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Me, Myself and I
Standard disclaimer
In July 2005, I comissioned a dai-sho (a matching set of a katana and a wakizashi) with Stefan Roth, Seelenschmiede. End of March 2006, I received these swords, and have not stopped being flat out amazed since.
More text will follow later. The facts:
| Katana | Wakizashi |
|---|---|
|
My overall guideline was that I wanted the swords to be pure and functional; no frills. The steel is folded and of course differentially tempered. Both have a working polish meant for cutting, not for showing off the blade to best effect (and being scratched on the first cut). Yes, of course both blades are sharpened; the katana for about half of its length. | |
| San-Mai (3 layer sandwich) | maku-gitae |
| 114,5cm overall | 63cm overall |
| 4,4cm tip | 4,2cm tip |
| 81cm edge | 44cm edge |
| approx. 1,5cm sori | approx. 1cm sori |
| 30cm handle | 15,5cm handle |
| 1138g without saya | 672g |
| Balance about 15cm in front of the tsuba | |
| Double-edged back, approx. 6mm thick | |
| Tsuka-maki from black leather | |
| Menuki and tsuba show the mitsu-tomoe (three commas). An extended yin-yang symbolizing male, female and mu (nothingness); as well as representing the Jewel in the three sacred artifacts (the Sword, the Mirror, and the Jewel). | |
| Fuchi and kashira have been intentionally left bare. | |
For the time being, pictures say more than a thousand words. If you click on them, you'll get a much higher resolution view.
Thanks to Philipp for taking these!
And of course, I couldn't resist and pose. Here's some more, with yours truly in action; if you take any of these seriously, and as an insult to martial arts, you have a problem, but please don't send me further e-mail about it ;-)
