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Swords are critical in most feudal societies, and Japan was no exception. In the sixth century BC the legendary emperor Jimmu Tenno conquered much of Japan. At the same time, the Japanese took inspiration for swords from the Chinese. Early swords were merely duplicates of Chinese swords, straight and double-edged, but the warring stability of the Asuka period promoted the advancement of weaponry.
The first recorded production of the curved, one-edged 'Japanese-style' sword (as opposed to 'Chinese-style') is around AD 900, but they had been in use for a significant time before that. According to legend, the Japanese sword was invented by a smith named 'Amakuni' in AD 700, along with the folded steel process. It is at this time that the term samurai came into being.
By the twelfth century, civil war erupted after a long period of decadence. For five centuries, Japan had its own dark ages, marked by continuous, brutal wars. The War of Onin ( 1467- 1477) revolutionized Japanese armour, and weapons hit a plateau of quality considered to be superior to those made even today.
During the Muromachi period, bloody wars were the norm, but the indolent shogunates also put a high value on art and culture, so the islands did not descend into barbarism. In fact, the swords from the middle of this era are considered the peak of swordcraft. However, as time progressed, the craft decayed under the withering pressure of guns, which rendered swords obsolete.
Swordmaking continued to decline in the early part of the Edo period, since there were fewer wars; however, art leapt forward, leading to beautiful engravings and decorations for weapons. Then, under the isolationist Tokugawa Shogunate, guns and gunpowder were increasingly restricted and removed from circulation. By the middle of the eighteenth century, most young Japanese had never seen a gun, let alone actually seen one fired.
The power of the samurai (and the quality of swordmaking) had nearly disintegrated under the power of guns, but they came out of the struggle with a fierce devotion to their ancient ways and an eye for the past. Samurai were strong during the Edo period, and the almost-lost art of sword smithing revived, slowly but surely. Nearing the end of this period, swords had recovered enough quality that they were no longer referred to as 'shinto', but the more respectful 'shin-shinto'.
Japan remained in stasis until Matthew Perry's arrival in 1853 and the subsequent Convention of Kanagawa forcibly reintroduced Japan to the outside world; the rapid modernization of the Meiji Restoration soon followed.
The Haitorei edict in 1876 all but banned swords and guns, crippling the samurai class. However, an uprising against this edict and the military rulership resulted in an explosion of nationalism and support for an emperor who had previously been mostly a figurehead.
By World War I, Japan was on par with global powers in its military might. However, this also marked the beginning of the end for samurai in general, for guns had returned. It also marked a time of decline in sword manufacture, as katana were replaced by gunto: cheap sabers for navy officers.
Under the United States occupation at the end of World War II the samurai class was disbanded completely and swords banned; . The only swords which were allowed to remain were artistic treasures, which could not leave the museum or temple.
Due to this disarmament, as of 1958 there were more Japanese swords in America than in Japan: American soldiers would return from the Orient with piles of swords, often as many as they could carry. The vast majority of these 100,000 or more swords were gunto, but there were still a sizable number of shin-shinto.
This symbolized the final blow to the power of the samurai in the recent centuries. However, swordcraft has since resumed, although as a cultural phenomenon rather than a war-based one.
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