Keith's comments: I have mixed feelings about this book but I decided to put it here anyway. On the one hand I think it gives a bit too much information. Just enough to allow someone to really screw up a good sword. However I also believe that information is a neutral thing. And for many this book provides a very nice window into the craft (sorry, couldn't resist a small pun). Suffice to say it is *not* a book that will teach someone to polish. It does demystify a lot of things. But at the same time it could leave the impression that it is something that is easily done (which it is not). And I've seen way too many screwed up blades over the years. So... My recommendation is that it is an interesting book if you are interested in learning more *in general* about what goes on with polishing. It does not teach one how to polish it literally barely scratches the surface. So please don't use it as a polishing guide... Just read it and learn a little...

This is absolutely *NOT* a DYI guide.

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Product Description

To understand Japanese sword polishing is to understand the Japanese sword. Down through the years, the great sword connoisseurs in Japan have been sword polishers. A swordsmith can spend a large amount of time forging a classic sword, but refining and bringing out its final shape, color, and texture so that all the details of the steel and hamon (the temper line) are clearly visible is the responsibility of another craftsman—the sword polisher.

The Art of Japanese Sword Polishing is the first book in English to examine in great detail the polisher's techniques, for which they may apprentice for as long as ten years. It illustrates the methods, materials, and tools used for this process. But the book's true aim is to bring to readers an appreciation of the beauty of a well-crafted Japanese sword. As readers learn both how the sword polisher enhances the beauty of a blade and how he handles the problems of coaxing out its finest qualities through his polishing techniques, they will come to a higher understanding of the fine art of making a Japanese sword, and be able to view, purchase, or collect swords with greater pleasure.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #168979 in Books
• Published on: 2006-04-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

About the Author
SETSUO TAKAIWA started his career as a sword polisher at the age of sixteen by apprenticing to Matsuo Fujishiro, who later became a Living National Treasure. He has won the Special Prize from the Society for the Preservation of Japanese Art Swords, one of the highest honors in the field, more than ten times. In 1980, Takaiwa received the title of Superior Craftsman and was designated a Living Treasure of Katsushika Ward in 2000. He has polished swords in the collections of major museums around the world, including the British Museum, the Boston Museum, and the Tokyo National Museum. Ise Shrine, one of the oldest shrines in Japan, calls on him regularly to help maintain their huge collections of historic swords.

LEON KAPP is a biologist working in the San Francisco Bay area. He has spent a considerable amount of time studying Japanese swords and is the coauthor, with his wife Hiroko and swordsmith Yoshindo Yoshihara, of The Craft of the Japanese Sword and Modern Japanese Swords and Swordsmiths: From 1868 to the Present. HIROKO KAPP is a correspondent for the Tokyo-based Senken Shinbun news organization. The Kapps live in San Rafael, California.

YOSHINDO YOSHIHARA is ranked among the top swordmakers in Japan. His family has been making tools and swords for three generations, and his son, the fourth generation, now works with him in Tokyo. In addition to his studio in a suburb of Tokyo, Yoshindo has two workshops in Seattle and one in San Rafael, California.

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Customer Reviews

A very good introduction to sword polishing
I wish I had this book 20 years ago when I first started to investigate the art of polishing. This book provides a wealth of information on the technigues, the material and the different ways that can be used to get a sword polisihed. In fact, the diversity of the art is highlighted by the book and certainly dispells the notion that there is only one way to restore a blade. The section on foundation polish discusses how to achieve the proper shape without removing too much material. The different stones are described and how each is used to establish and refine the shape. The finishing section covers the range of materials and tools used to bring out the grain and tempered edge unique to the Japanese sword. It also shows the burnishing and how to highlight the boshi.
There are sections that talk about the history of polishing, the schools of polishing and interviews with several modern polishers. As always there is a note warning about the perils to the blade that can be inflicted by an inexperienced person. The book doesn't reveal all the secrets to the art, such as the various forms of nugui (other than the basic hadori and sashikomi formulas),what types of stones work best with each school or era, etc. But it certainly does provide a well documented, well photographed look at this art form. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in Japanese swords.

Review of "The Art of Japanese Sword Polishing"...
After reading the book entitled "The Art of Japanese Sword Polishing" I now have a much clearer and detailed understanding of the process used by traditional Japanese sword polishers. The book takes the reader though all of steps from the foundation polish, used to shape and sharpen the blade, to the finish polish, which is used bring out the details of the steel and shape of the temper line, using good text and a fair number of detailed photographs. It includes some Japanese sword polish theory and how Japanese swords have changed over the historical periods. It also explains how the age of the sword can affect how the sword should be polished and what damage can and cannot be repaired by a polisher. In the last section of the book it contains a few profiles of professional Japanese sword polishers the authors of the book had interviewed which I enjoyed reading.
As someone who studies and appreciates the Japanese sword I found the book very helpful in educating me more about the process of how a Japanese sword is polished. I would recommended this book to anyone interested in learning in detail how Japanese swords are polished.

Traditional techniques very different from ours
Men have always decorated their weapons. The main items being decorated in the United States have been guns. But in Japan it is the traditional Japanese sword. Being more of a land of tradition, the Japanese sword became more or less standardized in shape as long ago as the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and polishing the sword had to have followed shortly after that.

There are many books that describe the techniques of polishing and blueing guns. But this appears to be the first book available in English that discusses the polishing techniques used by Japanese craftsmen.

The Japanese practice is a strikingly different process than that used here. Polishing stones, not unlike whetstones but in far more diversity are used. A shop selling such stones is pictured with what appear to at least a couple of hundred different types of stones. And unlike here where stones are simply given numbers to indicate coarseness, in Japan they are given names.

The polishing area used with Japanese swords is a traditional form as well. It sits on the floor, and the polisher typically sits in a traditional position that most of us would find difficult to get into, and impossible to maintain for any period.

All in all, a fascinating book on techniques very different to those commonly used here.