Justice
November 5th, 2007, 01:59 PM
Several weeks ago I had the opportunity to own a Dynasty Forge Kogarasu Maru katana, so I purchased one. Over the years I have owned and handled a few blades in the Kogarasu Zukuri, a shape made famous by a surviving piece from the early Heian period. The Heian period lasted from 794 to 1185, making this a considerably old blade.
History of the Blade
The original blade. (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d0/KogarasuMaru.jpg)
The original blade follows very closely the older style of Japanese katana called Tachi. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tachi) tachi were elaborate blades, worn edge down as opposed to the more modern katana. Many tachi were quite long, some reaching blade lengths of over 32 inches. This Kogarasu blade would have been mounted as many Tachi were, but with one enormous difference. The blade sports a double edge.
Earlier Japanese blades, called Ken (http://www.aoi-art.com/sword/ken/image/05177.jpg), were double edged swords that resembled closely the blades being made in China. Early in their history Japan was influenced heavily by Chinese culture before becoming an isolationist nation. The Kogarasu blade bridged the gap between straight doubled edged Ken and the curved, single edged tachi.
The original Kogarasu Maru (literally "Little Crow") has some very unique features. It has a blade length of about 25 inches, features a shallow sori (curve), a naginata style bo hi, a smaller bo hi running the full length of the blade called a so hi, and a particularly thin hamon pattern.
The thin hamon suggests this may have been a blade meant for a high ranking official (there were no Samurai at this period in Japan). The hamon is so thin that any damage to the edge would have probably rendered the blade useless, once a chip in the edge extends past the hamon, the blade is at risk for breakage no matter how well it is fixed. This suggests it was a blade of stature rather than warfare. Of course the blade could have been polished heavily and the hamon reduced over time, but thinner hamons were fairly typical of this era.
The Dynasty Forge Reproduction
There are many reproductions of the Kogarasu Maru katana, all of them different in many respects. I decided to purchase the one offered by Dynasty Forge.
The Dynasty Forge Kogarasu Maru is a very good reproduction of the "Little Crow" tachi, though there are some marked differences. First with my impressions of the blade.
The Blade
Out of the box, the Kogarasu Maru Tachi is a pretty impressive blade. The blade featured a bight polish over the entire surface. Dynasty Forge does not acid enhance their hamon patterns, they are left natural. As a result the hamon is virtually invisible. The folded steel is also faint. However, I am one who prefers a fainter hada pattern than one that stands out like a damascus pattern. The pattern of folded steel is mostly masame, or straight. The level of finishing on the Dynasty Forge folded steel line has always impressed me. This blade has very little sori (curve) at all.
The blade is also quite thick, measuring about 5/16ths of an inch at the habaki. The blade features deeply grooved bo hi, and the blade width is only about 1 1/4 inches wide. Not to mention the double edged nature of the second half of the blade helps redude the weight overall too, making this blade weigh in only a few ounces over 2 pounds. The blade is very quick, light, and hanldes very easily with just a single hand, though the 10.5 inch long tsuka allows for two hands.
The finish of the blade is really the selling point. I have said many times on other forumes that Paul Chen does koshirae, saya, habaki, tsuka, tsukamaki, and pretty much everything else better than Dynasty Forge, but Dynasty Forge does one thing a lot better. The blades. The blade finish of this tachi is very well done, it is almost a smooth as a mirror. Picture a Paul Chen katana finish as ripples on water, they are machine polished and have areas that dip and wave in the finish. Some places refer to these as "hammer marks" but this is not the case. It is the grinding process where these dips are created. Non stone polished blades are ground with belt grinders and other buffers to shape the blade. There is nothing wrong with using them (a majority of custom smiths use belt grinders) but the polishers at Dynasty Forge can manage a very smooth surface, almost as smooth as a stone polish. Therefore polishing stones can be used almost directly on the blade without fear of certain dips and waves not being polished in.
Koshirae and Tsuka
The fuchi and kashira are done in a "Higo Nuggets" style finish, meaning it follows a Higo design, but has a gold nugget like texture. Blades like the PaulC hen Musashi katana have the same koshirae. The Tsuba features Kirin, or "Lion Dogs", a mythical Japanese beast. The menuki are also brass cast Kirin.
