All Honshu Network: News and Entertainment from the Eastern Jewel of Kusari
Konnichiwa! Ishikawa Ayumi desu. You are watching "Ikiru michi" (//"Way of life") on All Honshu Network. Today in our programme, we explore a place where the soul of Kusari is forged from fire and honed to perfection. Join us in a journey to Bunkamura, home to the fabled Honshu swordsmiths of Daikouatsu school.
Founding of Yamanaka-to-be-Bunkamura
Streets of Bunkamura
Five minutes away by a maglev train from Minamimito, Haneda island, lies an inconspicuous town of Bunkamura. Nestled between two hills with lush forests so typical for this latitude, the town is difficult to spot from the air. Home to over 20,000 people, the town can hardly be called bustling with life outside the only maglev station. But it was not always like this. During the initial exploration of the Haneda island approximately 300 years ago, the place where Bunkamura is now situated was designated an area of strategic interest due to the rich deposits of Titanium and Chromium. The local colonial authorities established a mining outpost Yamanaka with a processing plant to supply the growing needs of the colony with durable metals. At its peak, the settlement harboured over 60,000 people engaged in overseeing the machinery extracting and refining natural resources and the service industry catering for the workers and their families. But as the colonies on Honshu became more and more interconnected and less reliant on particular ore deposits. The settlement kept losing its prominence with the arrival of large shipping of rare metals mined in space from newly discovered vast asteroid fields in the Taus. By 500, the population of Yamanaka had decreased to 5.000 people, and all talks about its expansion into a proper town were set aside. It was not until 537 when the town appeared again in the news.
Matamura Shota and the Spread of Fame
One of the local miners picked up a new hobby - bladesmithing. The skill of forging a blade was passed on from generation to generation in the family of Matamura as a token of respect to their peculiar ancestral tradition rather than a practical profession. Matamura Shota, at that time, was just an ordinary miner overseeing the extraction of titan dust from raw ore. Because of slow business, Matamura used his company's smelters to refine some ingots for personal use. Doing this at work sometimes, Matamura combined modern technology of producing high-quality tempered metal with ancient techniques of attributing the blade with intricate ornaments and tempered lines. Surprisingly, on showing the blades to the co-workers and supervisors, he got praised for his craftsmanship and was not reprimanded for using working time for his hobbies. For the shown support, Matamura gifted his swords to his boss and friends and continued producing bladed weapons with even greater enthusiasm.
In a short trip that would later decide the fate of Bunkamura, Shirokami Aoki, one of Matamura's friends, went off on a journey to Minamimito carrying one of the swords crafted by Matamura. The police stopped Shirokami to inquire regarding permission to carry a cold weapon around. It happened that one of the police officers examining the sword was a keen fan of kendo martial training and an expert on traditional Kusari bladed weapons. Officer Ueki was impressed with the craftsmanship and asked Shirokami to test the blade against the bamboo mats. Shirokani troubled that he had neither required documents to carry even a sheathed katana around nor knowledge about a law requiring such a permit, offered the katana as a gift to officer Ueki in hopes such a move would spare him legal issues. Shirokami did get fined, although only for possessing an unlicensed cold weapon and not for an attempted bribe of a Kusari State Police officer, and officer Ueki got the first katana by Matamura in his extensive collection to come in the future.
Hot Springs in Old Mine
Ueki loved to display his collection to his sparring mates and members of his police precinct. Matamura's blade quickly caught the eye of the appreciators of bladed weapons and avid katana collectors. The blade's design was not as exquisite compared to the renowned masters of Kyushu and New Tokyo and resembled more minimalist mass-issued blades for the army. Still, it was the blade properties that attracted so much attention. The blade was carefully crafted, with all the details distinctly indicating the manual work of a master. Yet, the alloys the blade was made of, and the number of foldings clearly implied the use of sophisticated machinery. The use of industrial robots for producing katanas was not new: after all, the mass-produced katanas are traditionally in the employ of the imperial army. The combination of a bladesmith's work with industrial-grade processing of the blade was relatively new. Most of the other bladesmiths preferred to complete the blade only by hand, whether on their own or together with their apprentices from the start to the end. Matamura's blades combined the metal purity, durability, and sharpness provided by hundreds of thousands of foldings impossible for a human to make without heavy machinery and aesthetical style and craftsman's touch of a true bladesmith. This led to the creation of the school of Daikouatsu - "School of Great Pressure". Aside from numerous foldings, the school's peculiar features included high pressure of forging using heavy machinery, exotic durable metals such as Titanium, Chromium, and Vanadium in blades, and extreme tempering temperatures.
