Tamahagane Katana Blade (鹤波拵)

Shadow Dancer's Tamahagane Katana Blade by Zsey is an elegant and refined piece that offers a regal presence. Its stately appearance is highlighted by the exquisite craftsmanship of the shinogi zukuri (curved with yokote and shinogi close to the mune) blade forged from tamahagane steel.

This traditional Japanese steel is created using a method where iron sands are fired in a clay kiln to create steel blooms which are further folded to refine it from impurities. Differentially heat treated, this results in a blade with a hardened edge while its spine remains flexible. This process also produces a striking suguha (relatively straight) hamon accentuated by Sashikomi A++ polishing.

This katana is equipped with copper nickel koshirae, including the tsuba, fuchi, kashira, menuki, seppa, and habaki. These fittings also have a matching theme, depicting a bird in flight above ocean waves on the hand guard while intricate wave motifs are seen on the fuchi and kashira.

A mekugi secures the blade to the wooden handmade Haichi style tsuka where the tight tsukamaki using Japanese black leather tsuka ito holds the white samegawa with large emperor nodes and high quality hishigami in place.

Complementing this masterpiece is a handmade scabbard where half of it is wrapped in samagawa and fitted with horn koiguchi and kurigata along with a copper nickel kojiri with a nami motif, matching the other fittings on the sword. The saya also features a copper nickel shitodome and sageo made of Japanese black silk.

Note that since this is an item with handmade saya and forged from tamahagame, slight variations may be present and the production time for this sword is estimated around 3 to 4 months.