Just Ordered an HI Katana! Woohoo!

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willywonka

Joined
Mar 26, 2004
Messages
136
I've been wanting this sword since I first laid eyes on it 2 years ago. I fell in love with the khuk I ordered from HI a year ago; I feel that a sword, hand forged by real kamis and then blessed in the old way, just seems perfect.

Got some questions:
-How long a wait?
-What can I expect?
-If you own one tell me all about it!

I bought the sword for its aesthetics as well as possible defense. I think the only thing that trumps a sword in close range or point-blank range is a gun that's already in-hand. Besides, the zombies/mutant bears/aliens will rise one day and it will be the go-to cleaver to save the day!

Comments and pictures please!
 
congrats bro!!! i am in the process of ordering one also :D
i started a thread yesterday you can get a little info from there :thumbup:
 
Please understand this is not a very traditional katana, it's more of a sabre/katana hybrid.

If you can appreciate it for its own savage beauty, you won't be disappointed. It's a hard-use real, whup-ass sword, no joke. I've bought two HI swords, and they're ready for action. :) Expect a relatively heavy blade that hits with authority.

(Speaking of action and swords- in a post that oddly disappeared earlier today, I mentioned that a 21" chainpuri- or a chitlangi- is an ideal war sword, powerful and fast, with a great reach, but still compact enough for close-quarters use.

John
 
Yeah, I can appreciate a chitlangi being a good 'everything' battle implement. I think warfare and even civil personal protection is still in a period that needs to draw on the blade on the occasion. I would arm every infantry soldier with either a very long bayonette/short sword or a 18" chitlangi. Forget the pistol. It could be used for myriad chores as well as unfailing close-up self defense or dispatching a sentinel etc, etc.

-As for the HI katana, I think it absolutely crushes 'traditional' katanas in every way. Traditional katanas required a tremendous amount of upkeep and money to do so, or at least it did back in the day. A samurai readily visited the swordsmith for upkeep and had servants that oiled, polished and dressed the sword. If it got remotely wet, it needed to be disassembled, etc. It would make a lousy weapon for a single person or basic infantry grunt that would have to take care of it himself. Traditional katanas were the Formula One cars of their time: among the best or very best of performers, but required a crew to take care of it.

-Enter the HI katana. One only needs to apply very basic care to it. It's thicker than the traditional katana, and no wraps, laquer finishes, etc to mess with and its full tang is completely surrounded and sealed by the grip. Excellent battle implement and different looking too!

-willywonka
 
i just wanted one to hang on the wall representing HI craftsman ship...
and if the time came... i would probably only use to to take care of zombies :cool:
 
I've been a martial artist for a long time, and I find doing sword forms or repeated motions with a sword, or any striking weapon for that matter, is a hell of good way to work out. Also, because it's interesting and unusual, one tends to be more deliberate with their motions and have more fun. I think the very best exercises are the ones that the form follows the function, such as swinging a bat, or kicking the heavy bag, chopping wood, etc. I used to weight lift alot but one gets a more even type of strength through all one's motions doing form-following-function type of exercise.

-Maybe I should have ordered a tarwar!
 
willywonka said:
I've been a martial artist for a long time, and I find doing sword forms or repeated motions with a sword, or any striking weapon for that matter, is a hell of good way to work out. Also, because it's interesting and unusual, one tends to be more deliberate with their motions and have more fun. I think the very best excersises are the ones that the form follows the function, such as swinging a bat, or kicking the heavy bag, chopping wood, etc. I used to weight lift alot but one gets a more even type of strength through all one's motions doing form-following-function type of excersise.

-Maybe I should have ordered a talwar!
Click to expand...

its not to late... email yangdu and get that tarwar!!! :D
 
Guess what I just read that your idea of a Sword workout is the new "Hollywood Celebritity Work Out" called Powerstrike Forza.

Powerstrike Forza is Italian for "strength and power." Also known as Samurai Sword Training, the one hour class is a supercharged workout that blends elements of two Japanese sword fighting techniques - Kendo and Aikijujitsu.

Specifically designed for group exercise, Ilaria's newest creation uses a fitness sword and teaches precise striking movements that shape the upper and lower body while building strength.

http://www.powerstrike.com/
 
Willy,

The sword is both less and more than you think.

If you're within feet of an opponent, the sword trumps the firearm. Really. The firearm replaced the sword not because the firearm is more effective, but because it's easy to train novices quickly and it has range.

At the same time, at least, as of some years ago (I think this trend has reversed a little, with all the city fighting we've done in the last 3 years), only 12% of battlefield kills were accomplished with the rifle. For the soldier, weight and space is at a premium. The edges of the roads where Southern boys marched, early in the Civil War, were littered with huge bowie "knives" (short swords, really, many of them) that were discarded after some miles of marching.

