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Damien Mason
10th July 2007, 07:32
Sorry if this has been asked before, searched the forum and didn't find anything.

I'm just wondering what the purpose of the hi is, and how long it's been included on swords?

Cheers

jest
10th July 2007, 18:20
Sorry if this has been asked before, searched the forum and didn't find anything.

I'm just wondering what the purpose of the hi is, and how long it's been included on swords?

Cheers

Hi Damien,
Run a search for bohi, bo hi or bo-hi and you'll find a number of threads explaining the hows and whys.

I'm not an iaido or tameshigiri practitioner (yet!) but my understanding => Short version:
Bo-hi is used to lighten a sword, without significantly decreasing the strength thereof. It can also be used to alter the balance or to remove flaws.

Not sure how long adding fullers to blades has been used, but I think we're talking many centuries.

Fred27
10th July 2007, 19:30
Hi Damien,
Run a search for bohi, bo hi or bo-hi and you'll find a number of threads explaining the hows and whys.

I'm not an iaido or tameshigiri practitioner (yet!) but my understanding => Short version:
Bo-hi is used to lighten a sword, without significantly decreasing the strength thereof. It can also be used to alter the balance or to remove flaws.

Not sure how long adding fullers to blades has been used, but I think we're talking many centuries.

Otake Risuke Sensei owns (and uses) a 600 year old blade which has a bo-hi or hi or whichever name is used. :)

kdlarman
11th July 2007, 01:57
Bo-hi (one type of horimono) and horimono in general go back to the beginning of the sword craft. Sometimes they were done just because they were done. In other words the smith intended the sword to have hi and they forged it accordingly cutting in the hi once they were done with the forging. So they were original to the blade.

Sometimes they're added later to change the handling characteristics of the blade. Sometimes they were added to remove flaws exposed over time and polishes. Sometimes they were probably put in originally to remove a weld flaw that was exposed during the first polish.

Whole lots of reasons.

Given that the sword world today is as much about art as craft/function you will see many more modern pieces with bo-hi. It is just another aspect of the art within which an artisan can express themselves.

Some "schools" did more horimono than others. So it is also one hint as to who made the sword.

And with respect to bo-hi and strength... That one gets hashed out every few months and I'd really suggest the search function.

Damien Mason
11th July 2007, 02:34
Thanks for the responses. In case anyone stumbles across this topic from my thread, here's a couple of other threads on it that go into greater detail about the bo-hi purpose

http://www.e-budo.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15503&highlight=bohi

http://www.e-budo.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29389&highlight=bohi