Using a sheet of rice paper from the kit or a soft cotton cloth, remove any oil that is still on the blade from the previous maintenance. There are three steps: removing oil, polishing the blade and oiling the blade. You can purchase a traditional sword cleaning kit that will have everything you need. Having a regular cleaning routine in place is key to maintaining your katana. This is achieved by having the two parts of the blade cooling at different speeds during the forging process. A katana’s blade needs to have a harder edge for retention and a softer spine for flexibility. What is that wavy line running down my blade?Īlso known as the hamon, it’s the visual divide between the harder and softer metal of the blade. It comes in many shapes and designs from basic to highly ornamental. This is, basically, the handguard on a katana and it sits between the blade collar or habaki, which is at the top of the blade, and the handle or tsuka. Are you looking for a sword to use or just as a decorative item to wear or display? Once you decide to what purpose you will be using your sword, then, take a look at the different variety of designs and ornamentation that can be found and choose the one that fits your personality, style and budget. The first thing that needs to be taken into consideration is display versus functional. What should I look for when buying a katana?.This weapon was used for slashing and stabbing motions in combat not necessarily for blocking or clashing. The blade is sheathed in a scabbard, which is traditionally made of lacquered wood. The handle is long and traditionally wrapped in rayskin and then a "braid" of silk or cotton. It has a curved, single-edged blade that is slender and a square or circular guard. The katana is a Japanese sword used by Samurai, an aristocratic warrior class in feudal Japan. These katanas are truly inspired and unique with always evolving forging processes to create blades with blue Damascus steel, HellFyre Damascus and clay-tempered T10 high carbon steel, among others. This is because tachi and katana blades are traditionally displayed in the orientation in which they would originally have been worn on the body.Hand-forged by expert swordsmiths with generations of knowledge behind them, the Japanese katanas offers are beyond compare. You may notice that in photographs of Japanese swords that some are positioned with the blades facing up and others with the blades facing down. In contrast, the new katana could be worn inserted into the sash, with the blade facing up. The heavier and longer tachi was worn slung from the waist, with the blade facing down. The change in type of of sword also influenced how they were worn. While the very long tachi had been the main type of blade up through the middle of the Muromachi period (1392–1573), it was thereafter replaced with the shorter, lighter uchigatana, or katana. The fighting ended with the advent of the Tokugawa Shogunate, which led to significant changes in the demand, supply, and crafting methods for swords. (There are also additional subcategories that signify various differences within the different time periods.) The Battle of Sekigahara of 1600 is often cited as the borderline between "old" and "new" Japanese swords in other words, the type of swords made and used in Japan changed dramatically in the years surrounding the Keichō era (1596–1615). Historically, sword production falls into three broad categories:”old swords” (kotō), ”new swords” (shintō) and ”new,new swords” (shinshintō).
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