I received my aluminum practice sword in 13 days. Very light and and blunt blade makes the swoosh sound. It is about what I expected.
Just excellent service, communication and delivery!!
I have absolutely LOVED every actual katana I have purchased from you and I love these unsharpened ones too! They're perfect to keep up practice without damaging my kickboxing stand on the off chance I miss. Cool swords! Thank you!
Note: Katana arrived in styrofoam without an outer box and had some smudges on the handle that needed to be cleaned. However, it is great quality, arrived in a timely manner and overall, very happy with my purchase. Received many compliments.
The Good: this iaito has a nice simple aesthetic. The blade and handle are well balanced and it is sufficient for beginner Iaido training.
The Bad: at this price point there are some compromises that have been made that I would like to see changed on a newer model. They are as follows.
1. The plastic saya is disappointing. Plastic shavings get stuck to the blade, there’s a lot of rattle, and even a cheap wooden saya would have been much preferred to plastic.
2. The edge of the iaito is kind of fat. This might be a good thing for beginners worried about stabbing themselves (iaito can still be sharp on the tip, even sharp enough to cut flesh or stab into something) but a thinner and more refined edge would have been better.
3. The handle wrapping is a little loose, but for the price that is expected.
Despite all these negatives the sword definitely allows me to train in a way that’s better than a bokken for Iaido and for that I would recommend it for a tight budget iaidoka looking for their first training iaito.
I really like this particular unsharpened katana. I went the unsharpened route to avoid damaging my kickboxing stand I practice swings with sometimes and am happy with the weight distribution as it's a bit lighter feeling than some of the sharpened katanas I've used in the past. This makes me want another for my other hand which I'll probably get at some point.
Thanks!
P.S. I wish you still had an Amazon store (maybe I'm missing it) so I can add your stuff to my wishlist
The shipping was fast- I believe it was at my door 5 days from when I placed the order.
As for the katana, the Saya is plastic and the blade is aluminum, making it extremely light weight and easy to wield. I've only had it for a day and done some basic drawing/drills with it. Admittedly I am concerned about how it will hold up to even light contact, so time will tell.
For now I am happy with it, but the price does seem high for a practice weapon (based on the plethora of "sharp" edged, and probably poor quality, weapons I could have gotten for a fraction of the price). If I can get a couple years of use out of it, I'd say it was worth it.
excellent service and ease of use.
My son loved his first practice sword.
Excellent practice blade
The katana is good-looking. Is too light for my personal preferences. I had to glue the small metal ring on the top side where the waist string runs through. It came off very easy. The blade as it is aluminum bends easily. In my opinion, it needs to be thicker and wider. That will make not bend so easily and give it more weight. Overall I am satisfied even though it is on the expensive side when it comes to the cost and came with no sword cover or bag.
This is the first time I’ve purchased a trainer katana and was well worth the money. This is a quality training tool that has given me the confidence to properly execute basic sword strikes, unsheathing and re-sheathing techniques, and ultimately appreciate the art itself! Excellent trainer, looking forward to hopefully getting a real one- if my wife lets me:(
W katana
I purchased this sword as an Iaito (practice blade for iai), as well for cosplay, as such i was looking forward to replacing the synthetic same, tsuba and redoing the wrap as needed for cosplay and display.
The handle is held together in many ways with what i assume to be hot glue and as such was quite difficult to remove, however once I handled the glue , it it became much easier to remove and replace the tsuba and caps, as such it will work wonderfully for my cosplay weapon of choice. I personally plan to replace the synthetic same with a leather wrap and replace the ito wrap with a higher quality cloth wrap just to rid myself of the rougher than usual texture.
As for a practice weapon, this sword is fantastic. As another review stated this sword is so light balance is a non issue and as such makes it a perfect practice weapon for learning new techniques.
*I will admit drawing from the saya is a little irritating as the hard plastic flakes on occasion and decorates my blade with scraped plastic, but this can be fixed or replaced at ones leisure.
The blade and its parts are quite well made for the price and I look forward to my training and cosplay with such a versatile blade.
I bought this sword just to have something I could practice difficult twirls and fast draws with. I didn't want to risk getting injured using my real sword which is a competition cutting sword (a Last Legend Tsunami). And now that I am getting older and have arthritis, I need to be more carful.
