Munetoshi Water Dragon
Jun 8, 2017 0:59:32 GMT
Post by LeFaust on Jun 8, 2017 0:59:32 GMT
Munetoshi Water Dragon
Introduction
This is my first review on Sword Buyers Guide. I am a novice Toyama-ryu practitioner.
I have been wanting a low budget sword to mess with, mostly learning how to polish and etch with. I didn't want to mess with my alex zheng blade without any experience.
In the $100 range, the most well known swords are from the musashi shirakawa line, the munetoshi water dragon/liondog, and the ronin katana RK series. I have owned a musashi shirakawa bamboo before(sold it) and wanted to try the munetoshi line to compare how it was to the musashi bamboo.
Historical overview
This is a Japanese katana.
Full Disclosure
I paid full price with my own money. I am not receiving any special deal to review this sword.
Initial Impression
Sword came well packaged in a small box in a larger box. Sword came in a decent black cotton sword bag. There was a oiled plastic wrap on the blade inside the saya to protect from rust while shipping. Wrapping looks good for the price. No movement of the fittings. Everything was nice and tight. Sword feels very agile and it feels lighter than i expected. Initial impression was positive.
Statistics
My measurements
Overall length: 39.75"
Blade length from habaki: 27.5"
Handle length from tsuba to kashira: 11”
Blade width at habaki: 31mm
Blade width at yokote: 20mm
POB: 5" from tsuba
Blade thickness at base: 7mm
Blade thickness yokote: 4mm
Weight: 2.2 lbs
SwordnArmory Measurements
-Overall Length: 39.125 "
-Nagasa Length: 27 "
-Tsuka Length: 10.75 "
-Balance Point: 5.25"
-Weight W/O Saya: 2.1 lbs
Blade/Nagasa
Blade is a standard shinogi zukuri with no hi. Blade comes nicely polished and is straight. There is little to no niku from what i can see. The blade comes sharp enough to cut paper but it does tear the paper a tiny bit.
The sword is 1060 differently hardened with a midare hamon. The hamon is very subtle and can be hard to see without direct light on it. Extremely hard to catch with a camera. I plan to use this sword as etching practice so it will make for a good before and after picture.
This is some distal taper according to my measurements. The yokote is not geometric and only cross polished. Of course this is to be expected of a $100 sword. The kissaki does some some dark speckles of rust on it, a bit disappointing.
There are numerous scratches on the brass habaki, but nothing major. The habaki has some gaps but this is to be expected. Again $100 sword.
I really like the balance on this sword. Not tip heavy but isn't balanced too close to the hilt. It is a lively blade for sure.
UPDATE!!!
Using my sensei's tsuka removal tool, i have removed the tsuka. Took quite a bit of effort. Here is a picture of the nakago.
Handle/Tsuka
Tsuka is very well shaped for the price. There is a rikko or hourglass shape to it. Much better than my old musashi bamboo in my opinion.
The ito is a dark blue synthetic material. The color is very nice and goes well with the theme. The ito is fairly rough since it is a synthetic material. The tsukamaki does alternate. It is not extremely tight but in my opinion still better than the musashi bamboo. The diamonds are not even but that is to be expected of a $100 sword.
The samegawa is similar quality to the musashi if i remember correctly. The samegawa are panels and not full wrap ( lol who expects a full wrap at this price or even $800 ). You can see wood but that's not a big deal to me especially for the price.
I'm not exactly sure what the menuki is but it is probably made of some sort of alloy.
The fuchikashira are a simple higo style with texturing. Supposedly it is iron but since i don't have any magnets on my i can't test it.
The seppa are made of brass and do their job fine. The mekugis are fine as well.
I tried taking off the tsuka but it appears to be epoxied on. There was some glue residue on the fuchi that i cleaned a bit. Very disappointing since i had wanted to learn how to etch on this and having the handle on while etching is risky (acid going into habaki). Since it's epoxied on, i can't check it there are any cracks in the tsuka.
UPDATE!!!
Using my sensei's tsuka removal tool, i have removed the tsuka. The tsuka is not glued on but hammered in VERY TIGHT. The tsuka has 2 very nasty cracks likely from when the factory hammered the tsuka onto the nakago. My sensei thought the tsuka was glued on. The cracked tsuka is disappointing but for my purposes(display) i'm not too saddened by it. Certainly not worth the effort to contact SwordnArmory.
You can see some leftover glue in the last picture.
UPDATE!!!
I have taken 2 pictures of the cracked wooden core. The cracks are VERY deep.
Handguard/Tsuba
The tsuba is very well done in my opinion. Tsuba is supposedly iron but again no magnet so can't test. The tsuba depicts waves and a east asian dragon on one side and clouds with a lightning bolt on the other. There is also a chinese style stamp on the side with the clouds. There are also 2 small holes on the tsuba. The edge of the tsuba is slightly raised.
