Masahiro Dragon Ninja-To
Sept 15, 2009 2:47:06 GMT
Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2009 2:47:06 GMT
Masahiro has a notorious reputation for its inconsistent sword quality. However note that as long as you buy it from a trusted sword retailer you will get a fine piece!!
However moving on, the straight-blade Ninja-to is a westernized sword it was not used by ninja, ok I lied it was used by ninjas in Hollywood movies .
When I first got this sword I had no idea what to expect, as I've never really payed much attention to these types of swords, but I decided life's too short!
Masahiro Dragon Ninjato
By YakuzaDragon (me), Bayamon, Puerto Rico
I was not able to take a picture of the box it came in, but for those wondering, it came in your typical long cardboard box. Inside that box was a smaller white box with the sword inside. The sword was supported by styrofoam and was in a nice looking sword bag which was very tight around the tsuba. Was somewhat of a nuisance to get out, but eventually I did. I wish the box was more ornamental.
Here are the swords specifications:
Steel: 1065 Carbon Steel
Tsuka: 11.5 Inches (I measured it myself 8) ).
Blade: 27 Inches
Weight: 2.5 IBs
Price: $89 - $129
The claim anyway from Masahiro is that the ninja-to is made from 1065 carbon steel, I can neither confirm nor deny this. But anyway the first thing that caught my eye was the tsuba. Most ninja-to's I have seen are square(Tsuba), but this one is more rectangular than it is square. And yet it also has a kozuka hole which is usually found on katanas, very interesting. Another that caught my eye was the saya, it was very plain and dull, aka your typical black lacquered wooden saya. It has no artwork, or fancy detail to it like the Hanwei Ninja-to, or the Musashi Koga, this was somewhat disappointing, but it doesn't bother me too much. Anyway lets break it down!
Tsuba
Like I mentioned before the Tsuba is more rectangular then square, but of course this doesn't take away from the authenticity of the sword, so fear not!
Its made out of copper, and is painted over with a black-grey paint. It looks great as you can see, and has an etching of a dragon with both sides. Overall a very nice Tsuba, I wish it made of iron but oh well, for $100 I cannot demand gold when I payed for silver.
Tsuka
The Tsuka is wrapped with a synthetic but high quality leather, for those who have never held a sword with leather ito wrappings, its a lot easier to get a good grip with it, however in the presence of moisture (water, sweat, etc), it becomes difficult to do so, and the feel might be just not what your accustomed to, but this is to be expected.
The same is real ray skin, and the menuki are also made of copper(shocker!), they appear to be a dragon holding something, but don't take my word for it. One thing I noticed was that one of the mekugi pegs seemed forced in, this bothered me at first, but it really doesn't take away from the sword at all.
And lastly, the kashira for some reason looks a bit lop sided to me, my dad says it looks fine, maybe thats just me, but again its very tight on the Tsuka. Overall the Tsuka is very well put together, I have no complaints about it, the ito is especially very tight around the same which surprised me, because some swords have very loose ito's, but not this one!
The Blade
The blade looks very nice for the price! The blade is kind of thick for a ninja-to which surprised me, I expected it to be a lot thinner, but really it looks to me like a katana blade without the sori (curve). It has etchings on both sides, one of the Masahiro trademark, and the other a dragon.
Despite being as thick as a katana blade, it has no blood groove which is nice. The hamon despite being etched on is very well done, and looks great!
The kissaki was a bit strange its unlike the Hanwei Ninja-to, instead it looks like a katanas kissaki(or similar at least), I tried doing what Paul did by stabbing a punching bag, it went halfway, I feel this was due to the blades thickness, but my bag was foam, and I'm not sure if Paul's was foam too. Going back the Shinogi-Ji sadly is not mirror polished, this doesn't surprise me, but I wish it was!
And of course comes the question on many people's minds, how sharp is this sword? Well I like to break sword sharpness into 5 categories which are:
1. No Edge: The sword literally has no edge, don't even try to cut anything with it!
2. Fake Edge: The sword has what appears to be an edge, but still cannot be used for cutting, do not even try!
3. Decent: The edge is semi-sharp and could probably cut through a milk jug filled with water, but would send a water bottle flying. Its functionality is debatable.
4. Well Sharpened: This sword has a sharp edge, and if your not careful you can cut yourself, this edge can be used for cutting milk jugs, water bottles, tamegashiri mats, wooden branches, etc.
5. Razor Sharp: This edge is as sharp as it gets, you could drop an apple on the edge and watch as it splits into two, BE VERY CAREFUL with a sword of this grade!!!
Of course the edge of a sword does not determine its functionality, but 4 & 5 depend heavily if the sword is full tang, heat tempered, and made of carbon steel. In any case I give the sword a 4, I don't think its razor sharp, but it comes with a great edge on it!
