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Dragon King – Kawanakajima Katana

$1,029.99

Battle Ready
(1 customer review)
SKU: SD35420 | Categories:
Battle Ready

In stock

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    The Battles of Kawanakajima were fought in the Sengoku period of Japan between bitter rivals Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin. Though neither warrior emerged victorious over the other, the battles did yield many stories of bravery, chivalry and cunning that have passed into Japanese legend and folklore. The artisans of Dragon King have immortalized this great series of battles in this forged and folded steel katana.

    This beast of a blade is 29” long with a deep hi to lessen the weight. The mixture of T10 and 9260 steel give the blade very pronounced hada which can be easily seen in the dark hamon. The 13 3/8” tsuka is wrapped in black silk over real same. The tsuba depicts Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen engaged in combat. The black textured saya is wrapped in black sageo. The Kawanakajima katana will be a prize for collectors or a practitioners workhorse for heavy cutting.

    Overall Length43"
    Blade Length29 1/4"
    Weight2 lbs 15 oz
    EdgeVery Sharp
    Width36.7 mm
    Thickness6.2 mm - 4.9 mm
    PommelN/A
    P.O.B.3 3/4"
    Grip Length12 1/8" (Ito Cord)
    Blade [Folded T10 and 9260 High Carbon Steels]
    Class
    CultureJapanese
    ManufacturerDragon King
    Country of OriginChina

    1 review for Dragon King – Kawanakajima Katana

    1. Kelley Norwoood (verified owner)

      Firstly, a note.
      I am submitting this review voluntarily. I purchased this sword of my own free agency, with my own money, and I am not beholden to anyone to give any flowery, exuberant, or bullsh*t review. I ordered this sword on Monday, received it on Thursday, and was used to cut tameshigiri in the dojo today. This is why it pays to be an Acolyte of the Kult. I cannot thank the good folks of KOA enough! I have done business with y’all for almost 2 decades and I’ve never EVER been disappointed. If you need it from Kult of Athena in a hurry, don’t hesitate to ask.
      On to the sword.
      The stock tsuka on this sword is ridiculous. It’s HUGE at the fuchi making wrapping the fingers all the way around virtually impossible for all but the most gargantuan of hands. The samegawa is in the upper rage of low-quality panels typically adheased to the cores of mass-produced swords. The ito is really good quality and tightly woven in the appropriate alternating overlapping hinerimaki style. The folds of the ito had really good quality paper hishigami inside them. I think the sageo is nylon or some other synthetic fiber. The habaki, o-seppa, fuchi, kashira, kashira shitodome, kurigata shitodome, menuki, and tsuba are all top-quality cast and silvered, I think brass, but it’s definitely heavy solid metal (no crappy ‘alloy’). The detail on them is OUTSTANDING quality. The menuki and tsuba, particularly, had such well-rendered details that I found them to be absolute works of art. The saya is nothing special, it’s very wide in the koiguchi to accommodate the wider blade, but otherwise it’s a passable attempt at kuroishime finish, looks almost like lineolum wrapped around the outside. I believe the koiguchi, kurikata, and kojiri are real water buffalo horn. There isn’t much play in the saya. It probably isn’t carved to fit the blade, but I got lucky and the koiguchi is tight on the habaki and the sword doesn’t rattle.
      All that said about the fittings, none of the negatives bother me in the least. I never use a stock production sword. I always disassemble these swords and build a new tsuka and wrap my own tsukaito. I bought this sword for the blade, and if you ask me, I got one hellova one-sided good deal. This katana cuts right out of the box like it’s a lightsaber. It’s very broad and has pretty decent niku, in both cases I’d say it’s larger than the Hanwei Performance Geometry Cutting swords. The bohi really lightens things up and keeps the sword responsive; it is well-defined and terminates in a shinken point (not the rounded off terminal that you see on most katanas with bohi). While the sword is BIG, it’s not out of proportion. The finish is pretty good. Not mirror polished, but I find that level of polishing to be detrimental to frequent tameshigiri use. Good shinogi, mune, yokote, and shapely chukissaki. The hamon is prominent and one can see the hada of the T-10/9260 alloy along the shinogiji. I agree with what I read elsewhere online about this particular metallurgical choice for Dragon King. It would have made more sense for them to do a sanmai/shoshukite lamination of those metals, but having them folded together still produces an amazing result. After looking ant every facet of this sword with a magnifying glass, I found no pitting or lamination problems anywhere. The nakago is really wide, as well, also very much akin to the Practical XL and Practical Plus XL type swords, so making a new handle from scratch is a must (stock tsukas off e-bay or amazon or wherever aren’t going to fit right). The nakago sits a bit off-center from the nagasa, much like how a handle doesn’t align with the blade on a chef’s knife.
      And finally, how does it drive?
      My first cut was a kessagiri so clean that there was no drag in the cut and the portion of the goza that I had just cut through fell to earth ONLY because of gravity. I was successful with every cut in both full kihonwaza and in cutting from only 6 inches off the surface of the goza. My next-to-last cut had shaved the goza down to the level of the mounting dowel, and thinking I still had clearance, with my last cut, accidentally sliced right into it. I didn’t cut through it, and was afraid I had rolled the edge, but I withdrew the sword to discover NO dulling, chipping, rolling, or any visible effect to the edge. WOW! Hitting a dowel can be the final curtain call for cheaper swords.
      These are just my opinions on this sword based on my experience. I have about 18-19 years training in nihontojutsu and have handled, cut, and trained with lots of different swords over the years. I wouldn’t recommend getting this sword if you plan to use it for any kind of martial arts training and DON’T plan to build a new tsuka for it. For the price, the tsuka is REALLY disappointing. I think that Dragon King could have executed this design better, but I can’t complain about the results from using it. It’s ALMOST cheating at tameshigiri. :)

      Kitamori Takeshi
      Shin Shin Ryu Iaijutsu
      Shinmeikan Dojo
      Houston, TX
      09-16-2023

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