UPDATE!!!
I took 2 extra photos of the tsuba since i am now able to remove the tsuka.
Scabbard/Saya
Saya is finished with a simple gloss lacquer. Not much to say.
The sageo is is the same color as the ito but made of a shoe lacey material. It's tied in a nice presentation knot on the sageo.
There are 2 brass shitodomes on the kurikata.
The fit is okay. The sword does not fall out when held upside down. The sword needs a bit of force to push the last 2 inches into the saya. Seems there's something down there at the end of the saya. That might be why there's rust on the yokote.
UPDATE!!!
Saya won't be used for storage anymore. There is something down in the saya that makes contact with the blade and causes rust on the kissaki.
Test Cutting
Since i live in a cramped NYC apartment, i don't have the space to cut with the sword.
I did not buy this sword to cut water bottles or tatami with. Mainly bought this sword to experiment with.
I might bring this to my dojo when there is a tameshigiri session, but for now i have no plans for cutting.
I have tested this sword on paper and its edge is sharp enough to cut paper. Not extremely sharp but sharp enough.
There are videos of this sword online cutting stuff such as John Walter's excellent video of the munetoshi liondog(same blade different fittings)
Conclusions
I think this sword is a steal at $100. I will never understand why people want to risk buying 1060 blades from ebay forges when you can get a 1060 differentially hardened sword for $100 from an American retailer. Despite it's problems, it's a good sword for the price.
I prefer this sword to my old musashi shirakawa bamboo. In my opinion, it has a better tsuka, fittings and tsukamaki than the musashi. The blade polish was pretty much the same but i prefer this blade because it has no hi. The saya on the musashi was a looser fit so the sword would fall out when held upside down. But it didn't cause my kissaki to rust.
Pros
-Well packaged for shipping
-Good quality blade for the price
-Paper cutting sharp
-Hamon is real
-Well executed fittings and nice theme
-Very good tsuka shape for the price
-Tight tsukamaki
-Real samegawa
-ONLY $110
Cons
Major(In my opinion)
-Tsuka is epoxied to nakago(my biggest gripe)
-Tsuka has 2 DEEP cracks from it being hammered onto nakago.
-Saya is tight at end, need force to push it in. There is something at the end of the saya. Will cause kisakki to rust.
Minor
-Rust on kissaki (can be cleaned)
-Rough synthetic material for ito, shoe lacey sageo (expected at this price)
-Minor scratches on habaki (expected at this price)
The Bottom Line
Would i recommend this sword? Still a yes but note these are very low budget swords. They will have problems.
PS if you want more pictures just post below and i will try to get some for you.
Introduction
This is my first review on Sword Buyers Guide. I am a novice Toyama-ryu practitioner.
I have been wanting a low budget sword to mess with, mostly learning how to polish and etch with. I didn't want to mess with my alex zheng blade without any experience.
In the $100 range, the most well known swords are from the musashi shirakawa line, the munetoshi water dragon/liondog, and the ronin katana RK series. I have owned a musashi shirakawa bamboo before(sold it) and wanted to try the munetoshi line to compare how it was to the musashi bamboo.
Historical overview
This is a Japanese katana.
Full Disclosure
I paid full price with my own money. I am not receiving any special deal to review this sword.
Initial Impression
Sword came well packaged in a small box in a larger box. Sword came in a decent black cotton sword bag. There was a oiled plastic wrap on the blade inside the saya to protect from rust while shipping. Wrapping looks good for the price. No movement of the fittings. Everything was nice and tight. Sword feels very agile and it feels lighter than i expected. Initial impression was positive.
Statistics
My measurements
Overall length: 39.75"
Blade length from habaki: 27.5"
Handle length from tsuba to kashira: 11”
Blade width at habaki: 31mm
Blade width at yokote: 20mm
POB: 5" from tsuba
Blade thickness at base: 7mm
Blade thickness yokote: 4mm
Weight: 2.2 lbs
SwordnArmory Measurements
-Overall Length: 39.125 "
-Nagasa Length: 27 "
-Tsuka Length: 10.75 "
-Balance Point: 5.25"
-Weight W/O Saya: 2.1 lbs
Blade/Nagasa
Blade is a standard shinogi zukuri with no hi. Blade comes nicely polished and is straight. There is little to no niku from what i can see. The blade comes sharp enough to cut paper but it does tear the paper a tiny bit.
The sword is 1060 differently hardened with a midare hamon. The hamon is very subtle and can be hard to see without direct light on it. Extremely hard to catch with a camera. I plan to use this sword as etching practice so it will make for a good before and after picture.
This is some distal taper according to my measurements. The yokote is not geometric and only cross polished. Of course this is to be expected of a $100 sword. The kissaki does some some dark speckles of rust on it, a bit disappointing.
