Bamboo Style Wakizashi

At Bugei we reach into history to design blades to be used by the student of traditional Japanese Sword Arts. The Bamboo Katana was Bugei's first production sword. And all these years later the updated Bamboo Katana with its elegant black fittings and gold bamboo highlights continues to be one of our most popular swords.

The Bamboo Wakizashi was developed as a companion sword to the katana. The sword has an 18.5" blade with a 6.5" tsuka (handle).

Bamboo is a popular theme for Japanese sword mounts as it represents both strength and flexibility, qualities highly prized by the Samurai.

The tsuba (sword guard) is made from a plate of soft copper that is given a hard gloss black coating and then gold highlights are applied to the intricate bamboo. The tsuka (handle) is wrapped in black silk ito to complement the gloss black saya and glossy black fittings.

We also offer a katana and tanto with fully matching furniture should you want to form a matching set (daisho). Included with each sword are a sword bag and quality cleaning kit we import directly from Japan. And as is true of all of our swords, each sword is carefully hand inspected and fine-tuned by Keith Larman before being offered up for sale.

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Bamboo Katana

Bamboo Tanto

Dragonfly Wakizashi

The Dragonfly Wakizashi is a relatively new addition to Bugei's lineup of swords. Made to be a companion sword to the Dragonfly Katana, it shares the same design, just scaled down to wakizashi size (18.5" shinogi zukuri blade with chu kissaki, 6.5" tsuka). The blade is not overly thin, but the nearly flat surface of the blade makes it an excellent soft target cutter. Each wakizashi is individually hand forged and folded from the superior Swedish Powdered Steel, available with or without bo-hi, and is very affordable. The Dragonfly Wakizashi tsuka is wrapped with dark brown silk tsukaito.

All of our swords are tested extensively before they are put into production. We make sure that our swords perform as good as they look. The Dragonfly held a special significance to the Samurai. Their seemingly tireless movement reflected the Samurai’s desire to give tireless service to his feudal Lord. The dark brown ito is set off by the black same making this a unique offering from Bugei. The lower shinogi and the scant hira-niku make this blade lighter and faster and gives it less resistance in cutting soft targets. The lighter weight, with available bo-hi, and beautiful hamon and hada, a product of the forging and folding of the Swedish Powdered steel, will make this sword a favorite of Iai practitioners as well as anyone interested in a light as well as fast sword. The fittings are made of iron that has been "antiqued" duplicating the look of many antique fittings. Ted Tenold is responsible for the design and authenticity of these fittings and we think that they are some of the best that we have offered.

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Dragonfly Katana

Dragonfly Tanto

Order By Phone (800) 437-0125

Crane Wakizashi

The Crane wakizashi by Bugei is an elegant sword at a very reasonable price. The Crane tapers more towards the tip than our heavier *feeling* Samurai model. The Crane style is forged out of Swedish powdered steel with a dramatic hada, grain pattern, resulting from the forging/folding process. The tsuba, guard, is a pierced crane style and quite beautiful. The Crane symbolizes wisdom and longevity. The menuki are a younger and an older scholar/sage. The meaning is this, a man of wisdom and integrity would be long in the service of his lord, usually surviving one lord to serve the next generation, thus the analogy with the Crane, wisdom and longevity. This wakizashi will serve well those who want a faster blade for iaido and yet still want a blade that has the strength for serious cutting.

The 6.5 inch tsuka is wrapped in black silk ito. The wakizashi is a shinogi zukuri blade shape with a length of 18.5 inches. As with all of Bugei's swords, each Crane wakizashi is inspected and prepped by Keith Larman to insure the quality of the sword that you receive from us.

The beautiful hada (grain in the steel) is very apparent in our swords. This is the result of the extensive forging and folding process that is done by hand for each individual sword. The Crane tsuba is extraordinary in it's beauty and detail. It is a light tsuba and adds to the overall lightness of the blade.

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Crane Katana

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Samurai Wakizashi

The Samurai Wakizashi is the strongest and best performing Japanese style blade ever offered at this price. The use of Swedish powdered steel, used in the construction of these shinogi zukuri wakizashi, results in outstanding quality and performance. Strength, edge holding, and beauty have all been significantly enhanced by the use of this steel along with the complex folding process. The thicker, robust blade with ample niku ("meat") evidences a gunome style hamon and a dramatic ayasugi-hada with mokume and masame.

The tsuba is steel and matches the samurai katana. The fuchi and kashira also feature Samurai drawing and cutting engraved in them. The forging process for this sword can be seen on our website. Each of these blades is individually hand forged and folded, heat treated, and mounted. Even with these design parameters each sword is unique. Performance testing has shown them to be strong cutting blades with a good resistance to deflection. The saya and the silk tsuka ito are black.

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Samurai Katana

Samurai Tanto

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"Shobu" Wakizashi

The "Shobu" Wakizashi is a warriors blade that hearkens back to the 14th century, a strong beautiful blade in the robust, classic Shobu Zukuri style. This wakizashi is an exceptional cutting blade as the samurai proved against the Mongol invaders where this style of sword proved more effective against the Mongol armor. This style of robust shobu zukuri evolved from the naginata/nagamaki that were renowned for their strength and cutting power. Shobu Zukuri means iris leaf, which refers to the shape of the beautifully curved kissaki.

In our efforts to keep alive the Samurai past we enjoy reproducing historical blades of the samurai. This is a sword of the samurai, from a time when they were the elite warriors of Japan. It is our heaviest, most robust sword.

Our Shobu Zukuri is a longer wakizashi at near 20" long with a 6.5" tsuka. The tsuba is a "hamidashi" style tsuba that complements the design of the Shobu Katana.

The tsuka is wrapped in black silk ito and the saya is gloss black. Each blade is individually hand forged from Swedish Powdered Steel but is not folded to keep the price more affordable. The sword has a gentle suguha or sometimes a gentle notare hamon both of which we we felt more appropriate given the unfolded steel and the idea of a serious, no-nonsense sword.

Swedish Powdered Steel is exceptional for it's purity and even carbon distribution. Starting then with the best steel the smith then hammer forges each sword individually. Careful heat treating produces a sword with a true martensite hamon (rockwell 60-62). The differential hardening leaves the body of the sword softer and more ductile, making it able to withstand shock in the classic Japanese tradition.

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Shobu Katana

Shobu Tanto

Order By Phone (800)437-0125