L5R Samurai and Smithing, and other society things

[lord4571 1]

so i was just curious if it was ok, form a narrative standpoint, if a samurai smithed and used a katana of their own creation? or any weapon or armor really?
i know in the last l5r game it seemed like a no, as it would disrespect your clan, family or lord (depending, and if not all), but its not bad to smith and actually seen as art. its just art you wouldn't use yourself it seems.

and is there any other society things like this? (with the example above), making a weapon for the purpose of it being used, and then being told no that's disrespectful... which then leads into the question of why smith?

[Hida Jitenno 586]

Usually, I think, you smith because your lord has ordered a new katana to be given to new samurai, or somesuch like that. Are you making your own katana because you want to reject the one your ancestors have passed down to you? Or did your lord not provide you one? (narratively-speaking)

I guess it would largely depend on circumstance.

[AtoMaki 1,431]

Nah, you should have a large collection of daisho anyway, carrying around a daisho of your own making is no big deal. It might send a message, but I reckon only the most insightful onlookers will perceive it. 

[Suzume Chikahisa 313]

11 hours ago, lord4571 said:

so i was just curious if it was ok, form a narrative standpoint, if a samurai smithed and used a katana of their own creation? or any weapon or armor really?
i know in the last l5r game it seemed like a no, as it would disrespect your clan, family or lord (depending, and if not all), but its not bad to smith and actually seen as art. its just art you wouldn't use yourself it seems.

and is there any other society things like this? (with the example above), making a weapon for the purpose of it being used, and then being told no that's disrespectful... which then leads into the question of why smith?

How do you want your Rokugan to be?

First of all a sword, let alone an armour is not made by one person. On the sword alone you'd have different people refining the ore, and making the steel, another one making the hilt, another for the scabbard, yet another one doing the tsuba and the wrappings or laquering would also be done by a different set of people. The blade itself is usually not the work of a single person either since the folding, hammering and quenching process works better when you have one or two assistants.

And of course if your setting is inspired by the Edo period than samurai doing manual labour is a major faux pas and source of shame.

And this is for swordsmithing a fairly respected craft skill that even retired emperors took up on occasion. Armoursmithing is even more labour intensive and was never as respected.

Now, with that in mind is every single sword and and armour in your setting indestructible? Do they not suffer any wear and tear at all? And even if it does will it just fit any body type? Because I have a hard time seeing that and all that means that there will be beakages, weapons and or fittings that need to be replaced. Besides you will also have to outfit your kids.

 

Swords and armour are tools. Some of them may also be pieces of artwork, but most of them are tools and are to be treated as such. If you also happen to have a piece of art then you treat it as a piece of art.

 

When in doubt remeber that at the end of the day Rokugan is still supposed to be populated by human beings. Old5R often went too much into mindless, pointless and fetishized exoticism and the setting suffered for it. Fortunately FFG seem to be a lot more careful about it so far.

 

[Magnus Grendel 11,672]

Also, just as an aside; Smithing as a skill covers weapon maintenance and repair. So you'd invariably make smithing checks for your own sword at some point.

13 hours ago, Hida Jitenno said:

Usually, I think, you smith because your lord has ordered a new katana to be given to new samurai, or somesuch like that. Are you making your own katana because you want to reject the one your ancestors have passed down to you? Or did your lord not provide you one? (narratively-speaking) 

I guess it would largely depend on circumstance.

This. You would almost inevitably have been given a weapon at your gempuku, but it's possible that a gifted smith might be able to produce a superior blade - in which case, putting the older weapon in a place of honour whilst using the new improved to stab people might be seen as disrespectful to the original blade's creator, but it's perhaps understandable if the newer blade is emphatically better.

Equally, a bushi might want to do the reverse; they might not wish to take a priceless relic blade into a grimy, dangerous melee where he is worried it'll be damaged or lost to their clan entirely and instead acquire (or make) a more plain 'working day' sword. They would still carry the beautiful, priceless weapon to court, but not necessarily in the trenches.

Finally, you might well see a blade forged for a specific purpose. This, after all, a fantasy setting; forging and blessing a blade in a specific way to combat a specific Oni (for example) is not an unreasonable story element.

2 hours ago, Suzume Chikahisa said:

First of all a sword, let alone an armour is not made by one person. On the sword alone you'd have different people refining the ore, and making the steel, another one making the hilt, another for the scabbard, yet another one doing the tsuba and the wrappings or laquering would also be done by a different set of people. The blade itself is usually not the work of a single person either since the folding, hammering and quenching process works better when you have one or two assistants.

Equally, well-maintained, a blade can often survive long enough to undergo several changes of tsuba and hilt. Since the more decorative tsuba and wrappings sometimes included clan colours and mon patterns, if the sword were to change hands it's not unreasonable that the new owner might have a famous blade remounted in a hilt more suited to their size, fighting style and allegiance

13 hours ago, AtoMaki said:

Nah, you should have a large collection of daisho anyway, carrying around a daisho of your own making is no big deal. It might send a message, but I reckon only the most insightful onlookers will perceive it. 

This. On a battlefield, weapon choices are generally pragmatic, but at court, every choice of gear is likely to either be a subtle message, or to be interpreted as one by someone amongst the onlookers, whether it was intended as one or not.

[Keyframe18 6]

I could Imagine, if your character was a Kaiu or an Agasha, making your own daisho could be part of your gempuku

[Tramp Graphics 2,326]

Actually, at least according to the Beginner game, Smithing, which is part of the Artisan skill group, was practiced by samurai. All Artisan skills are considered high art, and were practiced by the nobility. It is Trade skills which were considered beneath the Samurai.