BattleBlades – Kage No Senshi Chokuto

Kage No Senshi Chokuto is steeped in the mystery surrounding the existence of the Shinobi. The name of the sword translates to ‘Shadow Warrior’, which along with the dark blue colored Sageo and Ito, hints to the shadows in which the Shinobi is said to operate. The latest addition to the Battleblades Chokutō  family features an unusual O-kissaki blade tip rarely seen in Shinobi gatana. Not only that it gives the blade striking appearance, it makes the sword easier to thrust with. The katate maki wrapped tsuka is crowned with custom gold dragon menukis and a kabuto gane style kashira. Overall, the sword is more compact than the Battleblades Shinobi Chokutō, as it has a slightly shorter blade and a smaller tsuba. The Rikko style tsuka, on the other hand, is 10mm longer than Shinobi Chokutō’s for improved torque and maximum cutting power. The razor sharp hazuya polished hand forged T10 blade features our trademark, the glaring clay tempered hamon. Protecting the blade is a deep black fully custom made saya with unique koiguchi shape for easier sheathing. The tsuba is crafted from tough and thick blackened steel and the seppa and habaki are of brass. The wooden tsuka is tightly bound in well-knotted ito and the sword is completed with a wooden saya scabbard with a glossy black lacquer finish.

As always, this weapon is guaranteed BattleBlades quality and comes with an embroidered BattleBlades silk sword bag as well as a serial numbered certificate. 

​How the Shinobi Ninja Provinces were born:

To protect themselves, their homes and families from the constant warfare of the Sengoku period (1467-1598), the commoners now known as Shinobi, formed their own caste outside of the usual feudal social categories, such as lords, samurai and serfs. The stealth of the Shinobi may date back farther, but it wasn’t until the Sengoku period that the ninja were specially trained for their purpose: to take advantage of the constant warfare.

The Yamabushi also lived in the mountainous area of Iga and Koga, practicing religion and inner peace. The new caste system was partly formed by them, as they did not want anything to do with the gruesome warfare outside. Forming their own caste system allowed the two ninja strongholds, Iga and Koga, to share information and to practice their own techniques of medicine, espionage, warfare and assasination. Both Iga and Koga, were ruled by a town council, rather than a daimyo (lord), making them politically and socially independent, democratic and self-governing ninja provinces. However, this era would soon come to an end, as the last Koga ninja was employed to the Shimabara Rebellion of 1637 and the mountainous areas ended up under the Tokugawa shogunate’s and its 300 daimyo’s rule. The Shimabara Rebellion was the largest civil conflict in Japan during the relatively peaceful Edo period (1603-1867). As the Edo period came to its end, imperial rule was restored in Japan due to Emperor Meiji and the Boshin war.

Ninja Weapons:

During the Sengoku and Edo periods, the two ninja strongholds Iga and Koga developed their own weaponry along with martial arts. The preferred weapons of the ninja were the katana and straight blade swords like the ninjato. There are many techniques that the ninja utilized with these swords, including using them as both a weapon and a distraction. Ninja swords would be coated with a combination of red pepper and dirt towards the tip of the scabbard. As the sword was drawn, the combination was thrown into the eyes of enemies to distract them before the killing blow.

A lot is left to the imagination, as much of the known information about the national myth surrounding the ninja stems from folk tales and modern day popular culture. This mystery surrounding the Shinobi has led to the belief that some of them even had supernatural powers, such as flight, invisibility, shapeshifting, the ability to “split” into multiple bodies, the summoning of animals, and control over the five classical elements.

The modern day popular culture ninja has gotten its inspiration mostly from actor, writer and martial artist Sho Kosugi, who made the straight bladed ninja sword famous through his movies and tv shows in the 1980’s. It is still under debate whether a straight bladed ninja sword with a square tsuba actually existed in feudal Japan, even though they have been pictured a lot in paintings. Myth or not, the Kage No Senshi Chokuto is our tribute to the great Sho Kosugi and the Ninja To repopularized by him.