An old japanese proverb says "The sword is the soul of a Samurai", that shows, that the sword was the most precious object, a Samurai-knight could be armed with. Japanese swords are formed in a very fine way and have curved blades. The handle was covered with the skin of a ray , the sword itself was put into a black leather sheath. The blade was often elaborated by blacksmiths during several weeks. Their production had sacred character. The blacksmith was wearing the ceremonial clothes of a Shinto-preast, the working area was closed and he had to follow certain rituals as well as he had to stay abstinent. The blade consists of different layers of iron and steel that were folded again and again by dividing them in the middle ,put onto one another again, being beaten and by doing so getting hardened. Legends, the truth of which may be doubted, tell that some blades were folded up to four million times. The inner layers consist of soft iron, that gives them a certain flexibility and prevents the blade from breaking when being beaten with , the outer layers however are formed of hard steel, the blades are as a matter of course extremely sharp.

The elaborate way of production of a japanese blade are outclassing other swords due to the art of folding them lots of times. The art of forging a sword is a well kept secret.

Nowadays the art of fencing with sharp blades is practised in the form of Iaido. The blows are made against invisible opponents. Buddhist monks are practising Iaido as a form of meditation while moving where utmost concentration is necessary to handle the sword and to co-ordinate the own movements in relation to the direction and the distance to the opponent. Detailed and fixed forms of movements in form of a fight against one or more imaginary opponents are called Kata. The knowledge of the Katas is necessary to promote to the next grade and of course to be awarded the grade of a Dan, a master's grade in Kendo