Handling
There isn't really much to say, the sword is light, and easy to swing, I tried using it indoors and lets just say I won't be doing it again lol.
I was worried at first that it wouldn't be very aerodynamically friendly, but I was wrong!
Cutting
I decided first to cut through three milk jugs(no pics sorry, they were thrown out ), and it cut through all 3 without any resistance, I then stabbed through two of them, very nice I thought.
I decided to step up my game and cut some water bottles, I like to cut the tops off, and alas here are the results:
I cut one of them with a straight slash, it worked better than I thought it did.
After running short of bottles, I found some other things, filled them with water and slashed through them with no problem, see for yourself!
Very nice eh?
I then decided to see if it could cut down some tree branches, I was very impressed with the results!
This sword truly is very well built, sharp and durable!
Grand Finale
Historical Accuracy: N/A
Since this Ninja-to never existed historically I don't feel this applies.
Fit and Finish: 3.5/5
I was blown away by how ornamental the sword was for $100, the reason I give it a 3.5 instead of the full 5 is the mekugi peg, but other than that I have no complaints! Also I wish the you know what was mirror polish. Also what impacted this was the saya I would have settled for Ninja kanji like on the Koga but noooo .
Handling 4/5
I give it a 4/5 because the sword is a bit loose in the Saya(forgot to mention), other than that its light, and fully functional. And I can't really think of anything better that could be done in this department.
Structural Integrity 5/5
I never thought a Ninja-to could be so well built, after putting it through hell its still sharp, and doesn't shake, and has no problems! I will never doubt Masahiro again! Granted its from a reputable retailer.
Value for the Wallet 5/5
This is the best Ninja Sword you can get for $100 and under, with the Hanwei Ninja-to being the king. The koga is good too, but looks too practical imo.
Overall 4/5 (Excellent)
This simply put is the best looking and performing Ninjato for under $100, sure it falls short against the Hanwei Ninja-to, in fact if you have $170-$200 to spend I suggest buying the Hanwei, but if you want a good starting Ninja-to, or are tight on $$ this or the Musashi Koga are both very good! But between the Koga and this, I prefer this one because it looks better hehe
Where to buy
This sword can be bought at www.trueswords.com or www.Swordsofdestiny.com which is where I bought mine for $99, I like swords of destiny because they offer free shipping, but they have UPS, which takes forever to arrive at my location. It can also be bought at any of the places in the Site's Directory, but these two sites offer the best price!
Well thats my review guys, thank you for looking, and I know there is alrdy a review for this sword, but I couldn't hold back the thoughts I have for this sword! Also sorry for my unorthodox format.
- YakuzaDragon
However moving on, the straight-blade Ninja-to is a westernized sword it was not used by ninja, ok I lied it was used by ninjas in Hollywood movies .
When I first got this sword I had no idea what to expect, as I've never really payed much attention to these types of swords, but I decided life's too short!
Masahiro Dragon Ninjato
By YakuzaDragon (me), Bayamon, Puerto Rico
I was not able to take a picture of the box it came in, but for those wondering, it came in your typical long cardboard box. Inside that box was a smaller white box with the sword inside. The sword was supported by styrofoam and was in a nice looking sword bag which was very tight around the tsuba. Was somewhat of a nuisance to get out, but eventually I did. I wish the box was more ornamental.
Here are the swords specifications:
Steel: 1065 Carbon Steel
Tsuka: 11.5 Inches (I measured it myself 8) ).
Blade: 27 Inches
Weight: 2.5 IBs
Price: $89 - $129
The claim anyway from Masahiro is that the ninja-to is made from 1065 carbon steel, I can neither confirm nor deny this. But anyway the first thing that caught my eye was the tsuba. Most ninja-to's I have seen are square(Tsuba), but this one is more rectangular than it is square. And yet it also has a kozuka hole which is usually found on katanas, very interesting. Another that caught my eye was the saya, it was very plain and dull, aka your typical black lacquered wooden saya. It has no artwork, or fancy detail to it like the Hanwei Ninja-to, or the Musashi Koga, this was somewhat disappointing, but it doesn't bother me too much. Anyway lets break it down!
Tsuba
Like I mentioned before the Tsuba is more rectangular then square, but of course this doesn't take away from the authenticity of the sword, so fear not!
Its made out of copper, and is painted over with a black-grey paint. It looks great as you can see, and has an etching of a dragon with both sides. Overall a very nice Tsuba, I wish it made of iron but oh well, for $100 I cannot demand gold when I payed for silver.
Tsuka
The Tsuka is wrapped with a synthetic but high quality leather, for those who have never held a sword with leather ito wrappings, its a lot easier to get a good grip with it, however in the presence of moisture (water, sweat, etc), it becomes difficult to do so, and the feel might be just not what your accustomed to, but this is to be expected.
