Japanese Swords Remain Iconic

In the December 2015 issue of BLADE®, Leon Kapp penned the first part of a two-part series on historic, iconic Japenese swords. He concludes the series in the January 2016 issue, which is hitting newsstands and subscribers’ doorsteps October 6th, 2015. In the first part, titled “The Sun Rises On Them Still,” Kapp begins:

It was seven long decades ago on Sept. 2, 1945, that the Japanese signed the agreement formalizing their surrender, for all intents and purposes officially marking the end of the Second World War. The ceremony aboard the deck of the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay took all of 23 minutes to close the book on a conflict that extinguished more lives and destroyed more goods and property than any before or since.

While the world has changed much since then, one of the most iconic symbols that existed long before and throughout World War II—and continues to resonate today—is the Japanese sword. To read the rest, see the December 2015 and January 2016 issues of BLADE.