Citadel Ocean Katana

Citadels Ocean Katana is a well-balanced and agile sword – its handcrafted fittings are imbued with the roiling nami waves of the ocean; it is limited to a production run of 100 swords worldwide.

The sharp blade is forged from DNH7 High Carbon Steel; a vibrantly visible hamon line belies its differentially-hardened tempering that give it a hard, crystalline martensite steel edge and a softer spine to absorb shock. An attentive hand-polishing with both traditional stones and powders has given the blade a high-quality polish that brings out the hamon.

The blade has been lightened with a long bo-hi groove along its spine – a method that lightens the blade while sacrificing little strength because of the I-beam like profile of the spine in this type of blade geometry. The bo-hi actually continues through the base of the blade and into the nakago, thus lightening the tang within the grip as well. The groove also disturbs the air when the blade is in motion, giving it an audible whoosh as it strikes – it is the sound of the tachikaze sword wind.

The hand cut tsuba depicting the breaking tsunami wave is of highly polished pure iron. The fuchi and kashira fittings are likewise of highly polished pure iron; they are richly adorned with the turbulent waves and waters of Japan – perhaps a respectful nod to the divinely powerful Kamikaze typhoons that brought ruination to the great war fleets of Kublai Khan when he sought to bend Japan into his dominion.

The seppa that surmount the tsuba are of brass and the habaki is of contrasting copper; it has been thoughtfully crafted with its own groove to allow it to lay flush with the bo-hi groove of the blade; thus the geometry of the blade is unbroken.

The tsuka grip of wood has been overlaid with a full-wrap rayskin same-gawa – a rare luxury afforded to few katana available on the market. The raykin was wrapped over with white silk tsuka-ito wrap that was created in Japan. The grip wrap is tightly knotted; both it and the rayskin were dyed a light tan by using tea – its tone will darken slightly with age and use. Knotted within the cords of the ito are a pair of bronze grasshopper menuki.

The saya scabbard is carved from wood and given a finish of glossy black lacquer. The front of the saya has been given a wrap of rayskin which was filled with a deep, dark blue lacquer; its highest points were then polished flush with the scabbard. This is a difficult process to master, but it gives the saya its uniquely spotted appearance. The mouth of the saya scabbard has a koiguchi of buffalo horn that was expertly cut to fit around the wood.

The sword comes with a black cloth sword bag lined with patterned yellow silk. It also comes with a nylon sword carry and storage bag that is padded and zippered – it has a shoulder strap and a zippered external compartment.