The same is real ray skin, and the menuki are also made of copper(shocker!), they appear to be a dragon holding something, but don't take my word for it. One thing I noticed was that one of the mekugi pegs seemed forced in, this bothered me at first, but it really doesn't take away from the sword at all.
And lastly, the kashira for some reason looks a bit lop sided to me, my dad says it looks fine, maybe thats just me, but again its very tight on the Tsuka. Overall the Tsuka is very well put together, I have no complaints about it, the ito is especially very tight around the same which surprised me, because some swords have very loose ito's, but not this one!
The Blade
The blade looks very nice for the price! The blade is kind of thick for a ninja-to which surprised me, I expected it to be a lot thinner, but really it looks to me like a katana blade without the sori (curve). It has etchings on both sides, one of the Masahiro trademark, and the other a dragon.
Despite being as thick as a katana blade, it has no blood groove which is nice. The hamon despite being etched on is very well done, and looks great!
The kissaki was a bit strange its unlike the Hanwei Ninja-to, instead it looks like a katanas kissaki(or similar at least), I tried doing what Paul did by stabbing a punching bag, it went halfway, I feel this was due to the blades thickness, but my bag was foam, and I'm not sure if Paul's was foam too. Going back the Shinogi-Ji sadly is not mirror polished, this doesn't surprise me, but I wish it was!
And of course comes the question on many people's minds, how sharp is this sword? Well I like to break sword sharpness into 5 categories which are:
1. No Edge: The sword literally has no edge, don't even try to cut anything with it!
2. Fake Edge: The sword has what appears to be an edge, but still cannot be used for cutting, do not even try!
3. Decent: The edge is semi-sharp and could probably cut through a milk jug filled with water, but would send a water bottle flying. Its functionality is debatable.
4. Well Sharpened: This sword has a sharp edge, and if your not careful you can cut yourself, this edge can be used for cutting milk jugs, water bottles, tamegashiri mats, wooden branches, etc.
5. Razor Sharp: This edge is as sharp as it gets, you could drop an apple on the edge and watch as it splits into two, BE VERY CAREFUL with a sword of this grade!!!
Of course the edge of a sword does not determine its functionality, but 4 & 5 depend heavily if the sword is full tang, heat tempered, and made of carbon steel. In any case I give the sword a 4, I don't think its razor sharp, but it comes with a great edge on it!
Handling
There isn't really much to say, the sword is light, and easy to swing, I tried using it indoors and lets just say I won't be doing it again lol.
I was worried at first that it wouldn't be very aerodynamically friendly, but I was wrong!
Cutting
I decided first to cut through three milk jugs(no pics sorry, they were thrown out ), and it cut through all 3 without any resistance, I then stabbed through two of them, very nice I thought.
I decided to step up my game and cut some water bottles, I like to cut the tops off, and alas here are the results:
I cut one of them with a straight slash, it worked better than I thought it did.
After running short of bottles, I found some other things, filled them with water and slashed through them with no problem, see for yourself!
Very nice eh?
I then decided to see if it could cut down some tree branches, I was very impressed with the results!
This sword truly is very well built, sharp and durable!
Grand Finale
Historical Accuracy: N/A
Since this Ninja-to never existed historically I don't feel this applies.
Fit and Finish: 3.5/5
I was blown away by how ornamental the sword was for $100, the reason I give it a 3.5 instead of the full 5 is the mekugi peg, but other than that I have no complaints! Also I wish the you know what was mirror polish. Also what impacted this was the saya I would have settled for Ninja kanji like on the Koga but noooo .
Handling 4/5
I give it a 4/5 because the sword is a bit loose in the Saya(forgot to mention), other than that its light, and fully functional. And I can't really think of anything better that could be done in this department.
Structural Integrity 5/5
I never thought a Ninja-to could be so well built, after putting it through hell its still sharp, and doesn't shake, and has no problems! I will never doubt Masahiro again! Granted its from a reputable retailer.
Value for the Wallet 5/5
This is the best Ninja Sword you can get for $100 and under, with the Hanwei Ninja-to being the king. The koga is good too, but looks too practical imo.
Overall 4/5 (Excellent)
This simply put is the best looking and performing Ninjato for under $100, sure it falls short against the Hanwei Ninja-to, in fact if you have $170-$200 to spend I suggest buying the Hanwei, but if you want a good starting Ninja-to, or are tight on $$ this or the Musashi Koga are both very good! But between the Koga and this, I prefer this one because it looks better hehe
Where to buy
This sword can be bought at www.trueswords.com or www.Swordsofdestiny.com which is where I bought mine for $99, I like swords of destiny because they offer free shipping, but they have UPS, which takes forever to arrive at my location. It can also be bought at any of the places in the Site's Directory, but these two sites offer the best price!
Well thats my review guys, thank you for looking, and I know there is alrdy a review for this sword, but I couldn't hold back the thoughts I have for this sword! Also sorry for my unorthodox format.
- YakuzaDragon