Tenchi & Kaze
by Sal
(United States)
As most of us know, the cheness sword line has been a blessing to sword enthusiasts and practitioners of bujinkan and iaido alike, for there durable, sub-US$300 mark. The blades, though cheap, can hold up to just about any traditional target you throw at it. Along with the target most commonly used today, the water bottle.
Katanas on the market nowadays can wear and damage quickly, though, they are bought for a low price, which makes the deal appear more attractive. Cheness swords are in an affordable price range that anyone can manage.
The most popular among the cheness blades are more than likely, the, Tenchi and kaze. Tenchi, being the cheness "Flagship cutter" Is a surprisingly flexible and durable sword made of 9260 carbon spring steel. Spring steel is great for beginners because of there ability to flex back on bad cuts, which is ideal for the backyard samurai :) Tenchi has been used in Dojos for frequent cutting of hard targets, such as bamboo.
And who could forget the Kaze katana, the blade I own, and nearly worship (Not really :D) due to the sharpness of the blade and the attractive, real, prominent hamon, or temper line. The kaze in my own personal experience glides through it's target as if they were butter. Even handles those nasty P.E.T bottles with no problems at all.
The "Tatami killer" as some have deemed it can be one of those steals that everyone is just waiting for.
If I may share story of my friend's tenchi katana, whom of which pitted his prized sword against a cinder block. It shattered it with no real damage to the blade at all. The only thing that happened to it was a good dulling,(and for good reason :D) which was immediately sharpened up and is still used to cut bamboo to this day. The blade has been active for 1 year even after that incident.
The only real problem that some face with th cheness katana is a sometimes cracked tsuka,(handle) which can result in a 28 inch blade flying into the air. The reason for this is the tsuka is channeled to accommodate the Same, or ray skin wrap. The fittings are generic, as they are found on many of the competitors swords, excluding some of the tsubas. All and all, the cheness swords are good for collectors and practitioners alike, and I myself can say this without a doubt, because I have used the blades first hand.
Hope you were not bored with this, as this is the conclusion of my cheness sword stories :-)
