Dao refers to a variety of single-edged swords common throughout Chinese history and is one of the four traditional weapons together with the staff (gun), spear (qiang) and the double-edged sword (jian). The dao has many variants which evolved throughout the various dynastic rule in China with e#ach variant suited for the intended battlefield use. The style of dao which proliferated during the Tang Dynasty (7th - 10th century A.D.) was a sword which was straight along blade's entire length.

The tanto or short sword is a Japanese blade used by the samurai class of feudal Japan. It dates back to the Heian period and was mainly designed for stabbing but can be used for close quarter slashing. Women would sometimes carry a tanto concealed in their sash or obi for self-defense.

This tanto is in a shirasaya style of mounting, it has beautiful shape. The wood is redwood with natural grains. The fuchi and koiguchi are made of polished, black buffalo horn. The blade is made of durable 1095 high carbon steel and clay tempered, hamon is clearly visible on the blade.

Tamahagane, which in Japanese literally means "jewel steel" or "precious steel", is a type of steel made in the Japanese traditional way. Tamahagane is made by smelting iron sand in a clay furnace called "tatara" and mixing it with charcoal to produce steel with various carbon content. This very laborious process takes as much as 3 days. After the smelting process, the tatara is broken and the steel bloom or "kera" is broken and swordsmiths segregate and collect the steels with various carbon contents.

Making a blade from tamahagane requires high level of expertise from the swordsmith. Swordsmiths will laminate the different types of steel collected from the kera to create a sword which has a hard edge, soft core and springy sides.

Ryan1277 is a katana with a blade made of Chinese tamahagane. The blade of this sword is hazuya-jizuya polished to bring out the beauty of the blade. It takes a polisher several weeks to do the entire polishing process. The tsuka is made of hardwood and fully wrapped with one-piece genuine rayskin and real leather ito. The tsuba, fuchi, menuki and kashira are made of copper and with silver plating. The saya is made of hardwood with dragon engraving. Black buffalo horns are used as koiguchi, kurikata and kojiri.  The sword is fully customizable.

Wakizashi are considered a samurai's side arm and supplemental weapon. It is effective weapon when fighting in confined spaces as typical Japanese dwellings had low ceiling. Samurai warriors often sleep with their wakizashi and carry them even when inside castles, residences unlike the katana that they sometimes had to leave to a servant. The use of the wakizashi though was not limited to the samurai as merchants, craftsmen and other individuals sometimes carry it for protection.

Ryan1276 is one of our high-end works, it has shinogi zukuri with niku blade in honsanmai lamination. The edge is made of 1095 high carbon steel and the sides made of folded 1060 steel. The blade is differentially-hardened with a beautiful, natural hamon and hada. The tsuka is made of hardwood, fully wrapped with one-piece genuine rayskin and black, synthetic silk ito. The saya is also fully wrapped with genuine, unpolished rayskin. Black buffalo horns are used as kojiri, koiguchi and kurigata. The tsuba, fuchi, kashira and menuki are copper with dragon motif.

Tamahagane, which in Japanese literally means "jewel steel" or "precious steel", is a type of steel made in the Japanese traditional way. Tamahagane is made by smelting iron sand in a clay furnace called "tatara" and mixing it with charcoal to produce steel with various carbon content. This very laborious process takes as much as 3 days. After the smelting process, the tatara is broken and the steel bloom or "kera" is broken and swordsmiths segregate and collect the steels with various carbon contents.

Making a blade from tamahagane requires high level of expertise from the swordsmith. Swordsmiths will laminate the different types of steel collected from the kera to create a sword which has a hard edge, soft core and springy sides.

Ryan1273 is a katana with a blade made of Chinese tamahagane. The blade of this sword is hazuya-jizuya polished to bring out the beauty of the blade. It takes a polisher several weeks to do the entire polishing process. It has a sugu or straight hamon and the hada of the blade can be clearly seen.The tsuka is made of hardwood and fully wrapped with one-piece genuine rayskin and synthetic silk ito. The tsuba, fuchi, menuki and kashira are made of iron and with dragon pattern. The saya is made of hardwood, wrapped with bamboo. Black buffalo horns are used as koiguchi, kurikata and kojiri.  The sword is fully customizable.

Odachi or nodachi was a type of traditionally made Japanese sword used by the samurai class of feudal Japan. Odachi are difficult to produce because their length makes traditional heat treatment more complicated: The longer a blade is, the more difficult (and expensive) it is to heat the whole blade to a homogeneous temperature, both for annealing and to reach the hardening temperature. The quenching process then needs a bigger quenching medium because uneven quenching might lead to warping the blade.  

The blade is forged from 1095 high carbon steel and clay tempered, both folding grains and hamon are clearly visible. The sword is well-balanced, it's battle ready.

Odachi or nodachi was a type of traditionally made Japanese sword used by the samurai class of feudal Japan. Odachi are difficult to produce because their length makes traditional heat treatment more complicated: The longer a blade is, the more difficult (and expensive) it is to heat the whole blade to a homogeneous temperature, both for annealing and to reach the hardening temperature. The quenching process then needs a bigger quenching medium because uneven quenching might lead to warping the blade.  

This odachi is intricately forged in the honsanmai lamination structure. The edge is made of 1095 high carbon steel which has high hardness while the sides are made of folded steel which has high flexibility and has a beautiful grain pattern or hada.

This odachi is differentially hardened and has a visible hamon. The tsuka is wrapped with genuine rayskin and synthetic silk ito. The pattern on the saya is shell patchwork. The koiguchi, kojiri and kurigata are buffalo horn. The fittings are made of copper.