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fukura |
脹
The cutting edge of the kissaki. Also, the curvature of the kissaki. It can be described as rounded or not rounded.
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gaku-mei |
額銘
A way to preserve mei (signature) on the tang when shortening it (see o-suriage) by cutting it off the original position and reattaching it to the altered nakago.
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ha |
刃
A tempered cutting edge of a blade.
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ha-watari |
刃渡り
See nagasa.
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hamachi |
刃区
A notch on the blade side. See machi.
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hamon |
刃文
A distinct temper line between areas of softer (ji) and harder (ha) steel along the edge of the blade.
See Hamon Types for more details about types of hamon.
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hataraki |
働き
Various activities, distinctive features of the steel seen inside the hamon and ji, created during the hardening process.
See hataraki in hamon and hataraki in jihada for an overview of different types of activity.
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ji |
地
A surface between the shinogi and the hamon. See also: jihada, jigane, hira.
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jōsun |
定寸
The Tokugawa Shogunate standardized the size of swords in Japan during the Edo period to what is commonly called jōsun length. For katana jōsun is 2 shaku 3 sun 5 bu (71.21cm), for tantō - 8 sun 5 bu (25.76cm).
Tantō longer than jōsun are called sunnobi-tantō 寸延び短刀, and less than jōsun sunzumari-tantō 寸詰まり短刀. There was no standard length for wakizashi, but those over 1 shaku 8 Sun (54.5 cm) are called ō-wakizashi 大脇指. Tachi 太刀 of more than 3 Shaku (90.9 cm) are referred to as ōdachi 大太刀, whereas tachi under 2 shaku (60.6 cm) are called Kodachi 小太刀.
Source
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kasane |
重ね
Thickness of the blade. See also: moto-kasane, saki-kasane.
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ken |
剣
Double-edged straight sword. Ken form is most commonly seen in tanto, but longer kens also exist.
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kengyo |
剣形
'Sword-shaped'. Shape of the nakagojiri with two straight lines coming to a point in the center at around 90 degree angle.
It is often seen among works of Masamune and his school, and Shinto swords made in Soshu tradition.
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kissaki |
切先
The fan-shaped part of the blade above the yokote and the ko-shinogi. It may be whitened by polish. It's size is described as 'large' or 'small'.
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ko-shinogi |
小鎬
The part of the shinogi that runs from the yokote to the tip in the kissaki.
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kurijiri |
栗尻
'Chestnut-shaped'. The rounded shape of nakagojiri.
It's the one of the most commonly seen shapes.
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machi |
区, 匸
The notches dividing the blade proper from the tang. The notch on the blade side is called hamachi; that on the mune side is known as the munemachi.
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midare |
乱
Irregular. See midareba, choji midare.
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mihaba |
身幅
The width of a blade measured from the mune to the cutting edge. See also: moto-haba, saki-haba.
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munemachi |
棟区
The notch dividing the blade from the tang on the mune side. See machi.
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nagasa |
長さ
Blade length, measured from the tip to the munemachi.
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nakago |
中心
The tang of the sword; that part of the blade, below the machi, which is inserted into the hilt (tsuka). It is finished by hammering or filing, and often bears a carved signature. The hilt is attached by means of a peg (mekugi) inserted through a special hole (mekugi ana) in the nakago.
Depending on the condition of nakago the following terms can be applied:
ubu (生) - for original, unshortened nakago
suriage (磨上) - for mildly shortened nakago
o-suriage (大磨上) - for greatly shortened nakago
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nakagojiri |
茎尻
The end of the nakago.
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niku |
肉
Lit. 'meat'. Ji having niku means that ji area is not flat, but rounded, curved in the cross-section.
Hira-niku - measure to describe the niku of hira area (also: ji-niku)
Ha-niku - niku of the area between the hamon and the cutting edge.
Niku can be described as full (平肉多い - hiraniku oi) or flat (平肉少ない - hiraniku sukunai).
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o-suriage |
大磨上
A "greatly shortened" nakago. The o-suriage nakago is formed from the part of the blade (originally), while suriage nakago is more just reshaped. In this case the signature is usually lost, unless orikaeshi-mei or gaku-mei have been performed.
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orikaeshi-mei |
折返し 銘
A way to preserve mei (signature) on the tang when shortening it (see o-suriage) by bending it around to the opposite side, therefore leaving it upside-down.
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shaku |
尺
The shaku is an archaic Japanese unit of length which is commonly approximated to be 12 inches (1 foot). As with other measurements, it was originally derived from nature: the average length between nodes on bamboo. Since 1891, the shaku has been defined to equal 10/33 meter (approximately 30.3 cm, or 11.93 inches), or 3.3 shaku to the meter. A single shaku is divided into 10 sun (寸).
1 shaku = 11.93 inches (30.30 cm)
1 shaku = 10 sun
1 sun = 1.193 inches (3.03 cm)
1 sun = 10 bu
1 bu = 0.119 inches (0.303 cm)
1 bu = 10 rin
1 rin = 0.01193 inches (0.0303 cm)
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sunnobi |
寸延び
Longer than average wakizashi or tanto.
See jōsun for more details.
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sunzumari |
寸詰まり
Shorter than average (see jōsun) wakizashi or tanto.
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tsukuri-komi |
造込み
Overall construction of the blade.
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yakiba |
燒刃
The hardened area of the blade.
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