The tsuka features a pretty large curve, which is interesting paired with the straighter blade. It is also fairly small, but not "rod like". It is actually a nice change from some of the Paul Chen tsuka which are giganticly thick. The wrap is done in black silk. The wrap was, by far, the most disappointing part of the entire package. Although tight in some areas, some areas over the menuki were quite loose, enough to easily shift the ito around. Also, the ito used by Dynasty Forge has never been my favorite, it is of a less dense weave than used by other companies such as Paul Chen.
However, I bought the katana with the intent to customize it, so the tsukamaki wasn't a big deal to me as I pulled it off immediately. The saya of the Kogarasu Maru tachi is actually nicely done. The front half is done in a heavy ishime (stone) finish, and the second part is done glossy.
Pictures and Customization
I do not have any pictures of the Tachi before I customized it, but here are a few pics from Dynasty Forge.
https://www.dynastyforge.com/shop/images/FF-MARU.jpg
https://www.dynastyforge.com/shop/images/FF-MARU-FITTINGS.jpg
Afterward I customized the tachi myself. I added a greyish blue silk tsukaito, a golden colored sageo, and I polished the blade using traditional Japanese finger stones. Here are the pictures of the sword as it is now.
http://homepage.mac.com/aaronjustice/.Pictures/web/kar1.jpg
http://homepage.mac.com/aaronjustice/.Pictures/web/kar2.jpg
These pictures were taken later after the stone polish. The overcast weather is poor for photographing hamon patterns, so I had to resort to flash pictures, which I HATE.
http://homepage.mac.com/aaronjustice/.Pictures/web/maru1.jpg
http://homepage.mac.com/aaronjustice/.Pictures/web/maru2.jpg
http://homepage.mac.com/aaronjustice/.Pictures/web/maru3.jpg
http://homepage.mac.com/aaronjustice/.Pictures/web/maru4.jpg
http://homepage.mac.com/aaronjustice/.Pictures/web/maru5.jpg
http://homepage.mac.com/aaronjustice/.Pictures/web/maru6.jpg
http://homepage.mac.com/aaronjustice/.Pictures/web/maru7.jpg
The Original and the Reproduction
And now here are some of the differences between the Dynasty Forge Kogarasu maru and the original one.
The Kogarasu Maru original has a 25 inch blade, the DF one has a 28 inch blade. The original has slightly more sori, including a portion of saki sori, or curved towards the tip of the blade. The DF piece has a very shallow sori in an even distribution. The tip shape of the original is spear like, the DF is more rounded. Also, the original has a very thin hamon, and the DF has a very wide hamon, becoming almost a full temper in the double edged region.
http://homepage.mac.com/aaronjustice/.Pictures/web/difference.jpg
But besides these differences, the DF Kogarasu Maru is a very good reproduction of a surviving museum piece.
The Other Makers
Other companies that have Kogarasu Maru blades.
Cold Steel. Through hardened, no hamon. Made by same forge. Priced around $450.
http://www.japaneseswords4samurai.com/images/CS88DECb.jpg
Oni Forge. Differentially hardened, mono steel. Has a very curved blade but a straight tsuka. made by a similar Chinese forge. Priced around $499.
http://www.oniforge.com/images/t/3301/ka2.jpg
Bugei Little Crow tachi. Custom ordered. Closely follows original specs including blade length, mounted in more tachi style fittings such as hondachi koshirae, silk brocaded tsuka and other elaborate fittings. High priced. Made by the Paul Chen smiths at Hanwei. Priced at $1499.
http://www.bugei.com/images/LittleCrowTachi.jpghttp://www.bugei.com/images/littlecrowdetail.jpg
Conclusion
Given the other options, the $739 price tag of the Dynasty Forge version seems to be the best price. It features a folded steel blade, some well done blade shaping, and nice koshirae. Although not as nice (or ostentatious) as the Bugei version, it is also half the cost. Dynasty Forge baldes are easily customizable, and as you can see with just a few changes you can come up with a very personal feeling piece.
Overall Aesthetics 8/10. Nice koshirae, well defined but not showy.
Handling 9/10. Very swift and balanced, almost like a natural extensine of your own body.
Cutting ability 0/0 (did not cut with)
Value (based on average sale price) 8/10. Pricey, but a good value based on other similar pieces.
Tsukamaki 5/10. Decent in areas, but the loose spots were compromises to the integrity of the entire maki.
Tsuka fit 7/10. Tsuka requires some shimming for a tight fit.
Saya fit 7/10. Some slight rattle which was fixed by some small portions of cotton added to the saya.
Quality of materials 8/10. Could have used higher quality rayskin (i replaced it) and silk (also replaced).
