.Making a Kama

The length of the blade is five bu (one bu = approx. 3 centimeters). Make the width nine bu. Therefore, you must temper [the blade].

The length of the handle is five sun five bu ; or it is a six sun kama when you pound the iron into its place in the wood. Make it eight sun wide, and one and a half bu thick.

For the handle, use Red Cinnamon tree. Nara Oak is also good. The blade is two sided, omote and ura. Sharpen it on both sides.

*Refer to the drawing on the left for the final shape of the Kama.

The text itself is technical, and the final product is drawn at the end of the text. However, the author made a mistake in the beginning of the text, setting the length of the blade at five bu. This seems too short for a blade, and indeed the measurements written next to the drawing show that the blade is in fact five sun.

Another point to clarify is the idea of a double blade. Although the author uses the term moroha, which translates double-blade or double-edge, it does not mean two sharp edges. Instead, we should read it as one sharp edge that is sharpened on both sides.