Decent traditional styled tanto that won't leave my bank account in critical state

[TheDandyLion]

I have recently become incredibly attracted to the traditional Tanto style, no not the cold steel american-style Tanto the kind that you would find in the same sash as a Katana and Wakazashi (Or at least a similar shape). I really like the look of the CRKT Hisshou and its little brothers but all of the ones in a decent steel are over $180, a price I have difficulty accepting for a knife with very little practical usage. What I'm looking for is some form of Japanese-ish Tanto that has a reasonable price tag. Also bigger the better, I'll take anything shoter than a Wakazashi but preferably larger than 8'.


Thanks for helping me in my (hopefully not futile) quest

 

[pnsxyr]

Do you know which specific style you want?

The term "tanto" in itself is kind of a nightmare because the blades that are collectively called "tantos" can include everything from the 'classic' Lum, to the modified version of Lum's tanto, to the Kissaki, which is technically the "original" tanto, and other various blade styles that have also come to assume the name, some very new and some very old. However, it get's more complicated because some makers just call their blade "a Kissaki," but the Kissaki itself changed dramatically over a few hundred years so much that when compared the designs look very different.

Let me say beforehand that my understanding of the Kissaki family is limited. There is not a ton of information out there, and some of what is conflicts.

The Kamasu Kissaki is the closest traditional style that compares to a Lum-style tanto, using two straight planes with zero curvature (no fukura) on either (for example, the Spyderco C46 Lum Tanto linerlock or the production Benchmade 910 Stryker). I believe the Kamasu was among the earlier of the Kissaki. It has the most striking look, but arguably the poorest performance of the family (the downsides to the Kamasu are similar reasons I do not like most tantos seen on Western folders.)

Later, the Kissaki evolved to use a curved plane on the portion closest to the tip because this gave a performance improvement in terms of strength and longevity. For example, the Chu and Ko Kissaki (ex: while not exact, the Rick Hinderer XM-18 Spanto blade has design similarities to those two Kissaki, and this style is associated with katanas). The Naka and O-Kissaki are frequently associated with katanas. On larger swords made by custom makers, I have seen the O-Kissaki used pretty frequently as it is the longest of the Kissaki with more minor fukura and looks very aggressive (with the Ko being the shortest and having the strongest fukura, the Chu and Naka being intermediate, and the Chu generally being considered as the "standard Kissaki").

There were intermediate Kissaki models between the above-mentioned.