Japanese swords in fiction

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The katana sword appears in many folk tales as well as legends. This piece of Japanese history not only appears in old folklore, it is also very popular in modern fiction as well as contemporary art pieces such as film and theater. The katana has reached far and wide in the world of fictional stories and can be used to tell tales of wisdom and bravery or evil and treachery. The sword can be seen not only as a tool for the hero but also a tool for the villain.

Traditional lore

Many

magical properties in the meantime. While blades folded hundreds, thousands, or even millions of times are encountered in fiction, there is no record of real blades being folded more than around 20 times. With each fold made by the maker, every internal layer is also folded, and so the total number of layers in a sword blade is doubled at each fold; since the thickness of a katana blade is less than 230 iron atoms
, going beyond 20 folds no longer adds meaningfully to the number of layers in the blade. Folding a blade only ten times will therefore create 1024 layers; 20 times will create 1,048,576 layers.

Furthermore, while heating and folding serves to even out the distribution of carbon throughout the blade, a small amount of carbon is also 'burnt out' of the steel in this process; repeated folding will eventually remove most of the carbon, turning the material into softer iron and reducing its ability to hold a sharp edge. This can be combated with

carburization
, though it does not produce even carbon distribution, partially defeating the purpose of folding.

Some swords were reputed to reflect their creators' personalities. Those made by Muramasa had a reputation for violence and bloodshed,[1] while those made by Masamune were considered weapons of peace. A popular legend tells of what happens when two swords made by Muramasa and Masamune were held in a stream carrying fallen lotus petals: while those leaves touching the Muramasa blade were cut in two, those coming towards the Masamune suddenly changed course and went around the blade without touching it.[citation needed]

Kusanagi (probably a tsurugi, a type of Bronze Age sword which precedes the katana by centuries) is the most famous legendary sword in Japanese mythology,[citation needed] involved in several folk stories. Along with the Jewel and the Mirror, it was one of the three godly treasures of Japan. A common misconception is that Katana magically sprung into existence in Japan, utterly isolated from the mainland. The technique of folding steel came from the manufacture of the Dao
in China, and contact with the mainland would affect how the katana evolved through the centuries. The katana design itself was developed over hundreds of years and the katana design was a development of the Tachi.

Modern fiction

The most common depiction, especially in the Western world, of the Katana is a weapon of unparalleled power, often bordering on the physically impossible. Katana are often depicted as being inherently "superior" to all other weapons possessing such qualities as being impossibly light, nigh-unbreakable and able to cut through nearly anything. By contrast, traditional European weapons are often depicted as clumsy, crude and unwieldy by comparison.

It is the prime weapon of choice for Japanese heroes in historical fiction set before the

Meiji period. Carrying a non-sealed katana is illegal in present-day Japan, but in fiction this law is often ignored or circumvented to allow characters to carry katana as a matter of artistic license. For instance, some stories state that carrying weapons has been permitted due to a serious increase in crimes or an invasion of monsters from other dimensions. With this law in mind, katana are sometimes used for comic relief in anime and manga set in the present, although this is sometimes replaced by the use of a bokken having surprisingly comparable capabilities. In the film Kill Bill: Volume 1
, the main protagonist is permitted to bring her katana on board an airliner; presumably, this is a policy of the fictitious Japanese airline, as other passengers can also be seen carrying swords.

Due to the renowned quality of the sword and the mysticism surrounding the relationship between the blade and its wielder, the katana appears in various works of fiction, including

Ninjato carried by the character Leonardo in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. Ulrich Stern wields one in the first, second and third seasons of Code Lyoko, but gains an additional katana in the fourth season and in Code Lyoko: Evolution. Michonne wields a katana as her main weapon in The Walking Dead franchise. The ronin lightsaber[3]
is used by Ochi of Bestoon in the Star Wars universe, featured prominently in the film "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" (2019). The lightsaber's design embodies this concept, featuring a hilt that resembles a traditional katana sword handle, complete with a crossguard.

