Martial Arts Of The World - Webs

568 Sword, Japanese
of the combined plates folded five times yielding a sword with 4,194,304
laminates. Such a sword could be made wider and with a longer point than
before, and with all this mixing of soft iron and hard steel, the sword did
not require the strengthening “meat” of niku and could be made very sharp.
Lessons learned during these invasions completely changed the structured
battle formations of the Japanese, along with their weapons. Henceforth,
massed foot soldiers wielding sharp swords took the field, supplanting
the mounted bushi with his yumi (bow) and nagamaki (a type of
halberd used primarily by mounted troops, consisting of a tachi mounted
on a pole slightly longer than the tachi itself).
The invasions also sapped the life from the shogunate, paving the way
for the return of imperial rule, and so the Kamakura period was brought
to a close. But before its closure the emperor was betrayed, and again the
imperial family was set up as puppets to the regency of the Ashikaga clan.
Emperor Godaigo escaped to Nara and set up a northern court that opposed
the southern puppet court. The new methods of combat learned
from the invasions were put to the test and further developed during the
next fifty-five years of contention.
In the new Muromachi period feuding provincial daimyo (warlords)
led tens of thousands of foot soldiers (ashigaru) into altercations. The situation
became so terrible that a name was placed upon this era, confirming
it as the Age of the Country at War (Sengoku jidai). Combat techniques developed
of one man on foot against another, both armed with swords that
by now had about a 33- to 44-inch cutting edge.
This period witnessed the introduction of the katana (long sword)
and wakazashi (short or “companion” sword). These new blades tended
to have the general Kamakura shape, but without the elegance of the former
period—the only difference was the introduction of sakizori (curvature
greatest in the upper third of a blade) into the shape. This sori was to
facilitate a draw by a man on foot. Naturally, sword production all over
Japan increased, and at the forefront was a new school of sword construction
created by the fusion of Bizen and Soshû styles known as the
Mino tradition.
Another important development concerning, and deeply affecting, the
samurai was the introduction of Zen Buddhism. Zen differed from the Pure
Land and Pure Mind sects in that it emphasized self-reliance. The ultimate
goal of Zen was the attainment of enlightenment—Zen Buddhists desired
to enter reality, not simply to come into contact with it. According to the
teachings of Zen, a really good warrior must free his mind of all thoughts
of death while in combat. Although Zen is Buddhism and therefore ostensibly
opposed to the shedding of blood, Zen masters quickly became the
leading elaborators of Japan’s cult of the sword.