How can you tell if the Katana is well forged?

[Charliebrown]

Hi All,

 

I came across this Katana while I was browsing, it is very beautiful and would like to tickle your brains as to how you can differentiate a quality sword?

What do you guys think of this Katana?  

 

Can you also tell how it will perform? Like toughness etc.

 

Much Love and respect,

 

Charlie

Edited March 11 by Charliebrown

[drbvac]

Considering the pictures it is from a quality seller I would think and looks like a nice blade but what do you mean by perform? Are you considering using this blade for cutting exercises? Regardless of how it performs it would probably not be appropriate to use this sword for that use !

[Charliebrown]

Dear All,

 

I am merely asking from an appraisal point of view. Would like to know more in regards to the blade evaluation!

 

Please do not assume I will use this to chop woods or pool noodles at my backyard or something haha. I am a collector.

 

With that being said. I would like to tickle your brains! 

 

Much Appreciated,

 

Charlie

Edited March 12 by Charliebrown

[eternal_newbie]

Is this a modern-made sword without a signature or is it just the photography that makes the tang look new? Because the appraisal criteria is drastically different for newly made blades compared to antique swords.

[Charliebrown]

Dear All,

 

Sorry, I should have posted the original photo! This Katana is by Enju Nobusutgu, the son of Moriyoshi Tanigawa (Mukansa Smith) famous for his Kiyomaro copies.

 

This blade was made in 1979, suppose his father made another blade that won Grand Prize in New Sword Exhibition during the same year as well. So the quality and purity of the steel can be seen with this work.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Charlie

[eternal_newbie]

When it comes to Japanese swords there are several dimensions of evaluation: shape, steel, hamon, balance, sharpness etc. If you're talking strictly about cutting performance (i.e. tameshigiri or battlefield durability) that's not really something we can know without a cutting test of similar blades by this lineage of smiths. I would venture though that this blade was not made with iai/kata training in mind, as it seems quite solid (note the slightly raised shinogi in the habaki) and lacks a bo-hi to reduce the weight.

[Brian]

Yeah, performance is pretty low down on the list of what collectors are interested in, most of us don't regard that as a factor. We are collecting art here. They are all mostly functional.

[Charliebrown]

I just want to understand how to identify the qualities of a good sword with this as an example.

 

what do you guys think of this piece? 

 

You can scratch the part I ask about performance thats just a thought in my head lol. 

[Lewis B]

Hard to say very much from those wide angle photos. We would need much closer images to offer any opinions. Have you researched the smith? He is suppossed to be an accomplished maker of Soshu utsushi, especially in the style of Kiyomaru. Closely examine his technique and understand how close he gets to genuine blades by Kiyomaru. Has any of his work achieved success in competitions? Judge the maker as well as the sword.

[Charliebrown]

On 3/11/2026 at 6:03 PM, Charliebrown said:

Hi All,

 

I came across this Katana while I was browsing, it is very beautiful and would like to tickle your brains as to how you can differentiate a quality sword?

What do you guys think of this Katana?  

 

Can you also tell how it will perform? Like toughness etc.

 

Much Love and respect,

 

Charlie

 

Here are the previous close-up photos again if you would like to take a look : )

[Tcat]

Hi Charlie,

A few things go into the quality of a sword blade. It can be said that the standard of the forging is probably most important, followed by the level of heat treatment. The forging basically refers to the lamination of the steel and drawing out of the blade, here we consider are the laminations all properly welded, are there openings, how large and deep are any openings, how numerous are they, are there bubbles or air pocket at certain points in the steel, is there any cracking - this sort of thing. Then you have the heat treat to consider, is it nie/nioi, is the hardened area the correct hardness and in the right proportion to the spine, is it too brittle, how tough is the edge etc.

 

This sword being a modern forged sword should basically have no flaws at all, especially if the maker is well-known. In the moden and contemporary era, there is no great need for swords, and smiths are limited in their production output by law. As a result, all blades made are custom order, and several are made at a time with only the best selected for submission to the client. The result is that swords made in the modern era have very few if any flaws.