試し斬り・試刀の文化
Tameshigiri — The Culture of Sword Testing
During the early-to-mid Edo period, sword testing (tameshigiri) was institutionalized as a formal practice performed on executed criminals' bodies by licensed testers, most famously the Yamada Asaemon lineage, who held exclusive shogunate-sanctioned authority over sword appraisal through cutting tests.
Description
Tameshigiri (sword testing) was institutionalized in the early Edo period as a formal method of evaluating a sword's cutting performance. The Yamada Asaemon lineage, sanctioned by the shogunate, performed tests on the bodies of executed criminals at the execution grounds, recording results as carved inscriptions (tameshi-mei) on the blade tang. These inscriptions, noting how many bodies were cut in a single stroke, served as quality certificates and directly affected market value. The practice ended with the Meiji-era judicial reforms, but modern tameshigiri using straw and bamboo targets survives as a martial arts discipline.
Caracteristiques de cette epoque
- Tameshi-mei (test inscriptions) carved on the tang recording cutting performance
- Shogunate-sanctioned monopoly by the Yamada Asaemon lineage
- Gradual shift from human subjects to straw and bamboo targets
- Direct link between cutting test results and market value
- Authenticity concerns around forged tameshi-mei requiring expert appraisal