The Practical XL Katana returns with all the features that made it a great katana but with some great improvements.

Keeping with our promise for upgrades and advancement, the crisp and clean new look of the furniture (tsuba, fuchi, kashira, menuki) comes from the new tooling of this classic design that will remind you of the early originals. Still featuring the blade geometry of the differentially hardened and forged 1566 forge steel blade of the original.

In the mid-2000s, CAS expanded the popular Practical Series to include more blade options for martial arts practitioners for various degrees of cutting and targets. From that market need the Performance Series was forged. Keeping with the purpose to maintain an economic price and without superfluities of high-end katana, the Performance Series combined the fittings of the original Practical katana series with the blade geometries and profiles desired by martial art sword practitioners. CAS added the XL, XL Light and Elite katana blade profiles and geometries. This allowed for a range from quick light target cutting to heavy target cutting which filled the void and became an industry standard.

The Practical XL Katana remains the standard for being designed for maximum cutting power in heavy targets. Keeping the furniture of the Practical Katana and the low maintenance synthetic tsuka components, the XL blade geometry allows for not only cutting straw bamboo mats but properly prepared thick bamboo targets. The 1566 steel and differentially hardened in the traditional manner, producing an edge hardness of HRC60 and spine hardness of HRC40. Cut with confidence with the Practical XL Katana. 

In 2025, the Raimie XL Katana was added to the Performance Series XL selection for those who wanted a heavy cutter with little more beauty. 

The Performance Series remains the standard in the Japanese sword industry since its introduction in the mid-2000s. Being the go-to cutting katana for practitioners, our newly updated Performance series katana will maintain their place in the sword market. They are highly imitated but never truly replicated by the competition. You can purchase with confidence in CAS Hanwei brand swords with our four decades of knowledge and expertise in manufacturing.

Made formerly at the legendary Hanwei forge that closed in 2024, the famed artisans of Dalian at the Dragon King forge take the mantle of this legendary brand. Former protégé of Paul Chen and original engineer of the manufacturing of the Hanwei brand, Frenchie Jin knows these swords better than anyone else as he was a part or their original conception at the original Hanwei Metal Factory. The CAS Hanwei brand couldn’t be in better manufacturing hands for the future.

Functionality and Intended Use