TANTO | |
A tantō is one of the traditionally made Japanese swords that were worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan. The tantō dates to the Heian period, when it was mainly used as a weapon but evolved in design over the years to become more ornate. Tantō were used in traditional martial arts (tantojutsu). The term has seen a resurgence in the West since the 1980s as a point style of modern tactical knives, designed for piercing or stabbing. The tantō is a sword, but is used as a knife. The blade is single or double edged with a length between 15 and 30 cm (1 Japanese shaku). The tantō was designed primarily as a stabbing weapon, but the edge can be used for slashing as well. Tantō are generally forged in hira-zukuri style (without ridgeline), meaning that their sides have no ridge line and are nearly flat, unlike the shinogi-zukuri structure of a katana. Some tantō have particularly thick cross-sections for armor-piercing duty, and are called yoroi toshi. The blade of this sword is made of T10 carbon steel . It is clay tempered. The high-performance blade has very good toughness and does not deform when bent at 90 degrees. The hardness is as high as 58. Cutting the wire does not hurt the blade. It can be used in battle or for display. We would highly recommend it as a gift. Anyone would be thrilled to receive a gorgeous sword as a gift! |
GENERAL DATA | |
OVERALL LENGTH: 55 cm / 21.7 inch BLADE LENGTH: 33 cm / 13 inch TSUKA LENGTH: 17 cm / 6.7 inch BLADE WIDTH: 3.2 cm / 1.26 inch BLADE THICKNESS: 0.7 cm / 0.28 BLADE CRAFT: fully hand forged, water quenching BLADE MATERIAL: T10 steel, clay tempered, real hamon BLADE SHAPE: Shinogidukuri NAKAGO: full tang KISSAKI: medium (chūkissaki) BLADE HRC: 58 | |
MOUNTINGS | |
TSUKA(HANDLE): hard wood core, Hineri maki MEKUGI: 1 bamboo peg TSUKA-ITO: white wrapping cord SAMEGAWA: white rayskin FUCHI / KASHIRA / MENUKI: alloy TSUBA(HAND GUARD): alloy HABAKi & SEPPA: brass SAYA: white lacquered wooden scabbard with blue specialized sageo | |
PACKAGE | |
1 sword with saya ( No display stand and other fittings along with) | |
CLAY TEMPERING | |
Before being quenched, a special clay mixture can be applied onto the blade to harden the edge and obtain different hardness on the blade. The clay mixture was a special recipe and considered a crucial trade secret, guarded protectively by sword making masters. It would contain such things as feathers, powdered bones, grass, etc. and would be applied to the edge of the blade before being quenched. During quenching, a chemical reaction between the clay mixture and the hot steel occurs during the sudden temperature drop and carbon is fed into the blade in high amounts, creating an extremely tough edge. A clay hardened blade can only be quenched in water, thus increasing the defect rate even more. Another way for clay tempering is to apply clay along the blade but let edge exposed. Thus, while quenching the blade into water,the uncovered edge will cool down suddenly, but the rest of blade will cool down slowly. Such differential temperature change results in the different hardness of the blade. So the edge is tough enough to cut, where the back of blade is soft /flexible enough to absorb the impact during cutting. Such quenching process usually will leave beautiful wavy tempered line on the blade, as known as "hamon" in Japanese swords term. | |
THE MODERN STYLE POLISHING (HADORI 刃取) | |
It is designed to highlight the aesthetics of the blade. In this style polishing, the hamon appears white against the black, shining steel and the mirror finished shinogi-ji. It is so aesthetic that it makes a blade perfect for display.
The white pattern that looks like hamon is called "HADORI". It is not a true hamon, but it is designed by polisher along the hamon to exaggerate it. When you look at the blade under a proper light, you can see the true hamon under the hadori. |