Western Technology and Swords in the Bakumatsu Era

The Arrival of the Black Ships and the Shock of Western Firearms

With the arrival of Commodore Perry in Kaei 6 (1853), Japan was forced to open its country. The overwhelming power of the new Western firearms and cannon sharply reduced the practical importance of nihontō in battle. During the turmoil of the bakumatsu period, guns and cannon became the center of fighting, and swords were pushed into a secondary role.

Rapid Adoption of Western Learning and Changes in Sword Making

The guntō made official by a Dajōkan proclamation of Meiji 8 (1875) had Western-style saber blades and koshirae, because it took the Western powers as its model. However, in the Satsuma Rebellion (Seinan War) of Meiji 10 (1877), the Battōtai, a unit the government forces formed by selecting men skilled in swordsmanship from the police corps (Keishitai), achieved results at the Battle of Tabaruzaka, and this led to a reassessment of the value of nihontō.

Afterward, it gradually became common to wear guntō with a nihontō blade fitted into saber koshirae. In addition, Murata Tsuneyoshi of the Imperial Japanese Army devised the Murata sword (Murata-tō) based on nihontō and Solingen steel, and the fusion of Western technology with Japan's sword tradition advanced.

Coexistence of Western Learning and Tradition

From the bakumatsu period into the early Meiji period, Western science and technology and Japan's traditional crafts clashed sharply and at the same time merged. In the world of swords too, this tension and fusion are clearly visible, and the development of Western-style guntō can be said to symbolize the very process by which Japan accepted Western modernization.