Katana Beliefs

Katana swords emerged around the fifteenth century in Japan, they are known for their

sharp cutting single edge structure and curved shape. Around this same time, the

European longsword, which is known for its long doubled edged blade, emerged.

Separated by distance and cultures, the Japanese katana and European longswords

are very different from each other. Human systems present at the time in Europe and

Japan can account for the differences between the swords.

Culturally, the katana was associated with power and control. 1 Metal working was

thought to have been brought to the people from Susa-no- o, the god of storms 2 , so

metal working was regarded as a highly respectful and divine field of work. 3 Because of

this the sword makers
14 Knowledge of

sword making was passed down from generation to generation allowing all of the

previous knowledge of sword making to stay intact while allowing improvements to be

made to existing designs.

During the fifteenth century in Europe, people owned land and had full control over it

while in Japan the land was all owned by the state and could be leased from the state. 15

Serfdom in Europe did exist until the 15 th century. 16 Serfs were unhappy with their status

within society and began an uprising to change their situation. 16 This uprising would not

have possible if weapons were not available to fuel their uprising. There were very few

restrictions to who could bear arms in Europe at the time, so there was a much greater

need for swords. Because of this, mass production of swords decreased the quality of

swords in Europe. The quantity of swords in Japan was much less than in Europe due

to the class restrictions on who could bear arms; only the elite classes including the

samurai were permitted to bear arms.

There was a greater deal of state control in Japan in the 15 th century than in Europe.

This control led people to have much more distinct places in society in