My rating 8/10. Although some of the parts were sub standard, the blade, habaki, and koshirae stand out well. With some customizing it is a very nice sword.
History of the Blade
The original blade. (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d0/KogarasuMaru.jpg)
The original blade follows very closely the older style of Japanese katana called Tachi. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tachi) tachi were elaborate blades, worn edge down as opposed to the more modern katana. Many tachi were quite long, some reaching blade lengths of over 32 inches. This Kogarasu blade would have been mounted as many Tachi were, but with one enormous difference. The blade sports a double edge.
Earlier Japanese blades, called Ken (http://www.aoi-art.com/sword/ken/image/05177.jpg), were double edged swords that resembled closely the blades being made in China. Early in their history Japan was influenced heavily by Chinese culture before becoming an isolationist nation. The Kogarasu blade bridged the gap between straight doubled edged Ken and the curved, single edged tachi.
The original Kogarasu Maru (literally "Little Crow") has some very unique features. It has a blade length of about 25 inches, features a shallow sori (curve), a naginata style bo hi, a smaller bo hi running the full length of the blade called a so hi, and a particularly thin hamon pattern.
The thin hamon suggests this may have been a blade meant for a high ranking official (there were no Samurai at this period in Japan). The hamon is so thin that any damage to the edge would have probably rendered the blade useless, once a chip in the edge extends past the hamon, the blade is at risk for breakage no matter how well it is fixed. This suggests it was a blade of stature rather than warfare. Of course the blade could have been polished heavily and the hamon reduced over time, but thinner hamons were fairly typical of this era.
The Dynasty Forge Reproduction
There are many reproductions of the Kogarasu Maru katana, all of them different in many respects. I decided to purchase the one offered by Dynasty Forge.
The Dynasty Forge Kogarasu Maru is a very good reproduction of the "Little Crow" tachi, though there are some marked differences. First with my impressions of the blade.
The Blade
Out of the box, the Kogarasu Maru Tachi is a pretty impressive blade. The blade featured a bight polish over the entire surface. Dynasty Forge does not acid enhance their hamon patterns, they are left natural. As a result the hamon is virtually invisible. The folded steel is also faint. However, I am one who prefers a fainter hada pattern than one that stands out like a damascus pattern. The pattern of folded steel is mostly masame, or straight. The level of finishing on the Dynasty Forge folded steel line has always impressed me. This blade has very little sori (curve) at all.
The blade is also quite thick, measuring about 5/16ths of an inch at the habaki. The blade features deeply grooved bo hi, and the blade width is only about 1 1/4 inches wide. Not to mention the double edged nature of the second half of the blade helps redude the weight overall too, making this blade weigh in only a few ounces over 2 pounds. The blade is very quick, light, and hanldes very easily with just a single hand, though the 10.5 inch long tsuka allows for two hands.
The finish of the blade is really the selling point. I have said many times on other forumes that Paul Chen does koshirae, saya, habaki, tsuka, tsukamaki, and pretty much everything else better than Dynasty Forge, but Dynasty Forge does one thing a lot better. The blades. The blade finish of this tachi is very well done, it is almost a smooth as a mirror. Picture a Paul Chen katana finish as ripples on water, they are machine polished and have areas that dip and wave in the finish. Some places refer to these as "hammer marks" but this is not the case. It is the grinding process where these dips are created. Non stone polished blades are ground with belt grinders and other buffers to shape the blade. There is nothing wrong with using them (a majority of custom smiths use belt grinders) but the polishers at Dynasty Forge can manage a very smooth surface, almost as smooth as a stone polish. Therefore polishing stones can be used almost directly on the blade without fear of certain dips and waves not being polished in.
Koshirae and Tsuka
The fuchi and kashira are done in a "Higo Nuggets" style finish, meaning it follows a Higo design, but has a gold nugget like texture. Blades like the PaulC hen Musashi katana have the same koshirae. The Tsuba features Kirin, or "Lion Dogs", a mythical Japanese beast. The menuki are also brass cast Kirin.
The tsuka features a pretty large curve, which is interesting paired with the straighter blade. It is also fairly small, but not "rod like". It is actually a nice change from some of the Paul Chen tsuka which are giganticly thick. The wrap is done in black silk. The wrap was, by far, the most disappointing part of the entire package. Although tight in some areas, some areas over the menuki were quite loose, enough to easily shift the ito around. Also, the ito used by Dynasty Forge has never been my favorite, it is of a less dense weave than used by other companies such as Paul Chen.
