Japanese Swordsmithing

Japanese swordsmithing is the labour-intensive bladesmithing process developed in Japan for forging traditionally made bladed weapons (nihonto) including katana, wakizashi, tantō, yari, naginata, nagamaki, tachi, uchigatana nodachi, ōdachi, kodachi, and ya (arrow).

Japanese sword blades were often forged with different profiles, different blade thicknesses, and varying amounts of grind. Wakizashi and tantō were not simply scaled-down katana; they were often forged in hira-zukuri or other such forms which were very rare on katana.