Caliper
August 5th, 2009, 09:15 PM
Musashi Black Bamboo Katana
Also known as the Musasho Takeo Katana which has quickly become one of Musashi fastest selling katana due to a DH blade with attractive fittings and solid constructions for under 100USD, the popularity of this katana started when Musashi released their first version of the Bamboo katana in late 2008 with some leftovers DH blades they had, eventhought the Bamboo katana originally was fitted with a monosteel katana with a wireetched hamon, some of the lucky that acquired this DH katanas quickly voiced their surprise when they unsheathed their sub 100 katana finding a real hamon, leaving the sword community in awe and confusion.
A mistake or not, this gave Musashi a quickly growing popularity for this specific model and people asking for restock everywhere, they quickly capitalize on this and promised the next wave of their Bamboo katanas will all sport a DH blade with real hamon, and so they have.
Specifications:
Full Lenght: ----------40.5"
Blade Lenght: --------28.5
Blade: ---------------1060 Water tempered
Tsuka: ---------------11"
Weight: --------------2.1lbs
Real Samegawa panels
Black Cotton wrap
Iron fittings
Packaging:
Received a big box filled with enough peanuts to drown yourself, inside of it was a black and red Musashi box, a new design from their old chinese styles wooden boxes, as always, Jason hides any other item you order at the bottom with the peanuts so you can leave a mess in the floor while fishing for it ;)
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo001.jpg
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo002.jpg
The Katana was wrapped in the typical production katana bag, only that this appears to be linen instead of cotton; the certificate of authenticity comes in a nice looking envelope with big chinese lettering's
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo003.jpg
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo004.jpg
First Impressions:
Taking out the katana from the bag is always like christmas when you can finally see what you have long waited for, I own a Musashi Battle Katana and had my expectations of what this katana would be, since it's under 100USD, mostly low expectations, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that Musashi has improved a lot since then
Typical all black theme
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo005.jpg
Katana still covered in shipping oil
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo006.jpg
Tsuka:
The tsuka is 11" long, slimmer than Musashi previews fat generic tsukas, it's wrapped in cotton ito with real same panels, it comes with bamboo themed fushi, kashira and menuki, they do appear to be iron as stated in their stats
The samegawa appears to be low quality, it's real, but doesn't feel thick enough and you can almost see trough it to the core
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo008.jpg
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo009.jpg
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo010.jpg
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo011.jpg
What surprised me the much is the tsukamaki, the musashi I already own came in synthetic silk ito and the maki was a complete mess, terribly uneven diamonds and the minute you swung the thing all the ito moved almost coming apart, but not this time, the maki is almost even, very solid and firm, doesn't move at all, the tsukamaki is even with the fuchi and kashira, the ura and omote end knots are very firm too, nicely finished
Tsuba:
They claim it to be iron, but I'm not sure, feels very light and looks plasticly, most likely Zinc alloy casting, the tsuba design feels thin and fragile
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo016.jpg
Saya and Sageo:
This was a big concern to me, again, the Musashi I already own came with a defective saya that chipped by just looking at it, it was the typical generic chinese one size fits all saya that you can find all over ebay, I was again, pleasantly surprised to see that this was no longer the case.
Black lacquered gloss finish saya, I could not find any defect in the lacquering, buffalo horn koiguchi, only concern is a very tight fit between the habaki and saya, when unsheathing the katana, I have to push so hard that my thumb bends the tsuba (so, it's not iron)
The sageo is cotton, but a different material than the one used for the ito, feels almost like shoelace, very low quality
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo012.jpg
Habaki and Seppa
The seppa is stamped with Musashi brand, the habaki has no marking, very tight fit with koiguchi
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo016.jpg
The Blade:
All I can say is that this is the best part of the Katana, eventhought I knew that it will come with a DH blade with real hamon, I was still doubtful, was this all just hype?? merchandising BS?? some kind of new way to created a real looking false hamon?? well, this was is not the case, the hamon is REAL, so I was very happy
The blade comes in mirror finish, with bo-hi, very sharp, the hamon is gunome-midare style all the way to the kissaki finishing in a midari-komi boshi in one side and komaru boshi on the other
The Kissasi is counter polished, not geometric, no yokote line
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo013.jpg
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo014.jpg
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo015.jpg
Cutting, Handling characteristics:
I don't know, I have not cut with this katana, the katana feels very light and nimble, when swung, everything is nice and tight, no rattles
Conclusion:
Musashi is well known as the best brand for quality katanas under 200, they are not plagued with terribly QC problems like other companies, they have step up their games by moving away from generic chinese fittings, they improved their saya quality and tsukamaki and now their popular takeo line with DH blade and original fittings is making Musashi a household name brand, you can clearly see where Musashi cut costs for this line (linen sword bag, cotton ito, shoelace sageo, low quality same, alloy tsuba), but all this does not alter the functionality of the katana which is good compromise in my opinion
You can't go wrong with this katana and in my opinion is a most have for every Katana owner
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo007.jpg
Final Thought
This Katana is a gift for my older brother, since he really likes my katana collections and has been asking me to give him one of my katanas whenever he stops by=P~
This katana will be customize for him B-)
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo017.jpg
I am so impressed by this katana that I might order one for me :king:
I want to thank Jason for his amazing service here at SOM
Also known as the Musasho Takeo Katana which has quickly become one of Musashi fastest selling katana due to a DH blade with attractive fittings and solid constructions for under 100USD, the popularity of this katana started when Musashi released their first version of the Bamboo katana in late 2008 with some leftovers DH blades they had, eventhought the Bamboo katana originally was fitted with a monosteel katana with a wireetched hamon, some of the lucky that acquired this DH katanas quickly voiced their surprise when they unsheathed their sub 100 katana finding a real hamon, leaving the sword community in awe and confusion.
