a good katana

hey people, i'm planning on buying a good katana, and i was wondering where can i find a good katana. that is on a reasonable price like 30 or maybe 40 dollars, and that it will be resistable enough to train with it. oh, and that it may have no weird designs. just a normal katana like the one Kenshin has. thx

 

Oh, I see. Well, I'd like a sword strong enough. So, it won't brake if I train with it (No, I'm not going to try and cut a tree). I wish to have a strong sword for personal reasons. I tell you now I do not wish to kill. I wish to train and see for myself the power a good sword and I can do.

 

? Well, I don't want an authentic Samurai sword. I just want one that will be strong. I have a sword but it's a crapy one. It's lose and all that. So, I was never able to train with it.

I was looking at ebay and I saw alot of nice swords, but are they really good? I mean strongly. Oh, and just to say it now I'll train by myself. Alone...for I live in a place where not much people do.

Oh, and what did you mean by $1k? :sweat2:

 

Ah, I see well thx man. Har har har.

 

www.swordsonline.com

you can find swords(katanas) from 15 - 400 $ there.

edit.
Katana link
http://www.weaponmasters.com/index....L_KATANAS&SORT=PRICE_UP&ACTION=UPDATE_DISPLAY

 

aright. 40 bucks will not buy you a decent training sword whatsoever at all. if you want a good training katana that doesnt look weird and is strictly traditional your looking to pay upwards of 200 dollars. unless its hard forged its very likely to break. they do make swords known as iaito, which are a metal alloy usually consisting of aluminium and zinc. they arent made for contact with anything and are ver likely to break. and although you can get them for 120 upwards of 700 they are still not strong enough to be used in any other manner other than iaido, hence iaito. (iai sword). now in terms of ebay, stay away, far away, unless you know what your looking for.

now, for a training sword thats made of hand forged steel but is unedged look into buying a Paul Chen Iaito. they are plenty stong but carry a somewhat high price tag of about 300-400 depending on length.

finally, the last option. a real katana. the best option here is to buy a katana from The Bugei Trading company. the swords are hand forged hand sharpened traditional katana. they do carry quite a price tag. its where i bought mine, they carry about a 1000 dollar price tag. but are very effective. the other option is to buy a Paul Chen Katana. he has quite a few different options available and they are all made in the traditional manner. but again. these are sharpened swords and for practice i cannot stress enough the importance of saftey.

your best bet is to just get a Paul Chen Iaito. strong and traditionaly made highly effective as a training weapon.

now, unless your practicing iaido, a better answer than a steel sword of any kind is a bokken. I carry mine just about everywhere i go around my house, i practice with it constantly and cannot stress enough how imortant it is. In the case of a bokken i reccomend buying it from www.bokken-shop.com. they're a japanese site and have hundreds of different styles of bokken to chose from.

and as a closing note, never buy a sword from a dealer who doesnt know what they're talking about. on ebay never buy a "japaneses sword" from a chinese dealer. its garunteed to be a piece of junk and not in anyway really japaneses.

 

I see, darn...lol I don't have that much money. Guess I'll just have to save money...lol. Oh, and Hitokiri Gensai, I thank you for helping me and giving me your advice.

 

anytime. as for not having the money, i would just keep saving...its best to buy an expensive well made katana then to buy a cheap crappy one. believe me i know, its a big let down to drop a katana that was like 100 bucks and watch it snap. even if it was cheap, you kinda learn that you really do get what you paid for. which is why i paid 1100 on a hand forged katana. ive made cuts on bamboo, tatami, sticks, bokken. mind you, never do this unless you know what your doing. i garuntee youll find out just what it feels like to break a blade. remember a bent sword is completely useless...and dont try to straighten it yourself youll just make it worse. but then again, for what its worth, sending it to a real swordssmith will probably cost more than the sword did.

