Destiny Blade Custom Ko-katana Review
May 17, 2010 4:38:20 GMT
Post by Deleted on May 17, 2010 4:38:20 GMT
This is a review of a Destiny Blade custom ko-katana purchased pre-owned from Michael of Blue Lotus Dojo. It is based on the Masarao Ko-katana.
- Introduction -
I have always liked short, fast blades and was looking at Cheness ko-katanas for my next purchase, but the quality control of Cheness had me a bit on the fence. Short blades of good quality are somewhat hard to come by, at least in my budget. I almost bought one of the Masarao ko-katanas several months ago when it was briefly offered for sale by a forum member (he took it off the market). Since then I kept my eyes open for something I wanted, but nothing really jumped out at me until I found this, offered for an unbeatable price. I had always assumed that I could never really afford a sword in this class, and I feel lucky to have gotten it so cheap.
- Historical Overview -
Several schools of japanese swordsmanship have kata for shorter swords, as I have read... short bladed swords were better suited for fighting indoors, and cleared the scabbard faster than a full-length katana. Also, shorter swords (under 2 shaku in length, a shaku is about 11.9 inches) were the only type of swords allowed to be carried by persons of non-samurai class, at least after the Muromachi period. It's a point of debate whether the word "ko-katana" has any basis in historical fact; swords of this type would probably be called "shoto" or perhaps "kodachi"... to differentiate themselves from being a wakizashi (a sword with a similarly short blade, but with a shorter tsuka; mainly made for one handed use as an auxiliary sword to the katana).
- Initial Impressions -
The sword came well packaged, in two concentric cardboard boxes. It was also in a very nice flowered sword bag, like the high-end chinese sword retailers. My first thought was it is very well built and on the heavy side for a ko-katana; it's about the same weight as some of my lighter full-length swords and might be quite challenging to wield one-handed. I also noticed the repairs to the outside of the saya, which was said to have swelled and cracked slightly in it's previous climate. I didn't see any cracks though. The saya has also been very discreetly and expertly shimmed. Everything on this sword is nice and tight. The ito is slightly discolored on the knots, likely from it's use in cutting and dry handling by the previous owner. There are also light scratches on the blade from cutting. The polish is still super good, I should mention.
- Statistics -
Blade/nagasa length : 23 1/4" from tip to habaki
Handle/Tsuka length : 10 1/4"
Overall length : 36 1/4" (with saya)
Guard/Tsuba width : 3"
Weight : just over 2 pounds
- Components -
Blade :
This sword is 1095 steel, differentially hardened. It has a nice, beefy blade with some niku and without bohi. The hamon is a beautiful double gunome tapering into what I think might be called "suguha hotsure" (stray straight) pattern. The hamon is visible through the kissaki, with a very tiny turn-back just able to be seen. It came to me extremely sharp.
The yokote is (YES!) geometric! I do think the shaping of it is a tad rough, but someone worked very hard on this blade. It seems this yokote was created entirely by stock removal, and it seems that at the yokote line the ha ends and a new edge begins just a quarter millimeter or so below the original edge. I don't know if it is visible in the pics, but the yokote line and the swords edge don't seem to quite flow together. I'm not sure how normal that is, since this is the first sword I've ever handled with a geometric yokote. I think I could smooth it out, but I'm afraid to damage the edge in the process.
Oh, and the habaki is brass and very decent, and the seppa are copper.
It has some niku... notice how the reflected image is slightly warped.
Tsuka :
The tsuka is ostensibly a rewrapped Masarao tsuka, with blackened samegawa and red chemical silk ito. It's done pretty well and is quite tight, and the diamonds are well aligned and uniform in size. The menuki look to be dragons clutching pearls, and are brass in color. The mekugi are black and thicker than most, and are only visible from one side of the tsuka (the wrap covers them on the other side).
There is about 1mm of wood visible on one side of the tsuka just below the fuchi. That is my only real complaint with the tsuka. I'm not too worried about the minor discoloration of the ito - if that was a concern I wouldn't be buying pre-owned swords. The ito doesn't alternate, but I've yet to see a production sword that offers that.
Tsuba:
Seems quite solid, probably iron colored to appear as brass, or possibly a swap for a brass tsuba. It's a dragon motif, following the theme of the blade.
Fuchi/Kashira:
Brass, dragons clutching pearls. All are solid and immobile.
Saya :
Thicker feeling wood than I am used to, with obvious horn accents. Black, with a pebble matte finish. The sword does rattle in the saya a bit.
- Handling Characteristics -
This sword is heavy for a ko-katana, and without bo-hi it's hard to know whether my form is good when I dry handle it. It's pretty quick to handle, but it does not feel like it would be good for a novice. I should train some more before I try to cut with it.
Sorry, no cutting has been done with this one by me yet. There are some cutting vids on youtube from the board member that owns the Masarao though, and it cuts incredibly well.
- Conclusions -
This would probably be an excellent cutter for someone in a JSA that uses shorter blades such as the Bujinkan federation. It's also a beautiful and very well-made sword. I think it is just a BIT expensive (The Masarao ko-katana is offered at $400), and a tad heavy for my taste, but that's probably just me being wimpy.
Pros:
Beautiful blade and excellent polish
Geometric yokote
Good fittings
Cons:
Expensive
Small issues such as saya rattle, rough kissaki polish, non-alternating ito, paneled samegawa
- Bottom line -
These are at the extreme of the board's target price range, but I think they are overall probably the best ko-katanas offered as production swords in the sub-$500 range at the moment, with the possible exception of the high-end, limited-production version of the Nisshoku from SwordNarmory.