A mistake or not, this gave Musashi a quickly growing popularity for this specific model and people asking for restock everywhere, they quickly capitalize on this and promised the next wave of their Bamboo katanas will all sport a DH blade with real hamon, and so they have.
Specifications:
Full Lenght: ----------40.5"
Blade Lenght: --------28.5
Blade: ---------------1060 Water tempered
Tsuka: ---------------11"
Weight: --------------2.1lbs
Real Samegawa panels
Black Cotton wrap
Iron fittings
Packaging:
Received a big box filled with enough peanuts to drown yourself, inside of it was a black and red Musashi box, a new design from their old chinese styles wooden boxes, as always, Jason hides any other item you order at the bottom with the peanuts so you can leave a mess in the floor while fishing for it ;)
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo001.jpg
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo002.jpg
The Katana was wrapped in the typical production katana bag, only that this appears to be linen instead of cotton; the certificate of authenticity comes in a nice looking envelope with big chinese lettering's
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo003.jpg
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo004.jpg
First Impressions:
Taking out the katana from the bag is always like christmas when you can finally see what you have long waited for, I own a Musashi Battle Katana and had my expectations of what this katana would be, since it's under 100USD, mostly low expectations, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that Musashi has improved a lot since then
Typical all black theme
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo005.jpg
Katana still covered in shipping oil
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo006.jpg
Tsuka:
The tsuka is 11" long, slimmer than Musashi previews fat generic tsukas, it's wrapped in cotton ito with real same panels, it comes with bamboo themed fushi, kashira and menuki, they do appear to be iron as stated in their stats
The samegawa appears to be low quality, it's real, but doesn't feel thick enough and you can almost see trough it to the core
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo008.jpg
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo009.jpg
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo010.jpg
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo011.jpg
What surprised me the much is the tsukamaki, the musashi I already own came in synthetic silk ito and the maki was a complete mess, terribly uneven diamonds and the minute you swung the thing all the ito moved almost coming apart, but not this time, the maki is almost even, very solid and firm, doesn't move at all, the tsukamaki is even with the fuchi and kashira, the ura and omote end knots are very firm too, nicely finished
Tsuba:
They claim it to be iron, but I'm not sure, feels very light and looks plasticly, most likely Zinc alloy casting, the tsuba design feels thin and fragile
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo016.jpg
Saya and Sageo:
This was a big concern to me, again, the Musashi I already own came with a defective saya that chipped by just looking at it, it was the typical generic chinese one size fits all saya that you can find all over ebay, I was again, pleasantly surprised to see that this was no longer the case.
Black lacquered gloss finish saya, I could not find any defect in the lacquering, buffalo horn koiguchi, only concern is a very tight fit between the habaki and saya, when unsheathing the katana, I have to push so hard that my thumb bends the tsuba (so, it's not iron)
The sageo is cotton, but a different material than the one used for the ito, feels almost like shoelace, very low quality
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo012.jpg
Habaki and Seppa
The seppa is stamped with Musashi brand, the habaki has no marking, very tight fit with koiguchi
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo016.jpg
The Blade:
All I can say is that this is the best part of the Katana, eventhought I knew that it will come with a DH blade with real hamon, I was still doubtful, was this all just hype?? merchandising BS?? some kind of new way to created a real looking false hamon?? well, this was is not the case, the hamon is REAL, so I was very happy
The blade comes in mirror finish, with bo-hi, very sharp, the hamon is gunome-midare style all the way to the kissaki finishing in a midari-komi boshi in one side and komaru boshi on the other
The Kissasi is counter polished, not geometric, no yokote line
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo013.jpg
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo014.jpg
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo015.jpg
Cutting, Handling characteristics:
I don't know, I have not cut with this katana, the katana feels very light and nimble, when swung, everything is nice and tight, no rattles
Conclusion:
Musashi is well known as the best brand for quality katanas under 200, they are not plagued with terribly QC problems like other companies, they have step up their games by moving away from generic chinese fittings, they improved their saya quality and tsukamaki and now their popular takeo line with DH blade and original fittings is making Musashi a household name brand, you can clearly see where Musashi cut costs for this line (linen sword bag, cotton ito, shoelace sageo, low quality same, alloy tsuba), but all this does not alter the functionality of the katana which is good compromise in my opinion
You can't go wrong with this katana and in my opinion is a most have for every Katana owner
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo007.jpg
Final Thought
This Katana is a gift for my older brother, since he really likes my katana collections and has been asking me to give him one of my katanas whenever he stops by=P~
This katana will be customize for him B-)
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q288/cyclosporine/Black%20Bamboo/Bamboo017.jpg
I am so impressed by this katana that I might order one for me :king:
I want to thank Jason for his amazing service here at SOM