What is Mokume Gane

In Japan from the late 1600’s to the mid 1800’s the samurai sword transitioned from being a tool for fighting battles into a symbol of the warrior class.

The quality and quantity of decoration on the samurai sword handle and sheath became a symbol of social status and wealth. The level of craftsmanship that samurai sword smiths demonstrated is second to none. The sword smiths used a wide array of techniques to decorate these swords. The traditional technique of mokume gane (moku = wood, me = eye and gane = metal) was one such technique.

Mokume was invented by Denbei Shoami, a 17th century master metalsmith from the Akita prefecture, who used it for the adornment of samurai swords. Using the mokume gane technique the smith would create laminated metal billets that were fused by heat and pressure. The billets, composed of various combinations of gold, silver and copper alloys were forged, carved and finished to produce uniquely patterned metal stock which was then used to fabricate parts for the samurai sword “furniture”.

The beautiful patterns in these pieces for the handle would reflect similar patterns developed in the forging of the sword blade. Mokume gane was and still is a very difficult process to learn. This is partly due to the difficultly of successfully fusing the metals and partly due to the skill required to forge the laminated billet down to useable material without delaminating it.

There are only a few craftsmen in the world that have learned the ancient art of mokume and even fewer who have really perfected it. Michael Daniels Mokume is one of the few commercial enterprises that manufactures beautiful mokume gane for use in jewelry.

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