Skyjiro Hanabira Katana
Sept 1, 2016 16:32:27 GMT
Post by lowkick on Sept 1, 2016 16:32:27 GMT
Hello all, I'm a complete noob when it comes to swords, so keep in mind that this review is from that perspective. I wanted to share my personal experiences since I myself was unable to find reviews on the company that made my sword, other than that thread which had that same guy multi-accounting with all infamous ppl's names, and general consensus that the blades are good, but overpriced?
I've always had a fascination with medieval/knight type swords as well as katanas, and a few weeks ago I decided to purchase my first sword ever, and leaned towards getting a katana. I did quite a bit of research over the internet so that I could be better informed, since I didn't have much of a clue on what I should be looking for, such as brand, type of steel used, pricing, etc.
I looked at several different katanas across different websites. I decided to forgo ebay and stick to online stores that had good reputations. After researching katanas, my criteria was that I wanted one that was practical and durable, assembled well, and more importantly to me, one that was within my budget ($300-$600), and aesthetically pleasing. I ended up with a handful of choices, but ultimately I picked the Skyjiro since it was the most aesthetically pleasing to me.
I purchased the katana from Swordnarmory's online store since they had a $50 discount which dropped the price to $499, all other retailers had it at $547. I ordered it on Aug 25th, and received it yesterday, Aug 31st. It came in a 4 foot cardboard box, packed inside a styrofoam container that had the inside cut out to roughly fit the katana's shape. Transaction through swordnarmory went without a hitch, and the packaging they had for my sword seemed solid, so no complaints there.
Specs, copied and pasted from Swordnarmory's site:
Detailed Specs of the Hanabira Flower Petals Samurai Katana Sword:
Blade: The blade has been constructed of 1085 monosteel which is then differentially hardened with a suguha midare hamon. There is an extended chu kissaki with defined yokote.
Saya: The saya has a black gloss finish with a buffalo horn koiguchi, and thick blue silk sageo tied over a wooden kurikata with white bronze shitodome.
Koshirae: The habaki is made of white brass with the crossed feathers family crest engraved on both sides with white brass seppa and a dual toned tsuba. The tsuba has a round polished rim and blackened center. There are sukashi flower cutouts. The fuchi and kashira feature a flower crest, with matching menuki. The blue silk ito is wrapped tightly over hishigami.
Overall Length: 41.25 "
Nagasa Length: 29"
Tsuka Length: 11.25 "
Point of Balance: 5.5 "
Sori: 0.7"
Weight W/O Saya: 2lbs 11oz
Tsuba Material: White Bronze
Blade: Sharp
Blade Material: 1085 Steel
Ito: Blue Silk
Sageo: Blue Thick Silk
Fittings: White Bronze
Mekugi: Double Pinned Bamboo
Condition: Brand New
So after unpackaging the katana, I did an inspection on it, and here are my thoughts, again this is coming from someone that is noobish and this is my first sword so I don't have any prior experience to compare it to:
Initial impression was. "This thing is fking sweet!!! Now I can go ninja mode and give those evil empty milk jugs that I've been hoarding, what's coming to them!" After giddying like a little school girl for 5 minutes, I decided to take more scrutinizing look-over at my katana.
First thing I look at is the saya. Has a nice black gloss finish, I can see the buffalo horn koiguchi, slight disappointment that there isn't any on the kojiri but the specs didn't say it had it there anyways, no big deal. I've handled silk clothing before, which is nice and thin and silky! I have no clue if thick silk should look/feel similar to normal silk so I have no clue if sageo and ito are genuinely real since they don't feel like the silk I'm used to. I'm assuming they are real since they look the same as silk ones I've seen on youtube vids. There was one major, glaring problem with the saya which I didn't notice until later. I don't know what the types of sageo knots are called, it came with the sageo tied near the kojiri end. I decided to try and do a traditional knot since I like how they look. So the problem I had was when I started to attempt to do the presentation knot, I noticed that the shitodome was completely missing! In the grand scheme of things I don't see how it matters too much since it doesn't affect my sword itself, but as a consumer, purchasing something, especially for $500 and there being some missing parts is unacceptable to me. I just got the sword yesterday so I haven't had time to resolve this matter yet.
