Samurai Katana

Samurai Katana is a Japanese sword used by Samurai during the time of feudal Japan. The samurai Katana is characterized as a double-handed single-edged slightly curved sword with a blade length between 60 to 90 centimetres. The first samurai Katana appeared around 14th – 15th century and replaced Tachi, which was the main sword used by samurai at that time. Tachi and Katana are very similar if not the same and by some sources the Tachi is slightly longer and less curved, but by other sources, the whole difference is how two swords are worn. The Tachi was used by mounted samurai and was worn suspended on a harness from the belt edge down, and the Katana was worn stuck in the samurai belt edge up.

The samurai Katana is usually used and worn in pair with a shorter sword, such as a Wakizashi or a Tanto to form a Daisho (literally meaning "big and small"). At the time of Tachi, a Kodachi was used a companion sword, but not with a samurai Katana. The Daisho represented social power and personal honour of the samurai, but most of the time it was not originally made as a tandem, but rather matched to personal needs and abilities of an individual samurai. The Daisho that was made as a set was valued much higher than just a matched pair of swords.

An authenticated samurai Katana would be forged using a special technique known at present only to a few hundreds Japanese masters and using special Japanese steel called "Tamahage". Through a process of forging, a blade will be put through differential heating and hardening, the steel will be folding into itself several time and after meticulous hand sharpening, a special blade patter called "Hamon" will from on the blade, giving it a unique signature of hand-made samurai Katana swords. Contemporary models stamped from a mould would not have the same characteristics as properly forged samurai Katana. But still considering their price, they can find their use, as they can still look very nice as display weapons sitting on a stand or hanging on a wall.

The Samurai Katana is currently probably the most famous blade weapon popularised in books, movies, video games, and other media. You can say that it's all started with Akira Kurasawa's "Last Samurai" filmed in 1950s. Nowadays, if there is almost any sword fight scene, you can bet there will be a samurai Katana as well.

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