Soon, the news of a unique new bladesmith travelled all across Honshu, and more people started rushing to Yamanaka to get a blade of their own. Sudden fame and profits allowed Matamura to capitalise on them and found his own bladesmithing school. The success of Matamura prompted other inhabitants of Yamanaka to use their expertise in working with metals and for traditional arts: pottery, masonry, blacksmithing, carpentry, etc. In mere ten years, the town fully re-oriented to craftsmanship and traditional arts, becoming a popular tourism spot for the city dwellers of Minamimito. As the incomes of Yamanaka town grew, more people of other professions poured in, opening a small kabuki theatre, re-building a few districts in traditional styles, and opening onsen - hot springs spa - in old defunct mines. Re-imagination of an old mining town of Yamanaka into a small cultural centre resulted in an eventual change of the name and status of the settlement from Yamanaka outpost to the town of Bunkamura ("Culture Village" - Kus.).
Bunkamura Today
Daikouatsu Modern Vibrosword
Over the years, however, the "hype" over the town dwindled, and it became a quiet yet notable tourist destination for people who appreciate traditional Kusari culture or seeking to buy a good blade. Sporadically, one can notice apprentices coming from all over Kusari and beyond to learn the ways of Daikouatsu bladesmithing, but those are usually few and far between. The majority of tourists visiting the town are, same as centuries ago, seekers of a true Kusari sword. Bunkamura's blades are famous both among the sophisticated collectors and common folk, especially Naval Officers. Because of the use of machinery in their creation process, the blades are cheaper than most master-crafted blades of other schools. Yet, the touch of Daikouatsu bladesmiths elevate them above the industrially-made swords used for the army or sold in typical souvenir shops in spaceports and on Roppongi. No less important for the customers is that Daikouatsu smiths do not shun working on fancy modern vibroblades, blades with plasma cutters, electric blades, and other technological innovations that are often seen contradictory to traditional Kusari bladesmithing. If anyone wants a vibrosword crafted by a master - perhaps, Bunkamura would be the most famous of but a few spots in Kusari where such weapons are made. Affordability of the blades is bliss for the small town which has built an entire entertainment industry around selling swords. For a modest fee, you can have a traditional blade testing ceremony at the local ryokan ("traditional hotel" - Kus.), hone your fencing skills with a newly purchased sword or naginata at one of the local martial arts schools, enjoy one of the many performances at the local kabuki to understand the place of the sword in the culture of Kusari, or even buy a kimono befitting a samurai at the many boutiques dotting the slopes of the mountains of Bunkamura. Regardless of what you are coming for to Bunkamura, the local atmosphere infused with centuries-old traditions will share with you the secrets of the Soul of Kusari - the Way of the Sword.
This concludes our programme for today. We sincerely hope that this feature was of interest to both our viewers in Kusari and beyond and that more people will come to visit Bunkamura. Whether you want to buy a sword or relax in an exotic hot spring in a defunct mine - you will always be welcome! Do you have trouble finding the way? Do not hesitate to contact Minamimito Tourist Information centre for guidance. We wish you great and eventful travels throughout Kusari and abroad, and that good fortune always accompanies you. This was Ishikawa Ayumi for AHN.
This programme was sponsored by the Haneda Department of Tourism of Honshu and Clan Shimamori. Brought you by
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