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A Bowie knife (pronounced 〔(【引用サイトリンク】url= http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bowie )〕 or 〔) is a pattern of fixed-blade fighting knife created by James Black in the early 19th century for Jim Bowie, who had become famous for his use of a large knife at a duel known as the Sandbar Fight. Since the first incarnation, the Bowie knife has come to incorporate several recognizable and characteristic design features, although in common usage the term refers to any large sheath knife with a crossguard and a clip point.〔Todd, Frederick P., ''American Military Equipage, 1851–1872'', Scribners (1980), pp. 180–181: "The American fighting knife of the mid-19th century was par excellence the 'bowie knife'. The term itself defied definition in those days as it does today, but a rough description would be a large sheath knife, usually with a small cross guard and a clipped point, whose story began in the American Southwest about 1830."〕 The knife pattern is still popular with collectors; in addition to various knife manufacturing companies there are hundreds of custom knife makers producing Bowies and variations. ==Historical complications== The early history of the Bowie knife is complicated by murky definitions, limited supporting documentation and conflicting claims. * The Bowie knife is not well defined. By the mid-20th century most would include some combination of blade length and blade shape. In the mid-19th century, when the popularity of the knife was at its peak, the term was applied to a wide range of blades.〔 Four definitions of "Bowie" knives had supporters (in the mid-20th century). All agree that they are sheath knives (basically short swords with a handle and a blade optionally separated by a guard). Some require a blade length; some require a clipped blade; some require both; some require neither for knives produced between 1830 and 1890.〕 Absent a consensus definition, it is impossible to clearly define the origin of the knife. To complicate matters, some American blades that meet the modern definition of the Bowie knife may pre-date Bowie.〔 "Nor was the "clip point" unknown in America, pre-Jim Bowie." (Acompanied by examples and references.)〕 * The Bowie knife obviously derives part of its name and reputation from James Bowie, a notorious knife fighter, who died at the Alamo. James Bowie left a very thin paper trail; in the absence of verifiable facts his history was buried in unverifiable knife-fighting legend. Historians seriously entertain the possibility that Bowie only fought one personal knife fight〔 "More nonsense has been written over the last century and a half about James Bowie and the Bowie knife than any other episode in his heavily mythologized life." "However, there is no verifiable account of him ever using any knife in a fight except once, in the Sandbar brawl, and there is no reason at all to doubt the statement of Rezin Bowie..."〕 (and that was not fought with a blade meeting the modern definition if Rezin Bowie's account is true). That Sandbar Fight received ''national'' publicity (accounts in Philadelphia, New York and the Niles Register of Washington, D.C.) within months of the event. James Bowie prominently wore a large knife after the Sandbar fight. * The Bowie family provided a variety of conflicting knife histories. James Bowie left nothing. His brother Rezin Bowie provided a terse history 2 years after James' death. Sixteen years after James' death someone (assumed to be James' brother John) slightly amended Rezin's explanation to include a blacksmith. Rezin's grandchildren named a different blacksmith. A later Bowie claimed that the information attributed to John was a lie and that John probably never saw the document, etc.〔 "If James Bowie ever wrote a single word about the original Bowie knife, that document has not surfaced. Unfortunately, even those who saw the knife could not agree about its dimensions." (Descriptions) "Curiously, Rezin's grandchildren contradicted their grandfather by asserting that Rezin's blacksmith, Jesse Clifft, actually forged the knife under Rezin's supervision. John Bowie and Caiaphas Ham both credited the knife to a blacksmith from Kentucky named Lovell Snowden."〕〔 Rezin Bowie's account is given in full and termed the "most important letter in Bowiedom".〕〔 Quotes of the later Bowie on John's presumed work: "...every statement I find untrue." "It is probable that John J. Bowie never knew of the article."〕 * In the mid-20th century a Bowie knife book author took liberties with the historical facts. Some documents were misquoted, some reported facts cannot be confirmed, etc. Others incorporated the errors into their accounts of both Bowie and his knives.〔 "Raymond Thorp's ''Bowie Knife'', privately published in 1948, is a dreadful work..." "Its citations are confused or erroneous, genuine quotations have been altered, and some material apparently simply invented."〕〔 "There is little doubt but that (''Bowie Knife'' ) is responsible, more than any other source, for perpetrating misinformation about the subject." "Among the most annoying faults with ''Bowie Knife'' was the author's marked tendency to alter direct, cited quotes from nineteenth century sources." "Perhaps Thorp's most mischievous perversion of a directly quoted passage pertains to Bowie knife schools in Saint Louis..." That perversion has corrupted both knife history (example: Peterson, ''American Knives'', 1958) and Bowie biography (example: Hopewell, ''James Bowie: Texas Fighting Man'', 1994).〕 * With no solid definition and conflicting accounts of knife history, many were credited with the invention or improvement of the blade.〔 "More than a dozen men have been credited with its invention; accordingly there exist a broad diversity of descriptions and dimensions; and at least as many men claimed to have acquired the knife."〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「bowie knife」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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