Sakabatou

well in a way your right but in a way your wrong. the sword was originally brought to Japan in the 500's. all these blades were double edged of Chinese Origin. by 694 the first swords of purely Japanese Design were now bering produced. they were double edged but slowly they evolved into the swords we know now as Nihontou.

 

Hitokiri,

If I may, I will entertain you with a picture or two link to a load of Japanese swords I came across in Japan while on my trip last year in 2004 in October. Luckily for you and I that I had my 7.2 megapixel camera handy and took two photos of the swords. (Yes you can buy them!) Price range was from low end 8500 yen to over 115,000 yen minimum. I'll post them here as links when I upload the pictures themselves to my webspace for viewing.

Sanosuke!
Back to Japan - April 2005 (Hanami parties galore!)

 

The thing is, when a smith, no matter how they craft it, makes a reversed blade sword in katana style, it will be conciderably weeker. The katana of Japan was made for a spacific purpose and the way in which it was made was not ment to be altered. Even by flipping the blade around, a lot of stregth is sacrificed. This is the main reason that a real one was never made or implemented

 

well yes and no...the Nihontou was truly made in one style, but the Tachi once held by the Taira clan has a double edged and is extremely strong. however, the Sakabatou sacrifices the soft mune (back) which makes the Nihontou flexable which is the key to its amazing strength.

 

What makes the double edged katana so strong then?

 

firstly, its not a completly double edged sword, the edge on the mune only runs about half the length of the blade, and theres a full length bo-hi which lightens and strengthens the blade.

 

Wasn't it first created by Amakuni? If i'm not mistaken, it was called the Kogarasu-maru, meaning "Little Crow" (The suffix “maru” means perfection or purity).

 

im not entirely sure of its smith, but that is its name.

 

I was able to find a Kogarasu-maru that you can buy, but only from one place. They're called Cold Steel, and are stationed mainly in California. Here's the site if you want to see it for yourselves:

http://www.coldsteel.com/

In the swords section, it's the Imperial series. They it's made of 1050 steel, but who knows?
Also, in the Warrior series, it looks like they have a Kodachi. They call it a Chis Katana, or something like that.

 

actually thats simply a doubled edged katana, however Cold Steel blades are supposed to be very well made blades. they are made from 1050 Spring steel and supposedly have the capability of cutting through a 7" piece of bamboo in one stroke. With the Japanese sword this isnt uncommon but whether or not Cold steel blades make the cut (hahaha bad joke) is unknown to me as i do not own any of their blades. however, their Chisa-katana is one of the very very few "Kodachi" blades on the market. which makes it a tempting piece for any collection.

a true "Little Crow" Tachi can be bought from Bugei Trading company (www.bugei.com). this is a Kogarasu-Zukuri blade mounted in Tachi koshirae. its quite expensive, running about $1520. however, the blade is exceptional quality made by Paul Chen of the Hanwei Forge in China.

I can atest to the quality of Bugei's blade because i own one of their Dragonfly Katana.

 

I don't have one of their blades myself, but i've heard a lot of good stuff baout them. Their Kogarasu looks magnificent, but the price is a little much, with my salary :anger2: oh well, but when I do get my first katana, it'll most likely be from them

 

well...if you mean to collect katana then that is a good first collectors piece but if you intend to use a katana and practice kenjutsu that is not something you should be spending your money on right away. there are much better alternatives to a real katana.

beginners often assume that they need an edged sword right away. this is an assumption that you cannot make. beginner should stay away from edged swords. i believe its best if they stay away from steel blades at all. Bokken are the best first weapon for a beginner. they're made from wood and are fairly harmless, however there are accounts of samurai such as Musashi Miyamoto who fought soley with Bokken, even killing a man with one.

Ive trained for 10 years with a Japanese sword and my first weapon was a bokken, one that i made from scratch. i didnt actually buy a blade at all until i was 6 years into my training. and even then it was an iaito, an unedged training blade made from alloy.

believe me, its best to stick to a bokken.

 

Of course. I've actually been keeping an eye on a certain iaito. besides, it's not like i even have the money to do that

 

my first blade is still one that i use everyday for practce, though its unedged its a custom made blade from high carbon steel.

about this iaito, where are you getting it from and how much are you paying for it? iaito range from good to bad in the sword world. Meiren Sangyo of Japan offers Iaito that range from 400 to 1000 dollars, and are still made from alloys. but there are also extremely cheap iaito on the market, ranging from 60 ro 100 dollars and tend to be exteremly bad in quality and safety...

 

my personal budget is empty, so i'm not buying one as of yet, and it may be another year before I do anyways, for training. But I'm thinking about the Nami or Gorin Iaito by Paul Chen. What do you think?

 

I personally own a Paul Chen Gorin Iaito, but i would reccomend buying the Nami Iaito. its about 100 dollars cheaper on the pocket but still has a high carbon steel blade. just remember, its high carbon steel, it needs to be oiled regularly to keep it from rusting, which means you must also learn how to properly break down and clean a Nihontou. All in all its a serious Iaito for a serious pracitioner. if you plan on using it just as a toy or something, i reccommend buying a cheap piece of crap because then your not wasting your money on a good sword that your going to wreck.

 

swords are not toys...unless it's those plastic pieces of crap, then swing to hearts content, untill you poke your eye out, break an arm, or try to swallow it like those magic people do.... After that, cya at your funeral o.o

I know the "map" of the katana, but I've never acctually took one apart before. Isn't there a sword cleaning kit that Paul Chen made?

 

yes he does. its about 30 US dollars and is well worth the money payed.

you have to know each piece perfectly. you have to remember how each piece fits and how to properly handle a blade. Even if its an iaito, you must respect and treat it like its a live sword.

 

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well there are very good sakabto's out right now i have one and they are very usefull but only for very skilled swordman. :anger:

 

there are a range in the quality of the Sakabatou replicas on the market. Many of them are low quality blades with chisel points and incorrect handle wrapping with scabbards that are wrapped as well. Generally speaking, these blades are nothing but display pieces and are more or less worthless as working blades anyway. Now, i have seen some fairly good Sakabatou replicas that have high carbon steel blades and fairly good fittings, and although these still rate only as display pieces they still hold true to the Sakabatou from the Manga. There is one replica that i have seen that from what i can see is a magnificant sword. however, i have no idea where its from, what its constructed of or any other details about it.

Skilled or not, the Sakabtou replicas arent meant for fighting. They are not good for Iaido and in Kenjutsu are weaker since the spine of the sword is reversed. Hence they are prone to breaking and get damaged very easily. I have never met and doubt i ever will meet someone who seriously uses a Sakabatou in kendo or iaido. For either purpose they are weak and quite dangerous in both forms.