As much as I wish there was, there will never be such a thing as the perfect ‘internet’ Katana..
You can take quite a deep dive into the subject and a breakdown of the cost of all the parts, both large and small, over on this article below over on the main site towards the bottom of ‘How Modern Production Swords are Made’ where we break down the individual costs of a $300 sword along with what percentage of the sword comes from each part (each sword and brand is different, but this is a pretty good guideline).
But the gist of it is, for each part to be good, a lot of time and cost needs to go into it. At the high end, traditional smiths work all day with wet finger stones on a single blade for that final layer of smoothness.
But then there are swords were tradition more or less gets thrown out the window and over the years, some very cost effective and practical solutions have been found to make halfway decent barebone Katana for a good price.
But the new Horimono Collection from Ryujin takes value for money to a whole new level..
These are live, practical monotempered 65 spring tempered heavy blades (with false hamon for effect, love it or hate it, it is what it is) but they have several factors that put them close to that ‘perfect internet sword’ I was talking about at the start of this post..
Every innovation over the last 20 years in keeping costs down while still satisfying QC has been put into this new series of 5 unique and cool, very durable Katana with horimono engravings on each blade that some forges in Longquan charge close to the price of the WHOLE SWORD for one of these..
I mean, on a real spring steel blade – this kind of engraving suggests the sword is in the hundreds at least right?
Add to this real iron and brass fittings where nearly every other sub $150 sword uses cheap zinc alloys and wooden gaps showing from scrappy rayskin, loose or fuzzy cotton ito, etc, etc and these 5 new models aren’t just a nice new choice, they revolutionize the kind of tough but still beautiful backyard or dojo beater you can get these days..
And until October 20th, they are priced at truly INSANE prices considering what you get.
Don’t get me wrong, they aren’t perfect, for example some new time saving wrapping methods to ensure tightness and evenness means that you don’t get the much desired alternating ito wrap, the rayskin is synthetic (though it doesn’t repeat, look cheap and is actually sought after by some people who prefer no animal products in their blades). But the blades are solidly tempered 65mn Spring steel, and the engraving alone can cost $80 at some places and it uses fittings normally seen on swords at least two or three times the current price point.
Definitely worth checking out, and available in 5 unique cool styles so far.
MODEL ONE: “Lord of the Seas”
The naval colored ito and sageo with trident riding dragon definitely evokes a powerful naval feel to it, but just looks cool in its own right.
MODEL TWO: “Woodland Warrior”
I love the Dragon in this one, can just imagine it sleekly flying between trees as it hunts down its helpless prey and is complimented with natural brown themed fittings.
MODEL THREE: “Guardian of Fuji”
It’s mostly the tsuba, featuring Mt Fuji that gives this one it’s name, but also something about its Dragon resembles those painted by the likes of Hokusai, and the cool ‘Tiger’ themed black and gold ito wrap just makes this sword stand out.
MODEL FOUR: “Lawless Ronin”
This sword would not have belonged to a servant of the Shogun, that’s for sure. Square tsuba were outlawed at one point during the Edo period, and the colors and general style suggests this would have been the blade of a rebellious and Master-less Ronin.
MODEL FIVE: “Brass Dragon”
Using all brass fittings instead of iron, it’s a classic black Katana that like all the others, is just an absolute steal for the engravings alone..!
Q & A About the Horimono Collection (FAQ):
Are there any other Ryujin Swords that offer that kind of level of value?
Short answer – not really..! The Hatamoto II is also a monotempered 65mn Spring Steel blade – lighter and better balanced with the fittings all iron and hand made the old way and has real rayskin. But it’s $100 more and the blade is essentially the same steel tempered the same way. There’s a 1045 carbon steel blade in wood Shirasaya (pictured below) for $59.99 – but no, there really isn’t any sword with a halfway decent blade and fittings like this anywhere near this price point currently.
How do these compare to the recently released limited edition engraved Katana by Ryujin?
There are several key differences between the Limited Edition Ryujins and the Horimono Collection Swords. Engravings on the Ryujin series are slightly more subtle, but the main difference is the blades are lighter differentially hardened T10 tool steel with a real hamon temper line, use all iron fittings (the Fuchigashira in the Horimono series are brass, which still still VERY good is not quite as desirable as iron) and better quality hand wrapped ito with alternating wrap and real rayskin underneath. Plus the blade is about a half a pound lighter.
However, they are also nearly three times the cost, so just depends on what you like – durable and tough, or refined, more traditional and fast (and if you want one or 3 for the same price).
Crazy how cheap some decent blades are getting these days, only a few years ago you’d be lucky to get a basic 1045 carbon steel sword with zinc fittings for under $100..
But what if I REALLY can’t stand synthetic rayskin handle wraps..
For those of you who can’t get over synthetic rayskin, when you buy a sword under $100, a full wrap would cost $70, so they cut the leftover-bits into panels and slot them into place.
Panels were not uncommon historically, but ideally you want a full wrap to reinforce the tsuka structure, and if you put your biases aside for a moment lets take a look at a typical panel of a sub $200 sword and how there are gaps of wood showing because its so expensive to use, the panel is quite narrow:
Below is the synthetic version – full wrap all the way around for extra strength and a varied, realistic pattern that if it WAS real would cost at least $70 to the base price of a sword.
It’s not cheap and nasty looking, does the job better and helps us make this the sword the bargain that it is. And if that doesn’t convince you it’s worth it, let the savings pass you by..
Anyway, for everyone else who isn’t so worried about synthetics (but will happily buy a sword with rayon tsuka and sageo) – check these and other bargain Ryujin Swords out right here at the SBG Sword Store:
Just insane pricing for real swords with such cool features. But remember, the special pricing must come to an end on October 20.
