[Caleb Cox]

Hi, looking for any info on this katana repro I got used from an elderly lady. Doesn’t have a fuller, and it seems to have a ko kissaki. Thanks!

[Alexander Ehlers]

Perhaps you can tell us what material do you think the blade is made out of ? This might help us narrow down the manufactures.

[Tom L.]

I think it might be an early Hanwei practical katana. I used to own one and bought mine in 2000. At some point, they changed the sword by making it with a lighter and thinner blade and also changed the guard from being a simple flat disc like the one in your photo, to one with a beveled edge and also gave it a pitted texture (the guard/tsuba on yours is flat and smooth like the early versions of this sword was).

Some people like the early model because it was robust. There were complaints that the next couple of versions suffered from the blade being too easily broken (Hanwei fixed this with much later versions of the sword).

If I remember, this sword cannot be taken apart without destroying the handle. The tang is supposedly designed with a notch to allow it to be keyed to the grip to prevent it from coming out of the handle should the bamboo peg keeping the blade attached to the grip fail.

Hope this helps.

[Lee O'Hagan]

I'd agree with Tom,
early Paul Chen-Hanwei practical type series, exact name escapes me as there were a few with subtle differences back then,
blades were listed as EN45 rail track or rail road steel blades,
excellent katana for the prices,
the keyed info is interesting, hadn't read that about this model, but had read it about their Zaitochi shira saya version, blind swordsman sword,
thanks Tom,

[Caleb Cox]

[Tom L.]

You're welcome Caleb.