There are numerous scratches on the brass habaki, but nothing major. The habaki has some gaps but this is to be expected. Again $100 sword.
I really like the balance on this sword. Not tip heavy but isn't balanced too close to the hilt. It is a lively blade for sure.
UPDATE!!!
Using my sensei's tsuka removal tool, i have removed the tsuka. Took quite a bit of effort. Here is a picture of the nakago.
Handle/Tsuka
Tsuka is very well shaped for the price. There is a rikko or hourglass shape to it. Much better than my old musashi bamboo in my opinion.
The ito is a dark blue synthetic material. The color is very nice and goes well with the theme. The ito is fairly rough since it is a synthetic material. The tsukamaki does alternate. It is not extremely tight but in my opinion still better than the musashi bamboo. The diamonds are not even but that is to be expected of a $100 sword.
The samegawa is similar quality to the musashi if i remember correctly. The samegawa are panels and not full wrap ( lol who expects a full wrap at this price or even $800 ). You can see wood but that's not a big deal to me especially for the price.
I'm not exactly sure what the menuki is but it is probably made of some sort of alloy.
The fuchikashira are a simple higo style with texturing. Supposedly it is iron but since i don't have any magnets on my i can't test it.
The seppa are made of brass and do their job fine. The mekugis are fine as well.
UPDATE!!!
Using my sensei's tsuka removal tool, i have removed the tsuka. The tsuka is not glued on but hammered in VERY TIGHT. The tsuka has 2 very nasty cracks likely from when the factory hammered the tsuka onto the nakago. My sensei thought the tsuka was glued on. The cracked tsuka is disappointing but for my purposes(display) i'm not too saddened by it. Certainly not worth the effort to contact SwordnArmory.
You can see some leftover glue in the last picture.
UPDATE!!!
I have taken 2 pictures of the cracked wooden core. The cracks are VERY deep.
Handguard/Tsuba
The tsuba is very well done in my opinion. Tsuba is supposedly iron but again no magnet so can't test. The tsuba depicts waves and a east asian dragon on one side and clouds with a lightning bolt on the other. There is also a chinese style stamp on the side with the clouds. There are also 2 small holes on the tsuba. The edge of the tsuba is slightly raised.
UPDATE!!!
I took 2 extra photos of the tsuba since i am now able to remove the tsuka.
Scabbard/Saya
Saya is finished with a simple gloss lacquer. Not much to say.
The sageo is is the same color as the ito but made of a shoe lacey material. It's tied in a nice presentation knot on the sageo.
There are 2 brass shitodomes on the kurikata.
The fit is okay. The sword does not fall out when held upside down. The sword needs a bit of force to push the last 2 inches into the saya. Seems there's something down there at the end of the saya. That might be why there's rust on the yokote.
UPDATE!!!
Saya won't be used for storage anymore. There is something down in the saya that makes contact with the blade and causes rust on the kissaki.
Test Cutting
Since i live in a cramped NYC apartment, i don't have the space to cut with the sword.
I did not buy this sword to cut water bottles or tatami with. Mainly bought this sword to experiment with.
I might bring this to my dojo when there is a tameshigiri session, but for now i have no plans for cutting.
I have tested this sword on paper and its edge is sharp enough to cut paper. Not extremely sharp but sharp enough.
There are videos of this sword online cutting stuff such as John Walter's excellent video of the munetoshi liondog(same blade different fittings)
Conclusions
I think this sword is a steal at $100. I will never understand why people want to risk buying 1060 blades from ebay forges when you can get a 1060 differentially hardened sword for $100 from an American retailer. Despite it's problems, it's a good sword for the price.
I prefer this sword to my old musashi shirakawa bamboo. In my opinion, it has a better tsuka, fittings and tsukamaki than the musashi. The blade polish was pretty much the same but i prefer this blade because it has no hi. The saya on the musashi was a looser fit so the sword would fall out when held upside down. But it didn't cause my kissaki to rust.
Pros
-Well packaged for shipping
-Good quality blade for the price
-Paper cutting sharp
-Hamon is real
-Well executed fittings and nice theme
-Very good tsuka shape for the price
-Tight tsukamaki
-Real samegawa
-ONLY $110
Cons
Major(In my opinion)
-
-Tsuka has 2 DEEP cracks from it being hammered onto nakago.
-Saya is tight at end, need force to push it in. There is something at the end of the saya. Will cause kisakki to rust.
Minor
-Rust on kissaki (can be cleaned)
-Rough synthetic material for ito, shoe lacey sageo (expected at this price)
-Minor scratches on habaki (expected at this price)
The Bottom Line
Would i recommend this sword? Still a yes but note these are very low budget swords. They will have problems.
PS if you want more pictures just post below and i will try to get some for you.