Nihon-shinto-shi - The History of the shinto Era of Japanese Swords

This book should bring the reader more near to the no less interesting era of the "New Sword", the shinto. With the transition to the peaceful Edo period, the Japanese sword experienced considerable changes which are briefly touched in some other sword publications. This book now tries to present the historical and scholastic changes of the shinto in a comprehensive manner. The reader should get an idea about the activities of the Edo-period swordsmiths in all the provinces and how - if at all - they were connected in terms of school or workmanship. The classification based on the traditional gokaden is no longer applicable in shinto times and so a more geographical processing suggests itself. In the beginning we have the large sword centres of Kyoto, Osaka and Edo. Subsequently, all other provinces follow, arranged according to their "significance" in the sword world and in context with each other to avoid as much as possible big geographical and theoretical jumps.