Sinclair, G. 1990.Cudgel Playing.1655. Reprint, Cambridge, MA: Histori-
cal Reprints.
Stone, David. 1998. The Principles of Stav.Oxford: Stav Marketing and
Publishing.
Sutor, Jakob. 1849. Kunstliches Fechtbuch zum Nutzen der Soldaten,
Studenten und Turner.1612. Reprint, Stuttgart: J. Scheible.
Talhoffer Fechtbuch.Reprint of 1447 edition. Cambridge, MA: Historical
Reprints.
Waite, J. M. 1881. Lessons in Sabre, Singlestick, and Bayonet, and Sword
Feats.London: Weldon and Company.Sword, Japanese
The actual history of Japanese swords is divided into ten periods, as indi-
cated in the following table:Period Dates
Nara 650–793
Heian 794–1191
Kamakura (Kotô) 1192–1336
Yoshino-Nambakucho 1337–1392
Muromachi 1393–1573
Azuchi-Momoyama 1574–1602
Edo (Tokugawa)
Early (Shintô) 1596–1780
Late (Shinshintô) 1781–1868
Modern (Gendaitô) 1868–1945
Post-Modern (Shinsakutô) 1950–presentPrior to the Nara period there is, in sword history, an era variously re-
ferred to as the Historical, Ancient, or Dolmen period. Although swords
were made during that time, they are not of the style the West has come to
know as Japanese swords. The blades of this early period are mostly
straight edges without sori(curvature) or shinogi(ridge-line), and the few
that do have sori are those made after the Taiho era by such smiths as
Amakuni and his followers in Yamato province. Smiths such as Amakuni
are more legendary than they are historical.
Many smiths from the Kofun (Ancient Mounds) era (the third to the
sixth centuries) are mentioned in the very early Japanese chronicles such as
the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki,but these smiths are undoubtedly mytho-
logical. More likely, blades from these early years were brought into the ar-
chipelago from the mainland by invaders, immigrants, pirates, traders, and
others who had intercourse with mainland Asia in that period. This phase
of sword study is best relegated to the archaeologist, with this one notation:564 Sword, Japanese