Toyo Katana

Yoshida Toyo was a Japanese samurai from the Tosa domain. The smiths of hanwei commemorate this samurai in steel with this katana.

This classic tsuba from Toyo features his weapon of choice, the jūmonji yari. It has a normal spear point with two sharpened transverse points.

The back of the tsuba shows a Japanese castle or shiro, which are fortresses built in Japan to guard strategic locations.

The tsuka is wrapped in Japanese black cotton with white same (rayskin) and a detailed silver and gold Japanese castle on the kashira.

Contrasts with the tsuka are the gold and silver lily menuki and fuchi depicting the traditional Japanese tea ceremony.

The samurai sword has a 69.5 cm hand-forged steel blade with bo-hi or spring groove to make the sword more agile and faster.

A shiny black saya or scabbard with black sageo and buffalo horn kurikata and kojiri.

A katana designed with a focus on low weight and great for kata and light cutting.

Specifications

Total length: 101 cm

Nagasa / Blade length: 69.5 cm

Shaku: 2.29

Tsuka / Handle: 29 cm

POB: 12cm

Motohaba (bottom width): 3 cm

Motokasane (bottom blade thickness): 7 mm

Sakihaba (yokote width): 2 cm

Sakikasane (yokote thickness): 5 mm

Sori / Curvature: 2 cm

Weight: 919 grams

Blade Steel: 65Mn

HRC Edge: 60, HRC Back: 40

Specs will vary slightly from piece to piece.

65Mn is a readily-available steel that is formulated to provide good wear resistance and hardness. The medium-high carbon content makes for a high degree of toughness and resilience, while the manganese, in addition to improving these properties, improves the hot-working characteristics of the steel, making it an excellent candidate for forged sword blades. 65Mn Steel Composition: 0.62-0.7C 0.9-1.2Mn 0.17-0.37Si