The entrance to the saya appears to be crafted well. While the katana is sheathed, it doesn't move/rattle, and holding just the saya upsidedown and shaking it gently, the katana is firmly held in place.
Anyways, moving on to the actual sword now. I love the theme of the sword, which was the deciding factor on why I bought it, I also like the white bronze finish on the habaki and seppas. The ito looks well wrapped, it's tight and the diamond pattern is pretty similar throughout. The fuchi is ever so slightly loose. When I try to jiggle it, I can hear it moving, but I can't see it, but when holding the katana the jiggle is very noticeable to the touch. That's issue #1 with the katana, which leads me to the 2nd issue. I was tried to remove the tsuka so that I could fix the fuchi, but I am unable to remove either of the mekugi with the brass hammer I bought specifically for it. I can't tell which way the pegs are supposed to remove from, so I tried both ways and they just aren't budging. I tried to use a normal carpenter's hammer with the brass pin/peg remover from the brass hammer, but all that did was bend the brass pin and made an imprint on the mekugi. So issue #2 is I can't remove the mekugi, so I can't remove the tsuka, so I can't fix the darn fuchi. The moving fuchi bothers me since I feel it when I hold the katana, so I'll eventually have to address this problem. I don't know of a remedy to this other than drilling out the old pegs and replacing them. The meguki being stuck I think is due to poor craftsmanship. The rayskin one side of a meguki is strutted out around it, either because the hole they drilled is smaller than the meguki, or because after they drilled the hole, they didn't "deburr" the other side of the hole.
Other than those 2 issues, everything else is good. I did half expect to be not able to remove the mekugi since I've read how difficult they could be to remove in production katanas, but the loose fuchi bothers me a lot. The tsuba, seppas, and habaki are all super snug with no movement whatsoever.
Last thing to go over is the blade itself. I'm not sure how the blade was constructed, but I do not see any hammer/machine imprints when I look down at the side profile of the blade, it's extremely smooth and straight. No imperfections that I can see. The polish seems good, the sword isn't folded I don't think so nothing really to look at. There is a hamon on the blade which is pretty straight with no wavy-like pattern. I think a wavy one would have been more interesting, but I also kinda like the clean/simplistic look it gives. Only problem I have with the blade is the kissaki. It's noticeably darker then the rest of the blade, I don't know if that's intended or what, but it doesn't look good to me. Also, on one side the polish isn't good at the kissaki and I can see scuff marks from whatever was used to grind it.
Alright, so now to wrap everything up.
From the very very few reviews on this sword that I've come across, I've read that it cuts well and is durable, but none of the reviews compared it to other swords so that doesn't tell me too much. I wish I knew how it compared to a RK dojo pro/elite or a Hanwei PK just so I could have an idea on how good/bad the price is of the hanabira. The hanabira is in the lowest grade bracket of katanas that Skyjiro offers. I know that people were saying that Skyjiros were overpriced, but they were mentioning the "higher end" line of katanas that Skyjiro offers, didn't find any info on the lower end line.
I think the hanabira is constructed very well, as a whole. The fuchi being slightly loose I don't think is too much of a big deal. Could be caused by a natural result, like I don't expect all their katanas to have loose fuchis. Same thing with the missing shitodome, it's listed in the specs so it should be there on other katanas. The issues I do have with the hanabira is the bad polish on the kissaki, it's still smooth, but I can see scuff marks on one side which is due the craftsmanship, and the meguki/pegs don't come out, which unsure if due to poor craftsmanship or if it's just my katana that happened to.
