In an effort to provide a katana that will perform well in the rigors of daily cutting practice required by many martial art classes devoted to the study of Japanese swordsmanship, we are pleased to offer this entry to our functional sword line. The grip of this katana is a full 12 inches long, covered in rayskin with a wrap (Tsuka-Ito) specially developed for its gripping qualities. The tsuba is a large 3 3/8" with an open pattern similar to the spokes on a wheel, to keep its weight down while still providing good hand protection when cutting. The functional blade is differentially tempered with a true hamon. Wood scabbard has a hard black textured finish that will hold up better than smooth lacquer. All in all a very tough version of the traditional katana produced by Hanwei under direction of Paul Chen. This sword comes pre-sharpened for the martial artist and tameshigiri cutting.