Sword masters forge a bond with 'Evangelion' anime

By TAKAYUKI KOZAKI/ Staff Writer


FUKUOKA--Traditional Japanese swordsmiths have turned to a popular anime in hopes of revitalizing their flailing industry.

"Evangelion and Japanese Swords," an exhibition tour devoted to replicas of weapons featured in the "Evangelion" animated series, has attracted more than 200,000 visitors since its first leg kicked off in Okayama Prefecture last summer.

The master craftsmen created swords and other blades modeled after ones in the fictitious story with the same devotion as they would for authentic Japanese swords.

The Fukuoka leg of the exhibition tour, which closed in June, drew about 20,000 visitors.

Once inside the venue, a hall in the Tenjin district of the city's Chuo Ward, visitors felt as if they wandered into the imaginary world of "Evangelion." The glistening swords looked like cutting-edge items from the future. A life-size statue of the anime’s heroine, Rei Ayanami, stood before an extraordinary large and shiny blade that could just as easily have been worn by a samurai serving the Kamakura Shogunate in the 12th to 14th centuries.

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