Japan 3.12: Knife making, and Easter on Bunny/Poison Gas Island

My cold was still in full swing, so I needed to take emergency procedures to get through the following day.  I took Afrin to clear my sinuses.

I had booked the day with a swordsmith in Gifu, to have Miles and I make our own "samurai" knives.  We took the 7:30 train to Gifu-Hashima Station and were then picked up by the swordsmith and his wife.  We were informed that the other group that was supposed to be making knives with us had canceled, so we had a private lesson.

We were taught how to use bellows to heat the furnace:



We were given a precut piece of metal to begin.



We had to heat up our knife and then hammer into it while it was still red and hot.  Then, once it cooled off too much to keep hammering, we would put it back in until it was red again.  This took quite a while.  Miles kept at it, as he needed quite a while.  The swordsmith told me near the end that Miles did a great job and that most kids needed a lot more help than he did.





We sanded down the rough edges of the handle, had our blades sharpened by one of the assistants, and then we sharpened them further.



We also got to imprint letters into our blade before the final hardening took place.  It ended up taking about 6 or so hours, including a lunch break.



We returned to Kyoto, picked up our bags, and left for Fukuyama.

This morning, Easter, we slept in a bit.  Then, we left for Okunoshima, also known as "Bunny Island."  The island is overrun with rabbits.  They do not know exactly how the rabbits came to me, but they now take care of the rabbits and many people come to visit.  Rabbit tiles on the ground led us from the train station to the port.





The island's history is a bit dark, as it was used to manufacture poison gas to be used in World War II, primarily against the Chinese.  It was even removed from maps during this time period.  SO, we saw some of these facilities as we walked around the outer loop of the island.

The island had some beautiful parts as well, and you could see many islands across the water, including the Shimanami Kaido islands that I biked through on my first trip.

I wasn't feeling well for most of the day, but Miles greatly enjoyed seeing all of the rabbits.  One other thing of note to me was observed during lunch in the island's only restaurant.  Stephanie and I had rice and curry.  I used chopsticks.  I looked it up, and apparently curry is very popular in Japan and is eaten with a spoon.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Japan.  We leave the following morning.