Shinto Katana Sword with Kit

Epitomizing the art of the Samurai sword maker, the Shinto Katana sword is hand crafted at the Dalian (China) forge of Chen Chao-po, the widely respected authority on the art of oriental swordmaking. Displaying features usually found only on original Samurai swords, these pieces provide a unique opportunity to own a katana sword of a quality usually found only in private collections, museums or in the Orient.

The tsuba (guard) is a finely-rendered dragon,coiled protectively around the sword blade. The dragon motif is also found on the menuki (hilt ornaments, under the the handle wrap) and the fuchi and kashira (front and rear pommels). The fittings are of fine bronze with subtle gold accents. The tsuka (grip) is genuine ray skin-covered wood, attached securely to the nakago (tang) with bamboo pegs. The tsuka-ito (grip wrapping) is Japanese cotton cord wrapped very tightly in the traditional pattern to display the ray skin and the menuki.

Forged in the maru-gitae style, the blade is tempered using the traditional clay process dating from 700 AD, producing a hard cutting edge (60 RC) while maintaining the body of the blade at 20 RC hardness for resilience and shock absorbtion. The blade's temper line (o-midari, meaning "turbulent sea") is one of the most beautiful and important features of the Japanese sword; many temper lines" are simply etched or ground into a blade and have no functional value but a true temper line indicates that the edge has been independently hardened in the traditional manner.

Other authentic details of the Shinto Katana sword include a traditional lacquer finished wood saya (scabbard), with a buffalo horn kojiri (end cap), koi-guchi (throat cap) and kuri-gata (wrapping cord eyelet). A dragon-embroidered kenye (fine-cloth bag) and a traditional sword maintenance kit are included, the latter containing sword blade oil, rice papers,oiling cloth, a powder ball for blade polishing and a brass awl and hammer.

Blade: 28-1/4", Overall: 39-1/4