Links & Books

Links

Naginata Blade Construction
www.scnf.org/forge.html
Read about the forging, tempering, and polishing of the samurai sword at this Web site from the Southern California Naginata Federation.

steeluniversity.org
www.steeluniversity.org/content/html/eng/default.asp?catid=&pageid=1016899460
Conduct your own virtual Charpy test and learn more about modern steel production at this award-winning Web site from the International Iron and Steel Institute.

Lehigh University Institute for Metal Forming
www.lehigh.edu/~inimf/
Lehigh University, one of the foremost schools that studies metals, offers information on current metals research on its Web site.

The Tatara Iron Manufacturing Method
www.hitachi-metals.co.jp/e/tatara/nnp0103.htm
Learn more about the origins of the tatara oven and how the pure steel known as tamahagane is made at this Web site.

Japan: Memoirs of a Secret Empire
www.pbs.org/empires/japan/resources_6.html
Explore the culture that produced the samurai sword on this companion site to the PBS show.

Article

"The Forging of a Japanese Katana" by Michael Morimoto. Forging Industry Educational and Research Foundation, June 14, 2004.
www.forging.org/fierf/pdf/japanesesword.pdf

Books

The Craft of the Japanese Sword
by Leon Kapp, Hiroko Kapp, and Yoshindo Yoshihara. Kodansha International Ltd., 1987.

The Japanese Sword: A Comprehensive Guide
by Kanzan Sato. Kodansha International, Ltd., 1983.

Samurai: The Story of Japan's Noble Warriors
by Steven Turnbull. Collins and Brown, 2004.

Secrets of the Samurai Sword

• The Stuff of Metal
• Way of the Warrior
• Making a Masterpiece
• History of the Samurai