As swift as Wind
As gentle as Forest
As fierce as Fire
As unshakeable as Mountain
– The Furinkazan banner of Takeda Shingen
Though he took the name Shingen (Compassionate Eye) to profess his fairness and wise perception in resolving domestic matters, Takeda Shingen became much more popularly known as the Tiger of Kai for his prowess in battle and his swift tactics which struck the forces of his rivals with unyielding ferocity.
The Hanwei Takeda Shingen Katana pays homage to one of the most respected Daimyo of the Sengoku Period. The blade of the katana is forged from 65Mn high carbon steel – a steel with good resilience and toughness which is optimized by the addition of manganese. The blade was differentially-tempered in the traditional manner which imbued it with a hardened edge of 60 HRC with a visible hamon. The body and spine of the katana is of a softer, shock-absorbing 40 HRC hardness.
The blackened Tsuba features the famed Furinkazan banner of Takeda and its reverse displays the stern daimyo in portraiture, his war fan held aloft and ready to signal the commencement of a thundering cavalry charge from his samurai warriors. The kashira pommel cap is emblazoned with the fierce tiger of his namesake picked out in gold. The habaki and seppa are silvered and the tsuka grip is fashioned from wood and it has panels of genuine rayskin and a tight tsuka-ito grip wrap with gold Takeda Mon menuki fitted beneath the ito folds.
The carved wood scabbard is coated in a textured red lacquer and it has fittings of polished buffalo horn. The black cord sageo completes the saya. Included with the sword is a cloth sword bag.
Takeda Shingen was a masterful general and the motto emblazoned upon his war banner was a paraphrased passage from Sun Tzu – a passage that he clearly took to heart for he was a masterful strategist who placed a great emphasis on having well-drilled forces who were flexible, swift and hard-hitting. This made him stand out from many of his peers who were focused on castle-building as a military strategy. Takeda saw his strength not in the rooted stone of his rivals but in bold action and a confident and well-timed attack. With this military mantra Takeda was able to fend off the combined forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu and Oda Nobunaga whilst expanding his territory.
Takeda Shingen had an epic rivalry with Uesugi Kenshin which was epitomized in the battles of Kawanakajima – the feud between the two Daimyo and their several battles are popular cultural tales which are iconic to the Sengoku Period.
Joe V. –
Beautiful but Slightly Flawed for My Taste Lovely weapon. Beautifully worked on the Tsuba, and, the hakabi shows very little signs of wear. However, the sword will slip out of the Saya with a remarkable ease — as in, if turned upside down, falls right out. Personally, I just consider the Feudal Japan version of a hair trigger pistol. I purchased the sword as a functional display piece — completely satisfied. I only dropped that one star as really, when sheathed, it should make that satisfying “schnick” sound, and as the Saya is too loose, no such “schnick”.
The hamon is really too consistent on each side to be anything other than machined — but, mounted to the wall in a stand, no one really sees . And, hell, it’s a nice blade with a hamon — little complaint here.
You won’t be sorry purchasing this katana.