TLDR:
Is it worth the price? I don't have any buyer's remorse and I'm happy with the product. I really like the design and colors, and the katana is well constructed so it was worth it for me. As far as the price goes for actual use/cutting I don't know, read that it cuts well and is durable. Hanwei practical katanas and Ronin Katana dojo pros have plenty of positive reviews for cutting so you may want to look into them instead since they are tried and true, they are cheaper as well.
I've always had a fascination with medieval/knight type swords as well as katanas, and a few weeks ago I decided to purchase my first sword ever, and leaned towards getting a katana. I did quite a bit of research over the internet so that I could be better informed, since I didn't have much of a clue on what I should be looking for, such as brand, type of steel used, pricing, etc.
I looked at several different katanas across different websites. I decided to forgo ebay and stick to online stores that had good reputations. After researching katanas, my criteria was that I wanted one that was practical and durable, assembled well, and more importantly to me, one that was within my budget ($300-$600), and aesthetically pleasing. I ended up with a handful of choices, but ultimately I picked the Skyjiro since it was the most aesthetically pleasing to me.
I purchased the katana from Swordnarmory's online store since they had a $50 discount which dropped the price to $499, all other retailers had it at $547. I ordered it on Aug 25th, and received it yesterday, Aug 31st. It came in a 4 foot cardboard box, packed inside a styrofoam container that had the inside cut out to roughly fit the katana's shape. Transaction through swordnarmory went without a hitch, and the packaging they had for my sword seemed solid, so no complaints there.
Specs, copied and pasted from Swordnarmory's site:
Detailed Specs of the Hanabira Flower Petals Samurai Katana Sword:
Blade: The blade has been constructed of 1085 monosteel which is then differentially hardened with a suguha midare hamon. There is an extended chu kissaki with defined yokote.
Saya: The saya has a black gloss finish with a buffalo horn koiguchi, and thick blue silk sageo tied over a wooden kurikata with white bronze shitodome.
Koshirae: The habaki is made of white brass with the crossed feathers family crest engraved on both sides with white brass seppa and a dual toned tsuba. The tsuba has a round polished rim and blackened center. There are sukashi flower cutouts. The fuchi and kashira feature a flower crest, with matching menuki. The blue silk ito is wrapped tightly over hishigami.
Overall Length: 41.25 "
Nagasa Length: 29"
Tsuka Length: 11.25 "
Point of Balance: 5.5 "
Sori: 0.7"
Weight W/O Saya: 2lbs 11oz
Tsuba Material: White Bronze
Blade: Sharp
Blade Material: 1085 Steel
Ito: Blue Silk
Sageo: Blue Thick Silk
Fittings: White Bronze
Mekugi: Double Pinned Bamboo
Condition: Brand New
So after unpackaging the katana, I did an inspection on it, and here are my thoughts, again this is coming from someone that is noobish and this is my first sword so I don't have any prior experience to compare it to:
Initial impression was. "This thing is fking sweet!!! Now I can go ninja mode and give those evil empty milk jugs that I've been hoarding, what's coming to them!" After giddying like a little school girl for 5 minutes, I decided to take more scrutinizing look-over at my katana.
First thing I look at is the saya. Has a nice black gloss finish, I can see the buffalo horn koiguchi, slight disappointment that there isn't any on the kojiri but the specs didn't say it had it there anyways, no big deal. I've handled silk clothing before, which is nice and thin and silky! I have no clue if thick silk should look/feel similar to normal silk so I have no clue if sageo and ito are genuinely real since they don't feel like the silk I'm used to. I'm assuming they are real since they look the same as silk ones I've seen on youtube vids. There was one major, glaring problem with the saya which I didn't notice until later. I don't know what the types of sageo knots are called, it came with the sageo tied near the kojiri end. I decided to try and do a traditional knot since I like how they look. So the problem I had was when I started to attempt to do the presentation knot, I noticed that the shitodome was completely missing! In the grand scheme of things I don't see how it matters too much since it doesn't affect my sword itself, but as a consumer, purchasing something, especially for $500 and there being some missing parts is unacceptable to me. I just got the sword yesterday so I haven't had time to resolve this matter yet.
