He liked war chronicles like “The Tale of the Heike” and was hugely attached to Japanese swords, she said. Kitazaki was in high school when he first bought a short sword. He continued to ...

carried the sword with him when he left Takaharu around 1941 for a Japanese-controlled territory during the Pacific War. He traveled from China to the Korean Peninsula. Umeki was on Jeju Island ...

COURTESY OF NISHITOKYO CITYThousands of swords and other weapons ... believe the weapons are from the World War II era and ...

Each took part in the Hogen Rebellion of 1156, a civil war ... the Japanese went on to modernize their forces and did away with many of the samurai's special rights. Thus, the sword-slashing ...