Decorative Japanese Sword and Fittings, by Amanda Jones

A swordsmith by the name of Shimohara forged this short sword (wakizashi) in approximately 1550 A.D. He decorated the sword mountings and scabbard with sparkly lacquer and mounted a kozuka and a kogai to either side of the scabbard. The kozuka is a handle to a tanto, or a small dagger, and the Kogai is a hairpin that the Japanese would use to dress the hair.  Many Americans will look at this sword and appreciate its beauty, the time and dedication that the Japanese swordsmith put into forging, lacquering, and decorating it. The creators speckled the lacquer scabbard and handle and adorned it with matching sword fittings, which makes the sword’s design cohesive and pleasing to the eye. People commonly praise this sword as an aesthetic piece of art but might not recognize it as an instrument of violence. Though this sword is classified as art today, it’s important to remember that it was once a weapon that the samurai that carried it may have committed violent atrocities in the past with it.