The katana sword is a specific type of Japanese sword with a slightly curved blade over 60cm long. It is associated with samurai and can be drawn and cut immediately. Iaido is a fighting style developed around this. Forging a katana is an art, and traditional ones are rare and valuable.
A katana sword is a specific type of Japanese sword, with a slightly curved blade that is longer than 23.5 inches (60cm). Occasionally, the term katana sword will be used simply to mean any Japanese sword, but this is incorrect, as there are a number of different Japanese swords, including wakizashi, tanto, tachi, ninjato, kodachi, or chokuto.
Designed to be held in two hands, a katana sword has a blade with an extremely sharp single edge. The katana sword is closely associated with the samurai of Japan and began to be produced during the feudal period around the 15th century. The katana sword has become very popular in mainstream culture, both in the West and in the East, and is featured heavily in movies, literature, and video games.
The katana sword is similar to some other types of Japanese sword, including the chisakatana, which is essentially a shortened version of the katana sword; the chokuto, which is like a straight katana; the dotanuki, which is thicker than most katanas; an o-katana, which is a very long katana; and an uchigatana, which is one of the forerunners of the modern katana sword. The shin gunto is a specialized form of the katana sword, carried by members of the Japanese military during the war period from the early 1930s until the end of World War II.
The katana sword developed as the battle developed in Japan and the speed of the fights became much faster. Indeed, one of the main innovations of the katana sword was its ability to be drawn and cut immediately, having the blade pointing upwards while being worn. This allowed a wound to be inflicted immediately in battle. In fact an entire fighting style, iaido, has developed based on this. In iaido, the emphasis is on a controlled drawing of the blade, a single cut, the removal of blood, and sheathing of the sword. Iaido developed into an incredibly intricate form, performed mostly solo through a series of complex kata, and because of its ritualistic beauty and centering it is sometimes called Zen in motion.
Forging a katana sword is an incredible art, and a great deal of mythology and lore has grown up around it. Traditional katanas are very hard to find and even those forged during WWII are incredibly valuable. There are still a small number of licensed gunsmiths in Japan, who forge katanas in the traditional, labor-intensive style. The katanas made by these smiths are known as shinsakuto and finding one can be very difficult. There are many lower quality reproductions, however, ranging from the cheap $20 US Dollar (USD) katana, to the high-end carbon steel katana that can cost upwards of $10,000 USD.
Although very expensive and requiring a high degree of skill, forging a traditional katana sword does not take as long as popular culture has sometimes led us to believe. A skilled blacksmith could produce a blade in a day, or a few days at the most. The katana is one of the few traditional swords that repeatedly folded the steel back on itself, reducing weak points, increasing overall strength, improving the quality of the steel by burning away imperfections, and adding a grain to the sword.
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