I have an 18" Crow knife. It would be a deadly effective close-range tool. I've had numerous kuks, all of which would be pain and death to face up close. What do I carry? Well, the largest blade I carry now in uniform has a 5.5" blade, with a 4 .75" cutting edge.

The thing is, if my carbine goes "click" instead of "bang", I still have almost 3 feet of metal and hard plastic in my hands. It still has the reach over even a really large knife...and if you carry that big honking knife in my squad (assuming your squad leader permits it), I'm gonna poke all kinds of fun at you. ;)

John
 
A while back I ordered an Everest Katana from the website. I wanted a fancy scabbard. I figured that if it would be hanging on the wall 99% of the time, it ought to look good while it's there. The actual sword performed better than I expected.

attachment.php


Last year I did some fairly stupid things with it, primarily chopping wood and such. I'm not going to repeat those stunts again. The videos are still floating around somewhere I'm sure.

What we have is an interesting tool. On the one hand, we can do the sort of cutting one might expect from a sword...

http://home.wavecable.com/~satori/kat1.MOV

...and on the other hand, we can go a bit rougher if we need to.

http://home.wavecable.com/~satori/kat2.MOV

(Swords are not designed for chopping and splitting firewood and if I find out that you've been doing this to yours, I'll be very unhappy with you. Yes, a quality sword that's not overspecialized for cutting performance and is actually "battle ready" can chop wood but this is not what swords are made to do. Please, don't do this sort of thing to yours.)

I should note that I've never caused so much as a nick in the edge from chopping wood but that still doesn't make it a good idea. Use an axe.

I like this one. Purists may argue that the handle attachment system and blade thickness are not traditional; I would counter that this handle attachment system is probably better and that existing katana that were actually used (as opposed to display pieces, which would not be used and would therefore be more likely to survive to today) would have been sharpened and polished many times and would thus be considerably thinner today than they originally were...but that's neither here nor there. The product stands on its own merits.

To go with the earlier discussion I'm in agreement with Spectre. (As usual.) The biggest knife that I ever carried (discounting khukuries, but those were in a setting where much woodworking would be performed) was a Spyderco Manix and it was too big. My Leatherman and Opinel got far more use.
 

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Swordwork is great martial excercise. I'd also like to think that it could occasionally have some practical application:rolleyes: . As far as a HI katana is concerned, owning one has been my main HI related goal. I feel I've been taken off task a bit lately;).
 
Spectre said:
Willy,
The thing is, if my carbine goes "click" instead of "bang", I still have almost 3 feet of metal and hard plastic in my hands. It still has the reach over even a really large knife...and if you carry that big honking knife in my squad (assuming your squad leader permits it), I'm gonna poke all kinds of fun at you. ;)

John
Click to expand...

being a traditionalist, might i suggest in that case, This

one of the more effective old timey methods of dealing with hordes of natives with sharp pointy things approaching with intent was This
 
Thing is, most soldiers don't want bayonets. They'd prefer a smaller knife or knives.

That's beside the point though, which is the absolute lack of reason to carry a huge knife or sword in modern combat, despite their efficacy at very close ranges.

John
 
Spectre said:
Thing is, most soldiers don't want bayonets. They'd prefer a smaller knife or knives.
Click to expand...

yeah, there's never an impi of zulus with iklwas around when you feel like a bayonet charge anymore. ah, well. can't be helped.
 
I have a very good friend ( a total knife nut - now his tools are scary sharp) that used to carry a fairly biggish knife when he was in the Army( not US ). Now he is an excellent shot - but he used to freak out superior officiers with what he could do with a blade.He used to talk about other knife nuts who were snipers/SAS who used to leave their blades stuck into targets on dedicated sniper quals shoots.The Army motto was if you wanted to carry that heavy knife around on exercise then do it - although offically swords were frowned upon - and yes there were a couple who did that ( only once - a katana is a pain in the butt after a ten mile route march/run ).He had lots of fun when he trained with the Ghurkas.
 
While you're waiting for your katana, you gotta see Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Kill Bill Vol. 2. Best katana movies *ever.*

Uma Thurman :eek: takes on 40-something guys with her katana. Visually... great. Only a spoof/tribute could be that good.


Mike
 
If you're going to see a movie with a katana or two in it you should at least make it a good movie. :D ;) Go see Seven Samurai or Yojimbo, both with Toshiro Mifune in them.
 
Still waiting for katana. Yeah, I own the Kill Bill volumes, but I find the idea of the Everest Katana sings when I watch some kind of anime where there's a hero, a sword (which in my mind looks strangely like the Everest katana!), and some freaky monsters, all swinging at one another!
 
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