YEOJU, Gyeonggi Province — Still freezing outside, Lee Eun-cheul, a swordsmith, sweats buckets in front of a furnace flaring to more than 1,300 degrees Celsius. He pushes and pulls wooden bellows to ...

In this video, we're going to show you how to forge a wootz katana from old drills. This sword is a classic example of swordsmithing, and is a great way to learn about swordsmithing basics. If you're ...

Michael Bell started up the electric motor on a gigantic press he uses to shape the blades of Japanese swords. “Bam! Bam!” The dies clanked together on the approximately 3-foot-long flat piece of ...

Taro Asano spent six years as an unpaid apprentice before his master, Fujiwara Kanefusa, told him he was ready to be licensed as a master swordsmith. To be officially licensed in Japan, swordsmiths ...

Although it might sound unusual for artifacts with a centuries-long history, swords are currently in vogue in Japan. Museum exhibitions of historically significant katana have been attracting large, ...

Swordsmithing isn’t just an industry, it’s also part of Japan’s cultural heritage. To preserve the craft, Tetsuya Tsubouchi, one of the Japanese Swordsmith Association’s directors, says two things ...