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Edson has approached
me to design him a L6 sword by Howard Clark, based on the Go rin no sho,
the Book of Five Rings.
There was a very nice empathy as I reviewed the concept. How to design a
sword whose theme could be perhaps one of the books.
I went back to my memory and remembered this phrase from the book of
void.
Then you will come to think of things in a wide sense and, taking the
void as the Way, you will see the Way as void.
I personally dislike the obvious, the cliché of things, so for the main
theme I went to the five circles forming a Pentagram. It may not be
entirely a new solution, but the tsuba that was born from it was certainly
the sum of the parts of five circles. |
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fact, I assembled the pentagram first, symbolizing the five circles
interconnected. And then I designed a large circumference that would be
the tsuba's limit and placed five times the mon achieved by this
way. The top circle pointed outwards. Now I inverted the mon and
the top pointed inwards and placed a new set of five circles, thus forming
another ring. Each set of 5 mon is symbolically one ring, so there
were two sets of rings touching the outer side of the tsuba's edge, the
third ring. Then, to further reinforce the tsuba, a smaller ring was
placed inside, therefore forming the forth ring within multiples of five.
Finally I came about the two semi-circles corresponding to the
kozuka-ana and kogai-ana and created the last of the five
rings, hidden under a broken shape.
I don't think that it's significant is obvious. I prefer to work with
symbols that are not obvious, and that through the usage of symbology,
things appear to assemble themselves. I could have simulated the
concentric circles of water when a stone is thrown in, but then it would
not be the void. Sukashi helps reinforce the sense of void.
I knew that beauty was important, but it had to make sense. |
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Blade
specifications:
1. Shinogi-zukuri
2. 2 inches kissaki
3. Tori-Sori
4. Sori: 2 cm
5. Nagasa: 29 inches
6. Motohaba: 3 cm
7. Sakihaba: 2.8 cm
8. Motokasane: 5.5 mm
9. Sakikasane: 5 mm
10. Nakago: 13 inches
11. Hira niku (no niku)
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Other
specifications: |
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a.
Dark blue silk ito.
b.
Hineramaki
style of tsukamaki
b. Silver habaki.
c. Silver seppa, plain style like a bevel.
d. High quality samekawa with center node. |
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I assisted Edson in
providing the specifications while at the same time this page also helped
him accompany the growth of the concept which had his inputs. Edson
however is a customer who does understand my role and while he made
suggestions, I explained the yes or the no using design and symbology
explanations.
The customer wanted a horimono similar to my Katsujin-ken as
he was touched by it. |
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This is the horimono kanji for the Sword of Void, Kara-no-Ken.
It is to be carved in the same place as the
Katsujin-ken. |
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Eric started to
first render a tsuba that had less detail and then it grew into a much
more detailed rendering which allowed for a full understanding.
The designs below show different parts of the designing of the
fittings. |
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Menuki final design. |
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A relief view. Should be about 2 mm
thick in high polished steel with the same look as silver. |
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Fuchi is 12 mm high and it will
then be engraved here:
link |
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The Kashira
will carry 5 onyx stones, cylindrical, to form the five circle
mon, and should be protruding 1 mm from the top surface.
The side view here does not show it.
I personally like a kashira that has some presence, specially in a
long tsuka katana.
Edson has chosen dark blue for the color, so we came up with a
very simple yet elegant color combination. Blue, black and silver.
If
one looks at the sky it is blue by day and black by night, so the
colors are also connected with the visual symbol closest to the void,
though the void that you see is not the real void.
However this is but a design concept that has to take
shape. |
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Eric very much
succeeded in rendering the L6 hamon, thus allowing for a better
visualization of the sword before it is done or finished. |
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At the suggestion of
Edson the kashira's mon will have five protruding pieces of
onyx carefully placed into it. Just a relief of 1 mm so as not to
interfere with the sword's handling. |
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Very
much impressed by my own Katsujin-ken, Edson asked for a
horimono to be placed at the shinogi-ji. |
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STEREOSCOPIC IMAGES BY ERIC LITTON
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