Manga and anime

Gin Tama and various other examples.[4]

  • In Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest, the main protagonist Hajime Nagumo improvised his gunsmithing skills to create Tsumehirameki, a unique Kissaki Moroha Zukuri style double edged Katana which he gifted to one of his future lovers Shizuku. Coincidentally, Hajime's gunsmith creation of Tsumehirameki parallels the real-life Tsuneyoshi Murata, a Meiji era military general and firearms designer who created the first Gunto known as Murata-Tou which is of the same double edged Katana design as Tsumehirameki.
  • In Bleach, all Soul Reapers wields Zanpakuto which take on the form of Japanese swords in their base form. The main protagonist, Ichigo Kurosaki, Zanpakuto, the first Zangetsu's final evolved form is a black blade Katana with immense spiritual powers, able to clash with the strongest opponents such as Soul Reapers Captains and Arrancars.
  • In Highschool of the Dead, one of the main characters, Saeko Busujima who is a famous Kendo prodigy believed to be on par with Chiba Sanako, a female swordmaster of Hokushin Ittō-ryū. Saeko received a historical Meiji era Gunto which is a Kissaki Moroha Zukuri style Katana personally created by General Murata as her new weapon for fighting zombies.
  • In One Piece, a large majority of legendary swords are Japanese Katana, with one of the main characters, Roronoa Zoro having collected a total of five legendary Katana during his journey with the Straw Hat Pirates, Wado Ichimonji, Sandai Kitetsu, Yubashiri, Shusui and Enma, losing Yubashiri to irreparable damage in combat, later replacing Shusui with Enma one of the two Kozuki Family heirloom swords.
  • In Shaman King, the main character Yoh Asakura wields Harusame, a Katana originally belonged to his Guardian Ghost, the legendary Samurai Amidamaru, The masterpiece of his best friend Mosuke who created it from his father's knife during their childhood.

There are also several manga series that were inspired by the Japanese swords. Kamata Kimiko's Katana is one such series; it is heavily imbued with the theme of katana with the story plot following an extraordinary teenage boy with the ability to see the 'spirit forms' of swords.

Sakabatō

The sakabatō (逆刃刀) is a type of katana from

English-language
dub as a "reverse blade sword". Some companies have created true replicas of the sakabatō.

The sharpened edge is the inward curved, longer side of the blade – the opposite of a standard katana – making it extremely difficult to kill an opponent; it generally knocks the wielder's enemies "senseless" rather than killing them.[5] The only way for the sakabatō to cut is to rotate the hilt by 180 degrees within the hand, thus holding the sword backwards. The sakabatō symbolizes Kenshin's oath not to kill again.[6]

Video games

Video games also provide frequent appearances of the katana, most with unique characteristics. Kaede, the protagonist of the arcade series The Last Blade,

Ryu Hayabusa wields two legendary Japanese swords, the Dragon Sword, a katana which was carved from a Dragon's fang, and the Blade of the Archfiend, a Tachi which was forged from a cursed meteorite. In the Devil May Cry series, Sparda, the father of protagonist Dante, who is a legendary demon weaponsmith, designed one of his masterpieces Yamato after a traditional Japanese katana, which is then wielded by Dante's twin brother Vergil
, who is a master of Iaijutsu.

In the three video games based on the 2D animated French television show Code Lyoko (Get Ready to Virtualize!, Quest for Infinity, and Fall of X.A.N.A.) Ulrich Stern utilizes his saber to slice and dice monsters.[7]

Television

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) deals with it twice. In "Ninja Sword of Nowhere", an alien spacecraft left a fragment of an alien metal, used to travel between dimensions in a mere microsecond, on Earth thousands of years ago, before a craftsman found the alien metal, forging a Japanese sword. This creates a legend of a sword which allows its owner to show up and disappear whenever he or she wishes.[8] Even "Sword of Yurikawa" has a plot with an old Japanese sword.[8]

The French shows

fourth season
, he is presented with an additional katana, which is easier for him to get a "close slave."

References

  1. ISBN 0-486-40726-8
    .
  2. ^ Strongblade Sword Lore: History / Origin of Japanese Swords
  3. ^ "Star Wars Ronin Lightsaber". Superneox. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
  4. ^ Bakuman chapter 3, P.14
  5. ^ Solomon, Charles (April 10, 2005). "Japanese feudal epic bursts from page". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved November 12, 2009. "a sakabato [is] a reverse-blade sword: the inner edge is sharpened, rather than the outer one. It can knock his enemies senseless, but doesn't inflict fatal wounds."
  6. ^ Olivier, Marco (2007). "Nihilism in Japanese Anime" (PDF). South African Journal of Art History. 22 (3): 66. Retrieved November 12, 2009.
  7. ^ "Xenopixel Lightsaber".
  8. ^ a b Episode Guide Archived 2011-06-05 at the Wayback Machine
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