However, I bought the katana with the intent to customize it, so the tsukamaki wasn't a big deal to me as I pulled it off immediately. The saya of the Kogarasu Maru tachi is actually nicely done. The front half is done in a heavy ishime (stone) finish, and the second part is done glossy.
Pictures and Customization
I do not have any pictures of the Tachi before I customized it, but here are a few pics from Dynasty Forge.
https://www.dynastyforge.com/shop/images/FF-MARU.jpg
https://www.dynastyforge.com/shop/images/FF-MARU-FITTINGS.jpg
Afterward I customized the tachi myself. I added a greyish blue silk tsukaito, a golden colored sageo, and I polished the blade using traditional Japanese finger stones. Here are the pictures of the sword as it is now.
http://homepage.mac.com/aaronjustice/.Pictures/web/kar1.jpg
http://homepage.mac.com/aaronjustice/.Pictures/web/kar2.jpg
These pictures were taken later after the stone polish. The overcast weather is poor for photographing hamon patterns, so I had to resort to flash pictures, which I HATE.
http://homepage.mac.com/aaronjustice/.Pictures/web/maru1.jpg
http://homepage.mac.com/aaronjustice/.Pictures/web/maru2.jpg
http://homepage.mac.com/aaronjustice/.Pictures/web/maru3.jpg
http://homepage.mac.com/aaronjustice/.Pictures/web/maru4.jpg
http://homepage.mac.com/aaronjustice/.Pictures/web/maru5.jpg
http://homepage.mac.com/aaronjustice/.Pictures/web/maru6.jpg
http://homepage.mac.com/aaronjustice/.Pictures/web/maru7.jpg
The Original and the Reproduction
And now here are some of the differences between the Dynasty Forge Kogarasu maru and the original one.
The Kogarasu Maru original has a 25 inch blade, the DF one has a 28 inch blade. The original has slightly more sori, including a portion of saki sori, or curved towards the tip of the blade. The DF piece has a very shallow sori in an even distribution. The tip shape of the original is spear like, the DF is more rounded. Also, the original has a very thin hamon, and the DF has a very wide hamon, becoming almost a full temper in the double edged region.
http://homepage.mac.com/aaronjustice/.Pictures/web/difference.jpg
But besides these differences, the DF Kogarasu Maru is a very good reproduction of a surviving museum piece.
The Other Makers
Other companies that have Kogarasu Maru blades.
Cold Steel. Through hardened, no hamon. Made by same forge. Priced around $450.
http://www.japaneseswords4samurai.com/images/CS88DECb.jpg
Oni Forge. Differentially hardened, mono steel. Has a very curved blade but a straight tsuka. made by a similar Chinese forge. Priced around $499.
http://www.oniforge.com/images/t/3301/ka2.jpg
Bugei Little Crow tachi. Custom ordered. Closely follows original specs including blade length, mounted in more tachi style fittings such as hondachi koshirae, silk brocaded tsuka and other elaborate fittings. High priced. Made by the Paul Chen smiths at Hanwei. Priced at $1499.
http://www.bugei.com/images/LittleCrowTachi.jpghttp://www.bugei.com/images/littlecrowdetail.jpg
Conclusion
Given the other options, the $739 price tag of the Dynasty Forge version seems to be the best price. It features a folded steel blade, some well done blade shaping, and nice koshirae. Although not as nice (or ostentatious) as the Bugei version, it is also half the cost. Dynasty Forge baldes are easily customizable, and as you can see with just a few changes you can come up with a very personal feeling piece.
Overall Aesthetics 8/10. Nice koshirae, well defined but not showy.
Handling 9/10. Very swift and balanced, almost like a natural extensine of your own body.
Cutting ability 0/0 (did not cut with)
Value (based on average sale price) 8/10. Pricey, but a good value based on other similar pieces.
Tsukamaki 5/10. Decent in areas, but the loose spots were compromises to the integrity of the entire maki.
Tsuka fit 7/10. Tsuka requires some shimming for a tight fit.
Saya fit 7/10. Some slight rattle which was fixed by some small portions of cotton added to the saya.
Quality of materials 8/10. Could have used higher quality rayskin (i replaced it) and silk (also replaced).
My rating 8/10. Although some of the parts were sub standard, the blade, habaki, and koshirae stand out well. With some customizing it is a very nice sword.