Thanks again to Blue Lotus Dojo for this unique addition to my collection!
Thanks for reading!
- Introduction -
I have always liked short, fast blades and was looking at Cheness ko-katanas for my next purchase, but the quality control of Cheness had me a bit on the fence. Short blades of good quality are somewhat hard to come by, at least in my budget. I almost bought one of the Masarao ko-katanas several months ago when it was briefly offered for sale by a forum member (he took it off the market). Since then I kept my eyes open for something I wanted, but nothing really jumped out at me until I found this, offered for an unbeatable price. I had always assumed that I could never really afford a sword in this class, and I feel lucky to have gotten it so cheap.
- Historical Overview -
Several schools of japanese swordsmanship have kata for shorter swords, as I have read... short bladed swords were better suited for fighting indoors, and cleared the scabbard faster than a full-length katana. Also, shorter swords (under 2 shaku in length, a shaku is about 11.9 inches) were the only type of swords allowed to be carried by persons of non-samurai class, at least after the Muromachi period. It's a point of debate whether the word "ko-katana" has any basis in historical fact; swords of this type would probably be called "shoto" or perhaps "kodachi"... to differentiate themselves from being a wakizashi (a sword with a similarly short blade, but with a shorter tsuka; mainly made for one handed use as an auxiliary sword to the katana).
- Initial Impressions -
The sword came well packaged, in two concentric cardboard boxes. It was also in a very nice flowered sword bag, like the high-end chinese sword retailers. My first thought was it is very well built and on the heavy side for a ko-katana; it's about the same weight as some of my lighter full-length swords and might be quite challenging to wield one-handed. I also noticed the repairs to the outside of the saya, which was said to have swelled and cracked slightly in it's previous climate. I didn't see any cracks though. The saya has also been very discreetly and expertly shimmed. Everything on this sword is nice and tight. The ito is slightly discolored on the knots, likely from it's use in cutting and dry handling by the previous owner. There are also light scratches on the blade from cutting. The polish is still super good, I should mention.
- Statistics -
Blade/nagasa length : 23 1/4" from tip to habaki
Handle/Tsuka length : 10 1/4"
Overall length : 36 1/4" (with saya)
Guard/Tsuba width : 3"
Weight : just over 2 pounds
- Components -
Blade :
This sword is 1095 steel, differentially hardened. It has a nice, beefy blade with some niku and without bohi. The hamon is a beautiful double gunome tapering into what I think might be called "suguha hotsure" (stray straight) pattern. The hamon is visible through the kissaki, with a very tiny turn-back just able to be seen. It came to me extremely sharp.
The yokote is (YES!) geometric! I do think the shaping of it is a tad rough, but someone worked very hard on this blade. It seems this yokote was created entirely by stock removal, and it seems that at the yokote line the ha ends and a new edge begins just a quarter millimeter or so below the original edge. I don't know if it is visible in the pics, but the yokote line and the swords edge don't seem to quite flow together. I'm not sure how normal that is, since this is the first sword I've ever handled with a geometric yokote. I think I could smooth it out, but I'm afraid to damage the edge in the process.
Oh, and the habaki is brass and very decent, and the seppa are copper.
It has some niku... notice how the reflected image is slightly warped.
Tsuka :
The tsuka is ostensibly a rewrapped Masarao tsuka, with blackened samegawa and red chemical silk ito. It's done pretty well and is quite tight, and the diamonds are well aligned and uniform in size. The menuki look to be dragons clutching pearls, and are brass in color. The mekugi are black and thicker than most, and are only visible from one side of the tsuka (the wrap covers them on the other side).
There is about 1mm of wood visible on one side of the tsuka just below the fuchi. That is my only real complaint with the tsuka. I'm not too worried about the minor discoloration of the ito - if that was a concern I wouldn't be buying pre-owned swords. The ito doesn't alternate, but I've yet to see a production sword that offers that.
Tsuba:
Seems quite solid, probably iron colored to appear as brass, or possibly a swap for a brass tsuba. It's a dragon motif, following the theme of the blade.
Fuchi/Kashira:
Brass, dragons clutching pearls. All are solid and immobile.
Saya :
Thicker feeling wood than I am used to, with obvious horn accents. Black, with a pebble matte finish. The sword does rattle in the saya a bit.
- Handling Characteristics -
This sword is heavy for a ko-katana, and without bo-hi it's hard to know whether my form is good when I dry handle it. It's pretty quick to handle, but it does not feel like it would be good for a novice. I should train some more before I try to cut with it.
Sorry, no cutting has been done with this one by me yet. There are some cutting vids on youtube from the board member that owns the Masarao though, and it cuts incredibly well.
- Conclusions -
This would probably be an excellent cutter for someone in a JSA that uses shorter blades such as the Bujinkan federation. It's also a beautiful and very well-made sword. I think it is just a BIT expensive (The Masarao ko-katana is offered at $400), and a tad heavy for my taste, but that's probably just me being wimpy.
Pros:
Beautiful blade and excellent polish
Geometric yokote
Good fittings
Cons:
Expensive
Small issues such as saya rattle, rough kissaki polish, non-alternating ito, paneled samegawa
- Bottom line -
These are at the extreme of the board's target price range, but I think they are overall probably the best ko-katanas offered as production swords in the sub-$500 range at the moment, with the possible exception of the high-end, limited-production version of the Nisshoku from SwordNarmory.
Thanks again to Blue Lotus Dojo for this unique addition to my collection!
Thanks for reading!