Asian Swords

While the market for Asian swords is of course dominated by the Japanese Katana, many of the companies that make Japanese swords also make Chinese and South East Asian blades in one capacity or another.

At the lowest priced end of the market – Musashi and Masahiro dominate sub US$100 Asian swords. However, considering the quality control issues that tend to plague these low end swords, with no online presence or recourse for Masahiro customers, most sword buyers tend to be finding the best value for money in Musashi - who also make a more consistent and overall higher quality product available around the sameprice.

There are of course numerous ‘nameless’ Japanese swords being produced by various factories out of China which flood ebay – but these are on the whole so hit and miss that (especially when there are more consistent and reliable products available) on the whole best avoided.

As we move up the market a little, Cheness Cutlery comes out as a shining star, offering exceptionally high quality Japanese blades in basic fittings squarely aimed at the budget minded Dojo market, with a price range of between $150 to $300.

Overlapping a little here, Musashi appear again with a range of very nice swords made at the forge of the sword artistan Chris Zhou that have been extremely well received and for their sub $200 Katana such as the acclaimed 'Wind'.

Cold Steel make quite a few Asian swords, including Chinese Dao, Jian and a quite a few varieties of Katana. Their swords are generally considered to be too heavy and unbalanced for serious martial arts practice, but have a well deserved reputation for blade toughness and durability and make excellent ‘backyard cutters’.

The granddaddy of the Asian swords market, and one of the most widely recognizable brands who pretty much paved the way for all other is Paul Chen’s Hanwei Forge – who produce a massive range of Asian swords suitable for Kung fu, Tai chi and the Japanese sword arts ranging from US$100 to $2000. Quality varies enormously of course, from high quality blades that are almost heirloom quality to the humble Practical Katana and everything in between.

There are more makers of Asian swords that will be covered here as the site expands, but these main ones are an excellent starting point.

CONCLUSION

For light duty cutters and display swords, there is little doubt that Musashi swords are the major contenders.

However in the sub US$300 market, Cheness Cutlery stands out as a long time favorite, followed and overlapped by Musashi and Hanwei – though with such a broad variety of swords at different price points, Hanwei is the premier manufacturer of high quality Asian swords that few others are able to compete with.

FURTHER RESOURCES

For a much more detailed overview of sub US$300 Asian Swords, visit our sister site:

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