Tatara and the Japanese sword: the science and technology

Tatara, a traditional steel-making system developed in Japan, and the Japanese sword are briefly introduced from a technological point of view, followed by some comments on scientific aspects. Attention is paid to the comparison with methods developed in foreign countries. The quenching process being operated in the final stage of sword making is focused on, and results of a computer simulation by a code COSMAP based on metallo-thermo-mechanics are presented to know how the temperature, metallic structure and stress/distortion vary in the process.