You are in luck as our swordsmithing school, Tomboyama Nihontō Tanren Dōjō, Dragonfly Mountain Japanese Sword Forging School, is located on the southern Oregon coast near Coos Bay.

We offer a variety of classes for those interested in hands-on learning of all the Japanese sword arts. Our most popular class by far is our Basic Forging Course, a hands-on course designed to give the student a working familiarity with the tools and metals utilized in the forging of a Japanese sword blade.

We would love to have you attend our school and hope you can do so in the future.

Thank you for the compliments.

There are many good reasons the Japanese sword survived in more-or-less the same form for about 1,000 years. Fully traditional Japanese swords certainly were technical marvels during their time in history, and remain so to this day. The controlled heat-treatment process (known as yaki-ire in Japanese) produces a differentially-hardened blade with a hard cutting edge and ductile back to resist breaking (a technology which was never developed or used in the European swordsmithing traditions). Also, the purity of traditional Japanese swordsteel was, and still is exceptionally high, even by modern standards. However, today Japanese swords are not so much appreciated for their power as weapons, but for the artistic beauty of the sword: the sugata (the shape), jigane (the composition and quality of the swordsteel), and the hamon, (the hardening along the edge).

Although our emphasis always remains in producing a sword with proper sugata, jigane, and hamon, it has long been our belief that a sword should function first as sword. Over the years, my father, Michael Bell, has experimented with both traditional and modern steels and methods. With some extreme testing to support it, he began specializing in swords made of forge-welded cable (sometimes known as wire-rope), a material used for quite a while with American knifemakers. The cable steel allows us to produce a blade which, we strongly believe, will outperform all others made from traditional and other modern steels. These cable blades are still heat-treated using the traditional clay-resist method of yaki-ire, slightly adapted to our propane-fired forge.

Our cable blades owe their strength and cutting ability to a combination of the steel, a modern high-carbon alloy, and the natural spiraling structure of the cable wires. Often, our cable swords are sought by martial artists interested in practicing live cutting.

Some other American bladesmiths have been experimenting for sometime with some truly modern high alloy steels and modern heat-treatment techniques (stuff like quenching in molten salt baths), also with successful results.

We do indeed make a limited amount of blades from traditional steel, which we make ourselves, known as oroshigane, as the classic art aesthetic can only be achieved with such methods. However, due to the huge amount of labor required to make and refine traditional swordsteel such blades are several times more expensive than our swords forged from forge-welded cable steel. We are also in the process of experimenting with smelting our own fully traditional tamahagane smelted from iron sand, known as satetsu in Japanese.

Not wanting to be a swordsmith or even a forger, but I am interested in weapons history. Cool site and school!

Question: Are any swords at all made with modern methods able to stand up against the same stresses as the traditional blades? I’d be curious as to if someone actually spent the time and money to develop one.

Although the art of the Japanese sword is certainly still firmly rooted in Japan, I would say that the Japanese sword arts have flourished here in the United States in the past decade or so, with a select few artists rivaling the quality of that in Japan.

I am not aware of any swordsmiths either here in the United States or in Japan who are actively seeking apprentices. While I am open to apprenticeships given the right circumstances, I already have several apprentices and a demanding workload.

Those seeking to become swordsmith must take a great deal of initiative and begin the lifelong journey that is the art of the Japanese sword themselves. Look for any opportunity for exposure to Japanese swords, bladesmiths in general, or anything you think may be of relevance. The master and apprentice relationship is by its nature a close one, and cannot be compared to being as simple as responding to a job ad. The opportunity of an apprenticeship may present itself if you are truly determined to seek the knowledge and experience.

When I first began my journey, I too was told by many many that it was stupid, crazy, couldn’t be done, on-and-on and etc. I must say that it motivated me and it was very satisfying proving them all wrong.

Best wishes in your endeavor,

If you are seriously seeking to undertake a traditional apprenticeship to a Japanese smith in Japan learning the Japanese language if not fluently, at least near-fluently is almost a must in order to communicate and function in day-to-day life, although I must admit I was nowhere near fluent during my apprenticeship to Mr. Nakajima and his English was limited. We managed just fine.

To complete the four year (generally five year) minimum to become a licensed smith in Japan you will certainly have to face the bureaucratic issue of a visa or other similar alien immigration documentation to remain in the country for more than 90 days. You may also need to account for living expenses, as the tradition of live-in apprenticeships is becoming more uncommon in Japan.

If you have not done so already, certainly read this excellent article by Pierre Nadeau specifically regarding apprenticeships in Japan.

For a chance to learn swordsmithing firsthand, I would highly suggest looking into one of my Basic Forging Courses at our swordsmithing school, Tomboyama Nihonto Tanren Dojo. Although a few other bladesmiths do offer forging classes, as far as we know, our swordsmithing school is the only one of its kind anywhere, offering a full curriculum in the Japanese sword. Without the cost or commitment of an apprenticeship (not to mention travel to Japan), our Basic Forging Course gives students a chance the learn firsthand with an experienced teacher. The knowledge learned during class should allow students to build their own inexpensive, yet efficient and effective propane forge fire, and to begin forging and learning on one’s own after the class.

Best wishes in your endeavor

Apprenticeship requires total commitment. Bladesmith Don Fogg has good saying that applies perfectly: “Get obsessed, Stay obsessed”.

One should consider an apprenticeship is a no paying full-time job, a last a minimum of 5 years. Generally apprenticeships are paid for in skill and labor. Every apprentice is expected to begin contributing as soon as he formally begins, if not beforehand.