu as well. I recently learned that the Kings of medieval England were derived from France and spoke French. The current British royal family is of Greek and German descent.

these are LNTs and you’re saying they aren’t doing the work correctly !

@@sjain8111 No, i am saying they are putting a modern polish on swords that did not originally have a hadori polish. They are doing what people are asking and not what was historically accurate for these swords.

Depends on the quality of the finish. Sometimes it can take 1 week, some take 3, sometimes it can be months or even a years depending on how important.

@@cubeboy3130 Even if the blade it super rusted out, about 80 man hours is all it takes. They like to add time to add to the mystical idea of making Japanese swords.

@@ellipsis9573 ideally yes for an average blade that is, but sometimes with very rare swords there needs to be a very high level of precision to polish the blade.

@@ellipsis9573 it’s not even about the rust, getting through the rust is the easy part. The hard part is in its glow, making the beauty of the steel pop out, and even making sure the sword is polished evenly on both sides, and that there is no unevenness in the steel. Making the hamon is typically the hardest part

@cubeboy3130 I make and polish katana. Yes, you can spend an obsessive amount of time trying to get everything absolutely perfect. A competent togishi is skilled enough where this is unnecessary. A new or severely rusted blade takes the most amount of time as the shape and lines need to be set. A well shaped and established blade takes far less time. The glow you are talking about comes from jizuya. Making the ji iridescent. It doesn't become more so the more you do it. Then, nagui is applied, usually 2-3 times depending on the color and sheen sheen you are going for. Lastly, the hadori is used to lighten the hamon in contrast with the ji. Again, the more you do it gives you nothing more after a certain point. Hazuya, jizuya, nagui, and hadori does not take that long. Sashikomi is even quicker. You could spend quite a while on the kissaki trying to get it perfect but again, a good tohishi is fairly quick if the foundation polish is good. By far, the longest part of polishing is shaping a new or badly rusted sword. A complete polish takes about 2 weeks. A touch up going from uchigumori to hadori, with polishing the tip and burnishing the shinogi-ji and mune, takes about a week