TATARA WOMAN (women who push foot bellows)

Para los que me preguntábais por el significado de "Tatara", aquí os va:
Basicamente es el nombre asignado al proceso de fabricación de hierro japonés y al lugar mismo, osea, la fragua. También con el nombre de Tatara se designaban a las mujeres que, trabajando en estas fraguas con un continuo ejercico de sus pies, articulaban los enormes fuelles que alimentaban las calderas. De ahí el nombre (women who push foot belows).

A "Tatara" is a traditional Japanese iron making foundry. It is also the name of the iron making process. The manufacturing method uses iron sands and charcoal to produce iron at low temperatures. It yields a very pure, high quality iron, and from this, a superior steel is created.
Japanese swords can only be made from base iron produced in a tatara.
There is wonderful photography of a working tatara, as well as great modeling of foundry designs, so you can see in clear detail how early Japanese foundries produced the high quality steel used in swords. There are also many old Edo period documents and artworks pertaining to steel making, and the design and layout of foundries.