Japanese Rosewood Clay Tempered Tanto

Japanese Rosewood Clay Tempered Tanto

Approximate Size: Overall Length 50 (cm) / Blade Length 31 (cm)

Weight: 0.75 Kg

Material: T10 Steel

Blade: Fully Sharpened

Condition:  Brand New

Features of this Tanto:

Blade: T10 Steel (Clay Tempered)

Blood Groove: on both sides

Blade Edge: fully sharpened

Habaki (Blade Collar) & Seppa (Spacer) Material: brass

Tsuba (Hand Guard): Japanese copper flower tsuba

Fuchi (Handle Collar) and Kashira (Handle Buttcap): metal alloy

Tsuka (Handle): authentic white ray skin with brown ito wrap

Tang: full tang with 2 Mekugi pegs

Saya (scabbard): high quality rosewood Saya

Sword Bag: silk sword bag

 

The Tanto first made its appearance around the 8th century during the Heian Period. These first Tantos were almost always used as functional weapons and as a result did not have much have much artistic quality. Another result of the their functional use was that not many survived from this period. It was during this time, and the years up until the 16th century, that the Tanto was worn with the Tachi as the Daisho of the Samurai. Women would also sometimes wear a smaller version of the Tanto in their Obi for self defence. All the fittings and materials used in the Tantos construction are genuine materials. The Tanto is full tang and sharp. It is suitable for tamashigiri (target cutting).

The blade of the sword has been constructed from differentially hardened T10 with a nami hamon. The kissaki is a medium length chu style. The entire tanto has been authentically forged with meticulous attention to detail. All the fittings and materials used in the Tantos construction are genuine materials.

The saya has been constructed from high quality rosewood in natural finish. The kurigata is polished rosewood with black sageo. The koiguchi is a black protective ring that prevents the saya from cracking.

How important is differential hardening?

A differentially hardened katana (as opposed case hardened or tempered) has a hardened edge and a soft spine.  The edge is hardened so it will retain a razor sharp edge while the spine is left softer so it will bend and not break.  This is usually done with a traditional clay coating tempering process. Differential hardening is key to making a battle ready katana that will be used for extensive tameshigiri (test cutting).  Our expectation is that a shinken should survive at least 10,000 tatami omote cuts (10 years of heavy use) and only need minor sharpening after every 500 (six months of heavy use).