 

another note i have to stress is, i dont know your skill level or how much you know about nihontou but, i must say this now. using a live sword takes much skill and concentration. "Ken wa Kyoki, Kenjutsu no Satujinjutsu. which translates to, "the sword is a weapon and Kenjutsu is the art of killing" and just as Hiko Seijurou told Kenshin, no matter what words you use to pretty it up, this is still its true nature and there is no getting around that.

theres something about keeping swords that because they're somewhat primitive, that they give sort of a feeling of safety as if they arent truly weapons but heirlooms of a by-gone era...but its quite the opposite...im a practictioner of kenjutsu and iaijutsu and ive seen a nihontou cut through a 7 inch piece of bamboo with a single stroke with very very little damage to the blade. Now, you have to remember that the sword, any sword, whether it be a nihontou or a Persian Shamshir or a Civil War saber, they were all made for the same purpose: To Cut..Flesh. Now, if a Nihontou can cut a hard piece of bamboo, imagine, if you will, what it could do to a body.

There is a record of a nihontou made by a first generation masatoshi swordsmith. his name is obscured because he learned under the imfamous swordsmith Muramasa*. Now, this sword was called "The White Cloud" due to its temper marks above the Hamon** that looked like clouds. it was made sometime between 1504 and 1520. it was tested on request by the Seishi family and the test was done by Hirata Juemon on December 18th, 1659. it was tested like many swords were by making cuts on convicted criminals***. two bodies were tied down on a mound of sand to protect the sword. The test cut went through both bodies and ten inches into the sand (the blade is inscribed with these words: Otosu Ryo Do Nyu Do Dan Hachi Sun, which means "dropped into both bodies and went into the sand by 8 sun(10 inches)").

so...whether it be 2 years old or 200 years old...it still carries an inheirent violence and sense of danger with it. And eitherway, it should be rememberd that it is a weapon and is main function is to cut human flesh. so, to be honest...unless you have experience under an instructor, i think you should stick to using bokken and shinai.

* Muramasa was a famous Koto Era swordsmith that studied under the even more famous Masamune. Masamune's blades are considered the be the best swords ever created both in technical aspects as well as spiritual aspects. Muramasa on the other hand is known only for his technical prowess. His swords are considered to be among the sharpest blade ever created. Because of this legendary edge, many legends have rose about the evilness of the blades. It is said that "once a Muramasa blade leaves its scabbard it will not return until first seeing blood." Tokugawa Ieyasu was so scared of the blades he forbade his samurai to wear them. he had family members that died under Muramasa blades and he himself had almost cut his hand off with one. The ban on Muramasa swords came sometime after 1603 when Tokugawa Iyeasu assumed power and would last for three hundred years. therefore many swords of the Muramasa School have been lost.

** the Hamon is the temperline

***At this time swords were tested on requests by families or perhaps even the Shogun. they were tested on criminals and would start by making cuts on smaller bones and work their way up to the largest bones. usually the ones who tested the swords were the executioners of the particular han or province.

 

*prods Dante*
I started off with a bokken, my beloved bokken. It's a wooden sword, and you can get a decent one at your price range.

Remember when you buy:
1) Make sure it's Cherry Oak
2) Make sure it's BALANCED

I cannot stress balance enough. That's whats gonna make or break you. It's the most important thing. How do you test it? Simple- hold it (and make sure you hold it RIGHT), and if it feels heavier on one side, or tips a little, even a teeny bit, *BUZZER* WRONG! Bad choice! You may be confused, but when you have a balanced sword, you can FEEL it in the sword when you hold it. You'll see for yourself. Remember, bokkens are usually much heavier than Katana, so when you're ready to make the transition later on, keep that in mind.

If you're a beginner:

3) Make sure it has a wide handguard
4) Ask if it comes with text

Also:
5) Please, don't buy it if it's hollow. Those are meant for show, one good swing and it's gone.

Also, remember that you can kill someone with a bokken. It's not bladed, but it's still a lethal weapon. If you have a sparring partner, and want to train, get a Shinai. They're a little more expensive, $30 each is a good deal for decent quality. They're bamboo, and much lighter.

