[Gabriel Lebec]

http://www.nihonto.ca/terukane/index.html

The link above is to the sale page for a very uncommon type of Japanese spear. The owner of the site, Mr. D. Brockbank, takes wonderfully attractive photos, albeit in a particular style that doesn't always give the sort of flat, overall, uncolored, reference-type detail that one might like.

The spear itself, however, is what I'd like to draw attention to. Jumonji yari are spears in the shape of the Japanese character for ten, "ju" - which is a cross (+). So a jumonji yari has extra side blades.

This type of yari is apparently extremely difficult to polish. The mix of 3D curves, straight ridges, and curved ridges presents a serious challenge. There has to be very precise symmetry for this design to work aesthetically, while satisfying nihonto collector's somewhat obsessive demand for perfection in the geometry. Certain decorative arrowheads have similarly complex shapes, and polishers often simply refuse to work on them, since they don't have the experience to properly deal with them - I believe jumonji yari are likely only polished because they are more standardized and many were made by excellent smiths.



This, however, is not even a normal jumonji yari, but a chidori jumonji yari, meaning the side blades themselves have an added degree of complexity that, mess things up things even further (as well as making it somewhat evil looking... ). (I'm under the impression that the name refers to a bird wing, which makes the side arms appear much less sinister than we might at first interpret.) Notice that the outer edges of the side-arms have a recurve with fairly rapid arc, given the overall size of the blade (17.55 cm center blade, about 7"). And how, in order for this to work, the ridge line smoothly splits and transitions in ways that create that small, pseudo-triangular flat top section - which itself must then fit into the overall polishing scheme.



I've seen regular jumonji yari in person occasionally, and find them very attractive. This is the first time I've ever seen a high-quality chidori jumonji yari for sale; I've never seen one in person. I just wanted to share these photos of a piece that I found rather out of the ordinary. I have not been posting much - been very busy with school and other hobbies - but I hope you all enjoy the photos and information on this interesting spear that Darcy Brockbank has provided on his website. I know I have.

[Jean Thibodeau]

That is really very beautiful, must be a nightmare to polish and not round out the crispness where the bevels meet.

Is the other side the same or is it flat or hollow ground ? Might not have to ask the question if I knew these better.

Are all the edges sharp ? If all sharp are areas at a steeper angle: More like are sharp but thick wedge and other areas with a thinner section and better cutting geometry ?

[Gabriel Lebec]

The other side is the same geometry (the photos in the slideshow are from both sides). However it is a very valid question as Japanese yari are often asymmetrical across the edge plane - many yari have triangular cross-sections, for example.

Without holding this piece and examining it personally I can't claim to know how it was polished or how acute the overall angles are; however, it is the norm for *all* the edges to be sharp, with the edges of the base area (below the side arms) to be perhaps slightly less sharp. The pics of this particular spear and the norm of Japanese swords and sword polishing would mean that the edge geometry is a typical "appleseed" type. Not perfectly flat diamond, but with a little bit contour to it. A subtle amount, though.

[Alex Oster]

Awesome piece!

I love spears. I dunno why, but then again I guess I love a lot of different weapons. I have always loved this style though. I think he captured every bit quite well.

However, here si a considerably less expensive, and less exotic, modern made one:




http://www.huanuosword.com/e/asp/english/product.asp?id=413

[Thomas Jason]

I've been in love with this Yari ever since Darcy brought it back from Japan.

This is killing me as I'm currently saving for a new car.

[Keith Larman]

Yeah, those are a serious pain to polish. I've talked with polishers about these in the past who've done them -- one very difficult thing most don't think about is how to hold the bloody thing (almost literally) when you're rubbing it on a stone. Every freaking thing is sharp and out to get you. And with the extra side points... Man, what a serious pain. And consider that traditionally polishing a regular blade can take 2 weeks of solid work. Not that most would do it in 2 weeks (since it is backbreaking, tiring work), one of these can easily take twice as long to do traditionally. Just think about trying to work into those various nooks and crannies...

And doing saya for them... Another interesting experience.

Of course the answer to the question about how you polish them is... Wait for it... Very carefully. Just like most things there really aren't any secrets and special things involved. They're just very time consumning to do. If you realize that things like hadori (the whitening of the edge in a kesho polish) can take a full 2 days on a long sword, just think how long it takes to polish this thing.

And yes, what Gabriel said about the side/edge type is almost certainly correct. These do not tend to have pronounced niku but they still are rarely totally flat and should almost never be "hollow ground". It simply isn't amenable to the shaping/polishing style of these blades. They do tend to be very thick (they are primarily piercing weapons after all) so they don't tend to have much in the way of "niku" (or "meat) since they don't need the extra material anyway. But in order to put the blade to stone and shape the surfaces the blade surfaces will usually have a slight bit of "appleseed" shaping going from "spine" to edge.

And if I remember the story correctly one of the first blades Robert Benson did that really caught the nihonto worlds' eye was a jumanji yari. But I could be mistaken -- that's one of those dim memories of late night bar discussion at one of the token kai's years ago that could have been filtered by too much gin ...

And fwiw I was offered a polishing job to do one once. I turned it down. I know how in theory they're done, but I'm not insane. I'm considering taking on a yari, but even those present interesting issues. I did talk to Howard Clark about making me one some day. The idea being is that I could polish it on my own time to really get a feel for how it's done without worrying about destroying someone else's blade. He had made one once in the past but the kid who bought it broke the side blades off by chucking it repeatedly at planks of wood (or something like that). Howard wasn't too keen on going through all that work again after that.

A very nice piece. Yeah, Darcy has some great stuff. There was a piece by Sokan that I think he owned at the San Francisco Token Kai I was admiring. I'm a fan of Sokan's work and it was nice seeing another good example of that smith's versatility. He has some nice pieces.