The art of the samurai still lives

In today’s modern society, samurai and the art of sword fighting has an immediate appeal to many thousands of people. There has been a huge upsurge in students flocking to Dojos around the world looking to learn the art of the samurai, whether their hand combat techniques or their most famous sword fighting.

Japanese samurai swords, called katana swords are the stuff of legends. While students will first be taught with a boken or wooden mock sword they will eventually progress to a ‘live’ blade if they persist in the art. Celebrities such as Steven Seagal, who trained in Japan with Aikido master Morihei Ueshiba has brought samurai warriors and legends of samurai to the popular mind in the same way that Bruce Lee and Jacky Chan have done with Chinese Kung Fu.

The image of the modern samurai has been popularised in many a Hollywood film with one of the most epic modern tales ‘Star Wars’ using kendo practitioners to enact the light saber battles. There have also been the ancient samurai heralded in recent films like ‘The Last Samurai’. Manga cartoons are one of the biggest exporters of the samurai legends and the Japanese popular culture that has sprung up around them, both in Japan and in the rest of the world is testament to their lingering appeal.

Today there is also a booming industry for katana swords, with some handmade katanas fetching thousands of dollars to dedicated collectors or practitioners.
Most martial arts equipment stores will sell a version of the katana blade, whether a live blade or a boken, and there are many cheaply produced blades available for purchase in almost every country. The prized handmade katanas are rarer, and usually for sale to an exclusive clientele at auction or through dedicated sellers either online or by order.

Whilst the true art of the finest blade swords has been lost in history, many swordsmiths today are trying to regain the lost knowledge in order to make real samurai swords like those of legendary swordsmith Masamune.

The art of samurai sword making is also being evolved by some smiths, who have incorporated modern technologies into the process. Swordsmiths like Howard Clark have produced fine quality blades that are in such demand he stopped taking order in 2003.

So whilst the real Japanese samurai have long since vanished, we can see their enduring ghosts in the ever present fascination with their weapons and way of life, and their reincarnation in popular films, television and fiction.

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