Many myths and countless stories surround this ancient and traditional weapon. The Japanese katana samurai sword originated in the 13th century as a smaller and improved version of the "tachi", a long sabre. It is worn as a "Daishō" together with a Wakizashi on a belt called an "obi".

The hamon hardness line created by special forging and hardening techniques, as well as the silk-wrapped hilt covered with ray skin, make the katana legendary. The katana is traditionally made with a very sharp and durable carbon steel blade with a Rockwell hardness of 60-67 HRC. Besides the very hard steel, a softer steel is often used for the core to make the blade more stable. They are usually strikingly decorated with various elements in gold and silver, but these can also be made of brass and metal. Like the other sword types of the samurai equipment, it is stowed in a wooden scabbard called saya.

The production of a katana can generally be described as very elaborate. In a bloomery, the blades are made from fragments of tamahagane steel and joined by fire welding. Then the steel block is folded up to 15 times, which corresponds to a steel layer count of 32,768 layers. This method is used to distribute carbon evenly. To get the soft core steel into the blade, a tough steel is forged into the existing block. Days of manual labour then follow to form the long blade. After further hardening processes, the blade is finally polished.

Usually the katana is wielded with two hands, except in the fighting school of Miyamoto Musashi (niten-ichiryū sword fighting school), who fought with katana and wakizashi at the same time. Blunt practice swords are called Iaitō. The katana has always been one of the most beautiful and interesting weapons and is still made today.

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