Tatara Furnaces

Modern Tatara 鑪

• History of Iron in Japan
• Kamiai Tatara Lore Museum
• Producing Traditional Japanese Swords
• Tatara Sword Museum Access
• Okuizumo Region
• Japanese Culture

Jake Davies

Tatara was the technology for producing iron and steel used in Japan since ancient times. Sometimes called a bloomery, sometimes forge, tatara are most commonly known as furnaces.

The word tatara and the ancient technology of iron production used in East Asia seems to have originated in central Asia. The first iron used in Japan was imported, most probably from China, though later from what is now Korea, and took the form of ready-made iron items or as ingots. Metal-working spread across Japan, most probably from northern Kyushu, but the quantity of iron was not great.

Models show the historical development of tatara from ancient to medieval times

The History of Iron in Japan

Things changed in probably the 5th or 6th century when indigenous sources of iron were discovered. Archaeological and mythological sources suggest this was near the Sea of Japan Coast in western Japan centered on what is now Shimane Prefecture.

What was discovered was iron sand, though very small amounts of iron ore were also found. The tatara, probably introduced from Siberia via Korea, was used to smelt the iron sand to produce iron. Tatara appeared across Japan, but by the Medieval Period of Japanese history (13th to 16th centuries) the Chugoku region was the most important iron-producing region, and especially the Okuizumo area as it had the highest grade of iron sand.

The Kamiai Tatara Lore Museum in the mountains of Okuizumo

Enough iron and steel was being produced that Japan was exporting swords to China by the thousand. The technology of iron production improved and became more efficient so that during the Edo Period the Okuizumo area can be said to have mass produced iron and it was exported all over Japan.

There are several places in the Okuizumo area where the history of tatara and iron and steel production can be experienced. These include the Tatara Sword Museum in Yokota Town, which has many displays as well as demonstrations of iron-working and swordplay.

A few kilometers away is the Itohara Memorial Museum, the ancestral home of one of the samurai clans that controlled the iron industry in the region, and here too you can see a variety of displays on the historical iron industry and the swords it produced. A little further up into the mountains, and located near another of the samurai families that controlled the area, is the Kamiai Tatara Lore Museum.

The upper floor of the Tatara Lore Museum with mannequins and many displays showing iron production

Kamiai Tatara Lore Museum

Kamiai Tatara Lore Museum was an actual working tatara that has been preserved. It was in operation during the Meiji Period. This tatara operated right up until the first decades of the twentieth century.

Whereas traditional tatara were made of clay and destroyed after each firing, the type of tatara seen here was built of brick and operated in a somewhat different way and was a permanent structure, though the fuel was still charcoal and the raw material was iron sand.

In the late Edo Period iron and steel technology began filtering into Japan from the West, and this had an influence on tatara design. Following the opening of Japan with the Meiji Restoration, modern iron and steel production was quickly introduced using imported iron ore and using coal as fuel.

The lower floor of the Kamiai Tatara showing where the smelted iron exits the furnace

The Yahata Steelworks that opened in 1902 in northern Kyushu sounded the death knell for the traditional tatara. By the 1920's they could no longer compete with the modern blast furnaces and they all ceased production.

However, 20 years later they made a brief comeback. Starting in 1938, the USA began to impose sanctions on Japan because of their continued aggression in China, and within a few years the sanctions applied to exports of all forms of iron, including scrap.

This was one of the reasons given in Japan for the attack on Pearl Harbor and the war against the USA. Japan's industry was able to import ore from it's conquered territories, but as the war progressed and the American Navy got the upper hand in the seas around Japan, the imports of iron dwindled to almost nothing and in a last ditch attempt to keep their war industries going some of the old tatara were reopened and produced some iron in the last 18 months of the war, but in 1945 they all closed for good.

Attached to the museum is a small, modern forge, and twice a month a master sword smith and his team give demonstrations of a piece of tamahagane being worked. Members of the audience are invited in to try their hand at wielding a hammer and working the red-hot metal.

The museum is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and has no entry fee. There is no public transport nearby so a taxi or car is needed to visit.

432 Kamiai, Okuizumo-cho, Nita-gun, Shimane 699 1621
Tel: 0854 56 0800

Power to drive the bellows was provided by a waterwheel

Producing Traditional Japanese Swords

The story of the tatara doesn't quite end there though. The old type of tatara made of clay produced a kind of steel called tamagahane, and it is one of the types of steel that goes into the manufacture of Japanese swords.

Scientists have been unable to find any other way of producing tamagahane using any of the different, modern forms of smelting. In 1977, the Society for the Preservation of Japanese Swords (Nittoho), with support from the Agency for Cultural Affairs, and in collaboration with Hitachi Metals, constructed a factory in Yokota Town where every winter, traditional tatara are built and tamahagane produced using the old technology. As a result, Japanese sword smiths can continue to produce traditional swords.

Unfortunately the facility is not open to the public, but videos of the production process can be seen at the Okuizumo Tatara & Sword Museum nearby. Princess Mononoke, the well known animation by Studio Ghibli, features a place called Iron Town, and it is thought that this tatara facility is the inspiration for it.

Believed to be the inspiration for Iron Town in the anime Princess Mononoke, this modern facility in Yokota Town is the only place that now produces the type of steel needed by Japanese sword smiths

Access - Getting There

Tatara Sword Museum
1380-1 Yokota, Okuizumo-cho, Nita-gun
Shimane Prefecture 699-1832
Tel: 0854 52 2770

Open from 9.30am to 4.30pm. Closed Mondays and over the New Year.
Entry 520 yen for adults, kids 200.
For the demonstration days it's 1,250 yen and 620 yen.

The museum is located 1 kilometer from JR Izumo-Yokota Station on the Kisuki Line, about 2 hours from either Matsue or Izumo stations. Izumo-Yokota Station is one of the stops on the exciting Orochi Sightseeing Train.

The Japan Rail Pass can be used on the Okuizumo Orochi train.

A demonstration of Tameshigiri, sword testing, at Okuizumo Tatara Sword Museum

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