 

if you want one that isnt so wobbly you cant practice alone with it, then yeah, you can get one for 60$. good for a katana usually means it will pretty much pass thru whatever you hit with it, and not bend at all. that's at least 500$ from my experience. if you wanna do some actual sparring, a bokken or shinai would be better. if you just want one that will hold up, i got a set at 100$ with a 50$ discount, and it is pretty nice. make sure the metal of the blade goes all the way to the end of the handle and is fastened on at least 3 spots. DONT GET PAKISTAN STEEL! it is crap. it wobbles around like a taichi sword, but doesnt bounce back(slight exaggeration, but not much). it stays bent. china steel is a step higher and should be enough for just solo training.

 

id have to argue with you on that point Takamatsu-san. a good Katana shouldnt have to pass through anything...remember, they sell imitation katana's all over the internet that are made with Stainless Steel, and while these might be good for show...they lack the true ability to cut and stay in shape. and a good katana doesnt necessarily have to be full tang, most antique japanese swords are not. Generally, the nakago would sit about 1/2 - 3/4 of the tsuka and would generally be fastened in one place. technically, this is what the menuki are for, hiding the place where the mekugi is. but as time went on these became strictly ornamental. most swords with longer handles usually exceding 1 shaku need two mekugi pegs but not all did. i personally only have 1 mekugi peg on my katana. although i had the option of having two. i felt that it wasnt entirely neceesary as i check my katana over before each practice session. also, if the the katana can come apart, its exceedingly important that you clean it after eer practice session, and while you may want to take the time to take out more than 1 peg then thats your perogitive. as for CHinese Steel...its ok IF its hand forged otherwise itll be just like barstamp steel.

 

ahh. okay. good is different for different people. i shouldve said "good for fighting" or "good for training" or something. well, anyway, listen to him. he knows more about quality swords and almost definitely more about crap swords too.

 

well, good for fighting...not many dojos teach sparring with live swords...i only know of one. its called the "Dojo of the Four Winds" I Los Angeles. as for training, almost every Dojo requires that after a certain level you begin doing kata with a live katana.

 

everyone who starts in any dojo anywhere is required to first learn with a bokken.

*pokes Doa*

it doesnt have to be cherry oak...actually i reccomend Ironwood. its got twice the rigidity and is much stronger.

as for it being balanced...it doesnt have to be balanced. actually, a real katana is more likely to be unbalanced towards the blade. remember, a katana blade is generally between 25 an 29 inches long, thats a lot of steel for a little bit of steel and wood to balance. generally the balance point is going to be about 3 to 4 inches away from the hand gaurd. sometimes, depending on the smith, it can be closer.

actually a bokken is going to be about the same weight as a real katana.

as for the hand gaurd, it doesnt have to be that wide because when practicing kenjutsu you dont rely on the tsuba (hand gaurd) as much as you rely on the body of the blade.

if you dont know what your doing, i highly reccommend as Doa said, to use a shinai. generally an injury from a Shinai wont be much more than a bruise. i personally spar with bokken but ive been practicing for almost 9 years now. the invention of the Shinai during the Bakamatsu revolutionized kenjutsu practice but after the change of power kenjutsu began to decline and get weak. before that kenjustu was practiced with bokken. a bokken is much more powerful than a shinai and injuries can range from a bruise to death depending on where and how powerful the strike was. The legendary swordsmith Musashi Miyamoto gave up using his katana in favor of a bokken after his 60th duel. He killed his greatest rival Sasaki Koijirou with a bokken.

 

oh, oh! My friend forges swords....But I'm almost sure that they're crappy......*sigh* But I'm sure you'll be able to get them at a cheap price....I've gotta' ask him on the details.^^

 

well, what kind of blades does he forge. for the most part, its possible to forge European blades because they dont require a large amount of work. but in terms of Asian blades, as were discussing here, require large amounts of work and lots of time. Generally a Japanese blade will take atleast a month to complete, and requires folding steel and then pounding it out again to make a close knit crystalline steel which has incredible strength.