BattleBlades – Kage No Senshi Tsurugi Tanto

Following on the success of the Ninjato Chokuto, BattleBlades wanted to release a linked Wakizashi and Tanto pair to both complement the sword or to be fine quality standout pieces all on their own. This night-blue Tanto is truly unique with its double edged, spearpoint-like blade. BattleBlades looked for inspiration from straight bladed Tsurugi swords of the same era as the Chokuto, though the Tsurugi design itself is quite ancient in Japan and surviving bronze blade Tsurugi that are several milennia old! With that form as a basis they created here a stealthy and strong-striking Wakizashi with a blade in the ancient Tsurugi form.

The blade is expertly forged from sharpened T10 high carbon steel which is polished to a fine mirror sheen to bring out the full beauty of its double-edged, flame-like clay tempered hamon line.  Care has been taken to make sure all the various hand-finished koshirae components of the hilt fit well and seamlessly together. The wooden tsuka grip is fitted with blue rayskin which is tightly bound in tight tsuka-ito cord. The dagger is paired with a well-carved saya with a fine glossy black lacquer finish and a unique koiguchi shape.

The Tsurugi is one of the first swords that led the way for Japanese weaponry. Some of the tsurugis that have been discovered from Japanese grounds are dated all the way back to 700 BC. They are mostly of Chinese descent as straight bladed swords weren’t so prominent in feudal Japan. Compared to the original tsurugi we took artistic liberties to create something never seen before while keeping the key components true to original. For example the long Tsuka nowadays often seen in tantos and wakizashis is way too long and has zero connection historically. We wanted to give these swords a short, very much hour glass shaped tsuka just like the short swords made in Japan actually had. This style of “compact” tsuka also benefits when the weapons is being used with correct techniques. Making a short and smaller tsuka made balancing the dagger a challenge, so we decided to make the nagako much wider and thicker than usually in order to get the weapons perfectly balanced.

The Kage No Senshi Tsurugi Tanto has a compeletely unique diamond shape iron tsuba, as we were aiming to keep the essence of the familiar square tsuba of shinobi swords, with an added twist. The nagasa’s geometry is carefully desinged in order to make hefty enough for heavy stabs while also maintaining the sword’s exceptionally swift handling, as it is heavily tapered towards the tip. For this reason the tanto is super fast and effortless to wield. The genuine notare style hamon gives the dagger a serene feel. This T10 steel double edged weapon is fully hand forged and polished. We dressed them accordingly to Kage No Senshi Shinobi outfit with night blue rayskin and tsuka-ito wrapping.