Thread: Making of a nihonto

That depends on whether the smith uses a modern power hammer or a medieval power hammer (aka 2 apprentices with sledge hammers). I have read in several places that the forging proces, starting from scratch, takes several weeks when done the old fashioned way. With a modern power hammer it can go faster. However, I am not really qualified to comment on the matter, not having ever done this myself.

That said, a smith in Japan is legally not permitted to make more than 2 daito (long swords) per month. It's a standard that is born out of some sort of misguided attempt at quality control, and not up to date with modern power hammer technology which is also used by many smiths. The Japanese sword industry in Japan is being strangled by the Japanese government, who forbid smiths to a) produce more than 2 swords per month, and b) produce any swords at all that are not traditionally made.

If you want to know why there are no affordable Japanese katana, it's because the government does not allow smiths to forge budget katana from monosteel stock. That means starting off with tamahagane nuggets, folding, etc. Note that many smiths would want to do this, simply because in the modern MA world, noone in his right mind would pay 2500$ for a traditionally made sword for his first attempts at tameshigiri (cutting practice). As a result, many sword smiths go out of business now that the Japanese economy is down and the nihonot market has crashed. It's not unheard of for smith to close up shop or even commit suicide. And many sword smiths hop over the chinese border each month to make swords (both modern and traditional) for Chinese manufacturers because it's their only way to make ends meet.