This sword was better than I expect, but you need to know some things about it before you buy.
The blade is 28 1/4" long and the tsuka is 10 3/4" long which I am happy about. I like an 11" handle and a 29" or 30" blade. So this one is short but feels good to use.
They talk about balance with swords, but in the 40 years I have used them, I think it is more a question of weight. Swords that are heavy seem to be out of balance more than lighter ones. Anyway, this sword is so light that balance doesn't matter. You can hardly feel it compared to a cutting blade.
The saya is plastic. It looks and feels like a wooden saya but it's not. The problem is that the blade clunks around and makes a lot of noise when you put the sword away. You can control that a lot by how you put it away. Just press the back side of the blade downward against the opening as you push it in and that cuts out most of the noise. The habaki hits the mouth of the saya and that is were most of the noise comes from, but if you press the back of the blade down and push the tip up as you reach the end, it will go in nicely. It just takes getting used to.
I was disappointed that the same isn't real like the ad claimed, but for the price, I don't mind. I am going to rewrap it and replace the synthetic same anyway. As for the handle wrapping, it's not bad. It's not high quality silk or even cotton, and so it feels kind of rough. But it does stay in place and the diamonds are mostly even. The ito doesn't come apart from use so if you are not really picky, the handle is fine. The length is a little longer than they told me it would be.
The blade is really good. I had an expensive (2K) dull katana many years ago. It was really high quality, but it was too small for me so I sold it after 20 years. The blade on this sword compares with that one. It looks about the same and feels about the same. I really like it.
For the money there is nothing wrong with this sword. I like it. But I like expensive swords and want them to be perfect. So if I like it, most likely you will too. Just be aware that you might want to upgrade the tsuka or even the saya. I ordered a wooden saya for mine and once I replace the same with real same and wrap the handle, I think I will love this sword.
Very nice sword, sturdy and light. Exactly what I needed to practice my forms after getting back into things in my 40's. Makes my cutting sword feel like it's made out of iron by comparison.
The Iaito is incredible no rattling and every thing is well put together the only thing I didn't like was the saya made from hard plastic
Simply amazing. Arigato!
As far as I have seen and felt it’s a beautiful sword! I’m planning on using it for a couple of tournaments where actual bladed weapons are not allowed.
nice weapons, was not the last time to order things in youre shop
Top quality training tool. Can't beat the price for value.
Sword was as described personally the ito wrap was too dark for me but the munuki we're beautiful same with all the other fittings and all we're secured tightly. A couple problems though is that the blade doesn't fit perfectly in the saya so there's a little bit of a rattle and secondly the habaki is just pressure fit to the koiguchi so it's tight but not the tightest fot will fall out if you shake it too much while its facing down, but other than those two things the sword is awesome will be buying from here again someday.
Good job
Excellent quality! Fast shipping! Will definitely order again!
Katana was just as described, great detail to workmanship and good quality from what I can see. Not as light as I thought it would be but still much lighter than my other steel swords. This sword will be used for performing katas that require spinning and twirling.
Will show it to students to see if they like it, then will order more.
MGF
Exactly how pictured, very high quality sword! Will definitely buy from this company again!
I love my sword! Great for Iaido or Kenjutsu training!
Pros:
-Hamon is beautiful
-Makes a nice swooshing noise
-Nicely balanced around the tsuba
-Exactly as described!
Cons:
-Ito wrapping could be tighter and cleaner
-Overall, a little too light for me.
Ordered practice sword. Showed up in about 7 days. Was packaged good. Solid sword. Perfect for the price. I will buy more for my kids when they are ready.
Item received as described. A bit of extra hassle and expense due to shipping out of USA but not unduly tardy. First impression is that it’s what I wanted: an aluminum training iaito with decent fittings. Looks real but is blunt so you won’t chop thumb off learning how to return sword to saya. Feels light but solidly made, eg doesn’t flop around, bend, or wriggle inside the (real or well simulated) rayskin wrap. It’s a fraction of the cost of a practice katana at the local sword shop, and not an easy object to find in the first place.
received in a week, good quality, son loves it - especially the detail on the handle.