The entrance to the saya appears to be crafted well. While the katana is sheathed, it doesn't move/rattle, and holding just the saya upsidedown and shaking it gently, the katana is firmly held in place.
Anyways, moving on to the actual sword now. I love the theme of the sword, which was the deciding factor on why I bought it, I also like the white bronze finish on the habaki and seppas. The ito looks well wrapped, it's tight and the diamond pattern is pretty similar throughout. The fuchi is ever so slightly loose. When I try to jiggle it, I can hear it moving, but I can't see it, but when holding the katana the jiggle is very noticeable to the touch. That's issue #1 with the katana, which leads me to the 2nd issue. I was tried to remove the tsuka so that I could fix the fuchi, but I am unable to remove either of the mekugi with the brass hammer I bought specifically for it. I can't tell which way the pegs are supposed to remove from, so I tried both ways and they just aren't budging. I tried to use a normal carpenter's hammer with the brass pin/peg remover from the brass hammer, but all that did was bend the brass pin and made an imprint on the mekugi. So issue #2 is I can't remove the mekugi, so I can't remove the tsuka, so I can't fix the darn fuchi. The moving fuchi bothers me since I feel it when I hold the katana, so I'll eventually have to address this problem. I don't know of a remedy to this other than drilling out the old pegs and replacing them. The meguki being stuck I think is due to poor craftsmanship. The rayskin one side of a meguki is strutted out around it, either because the hole they drilled is smaller than the meguki, or because after they drilled the hole, they didn't "deburr" the other side of the hole.
Other than those 2 issues, everything else is good. I did half expect to be not able to remove the mekugi since I've read how difficult they could be to remove in production katanas, but the loose fuchi bothers me a lot. The tsuba, seppas, and habaki are all super snug with no movement whatsoever.
Last thing to go over is the blade itself. I'm not sure how the blade was constructed, but I do not see any hammer/machine imprints when I look down at the side profile of the blade, it's extremely smooth and straight. No imperfections that I can see. The polish seems good, the sword isn't folded I don't think so nothing really to look at. There is a hamon on the blade which is pretty straight with no wavy-like pattern. I think a wavy one would have been more interesting, but I also kinda like the clean/simplistic look it gives. Only problem I have with the blade is the kissaki. It's noticeably darker then the rest of the blade, I don't know if that's intended or what, but it doesn't look good to me. Also, on one side the polish isn't good at the kissaki and I can see scuff marks from whatever was used to grind it.
Alright, so now to wrap everything up.
From the very very few reviews on this sword that I've come across, I've read that it cuts well and is durable, but none of the reviews compared it to other swords so that doesn't tell me too much. I wish I knew how it compared to a RK dojo pro/elite or a Hanwei PK just so I could have an idea on how good/bad the price is of the hanabira. The hanabira is in the lowest grade bracket of katanas that Skyjiro offers. I know that people were saying that Skyjiros were overpriced, but they were mentioning the "higher end" line of katanas that Skyjiro offers, didn't find any info on the lower end line.
I think the hanabira is constructed very well, as a whole. The fuchi being slightly loose I don't think is too much of a big deal. Could be caused by a natural result, like I don't expect all their katanas to have loose fuchis. Same thing with the missing shitodome, it's listed in the specs so it should be there on other katanas. The issues I do have with the hanabira is the bad polish on the kissaki, it's still smooth, but I can see scuff marks on one side which is due the craftsmanship, and the meguki/pegs don't come out, which unsure if due to poor craftsmanship or if it's just my katana that happened to.
TLDR:
Is it worth the price? I don't have any buyer's remorse and I'm happy with the product. I really like the design and colors, and the katana is well constructed so it was worth it for me. As far as the price goes for actual use/cutting I don't know, read that it cuts well and is durable. Hanwei practical katanas and Ronin Katana dojo pros have plenty of positive reviews for cutting so you may want to look into them instead since they are tried and true, they are cheaper as well.