T10 Carbon Steel Katana with Dragon-Carved Black Saya - Full Tang Sanmai Blade, Real Hamon

The blade is built from a Sanmai three-layer construction centered on T10 carbon steel, clay-tempered to HRC 62. That differential hardening process produces the visible hamon - the undulating line separating the hardened edge from the more flexible spine - hand-finished along the full 28.74-inch nagasa. The chrome-polished surface catches light in a way that makes the hamon's activity easy to read from any angle.

The handle pairs genuine white rayskin (samegawa) under a brown cotton cord wrap in a traditional lozenge pattern. The textured samegawa nodes press through the cord at each diamond opening, maintaining grip geometry across the full 10.62-inch tsuka. A gold-tone alloy round tsuba separates handle from blade, its dragon relief design echoing the decorative language carried through the rest of the piece.

The black hardwood saya - lacquered in deep gloss black - is the visual centerpiece of this katana. Hand-carved orange dragon scales and bodies emerge from the black ground along most of the saya's 29.92-inch length, rendered with enough dimensional depth that the figures read clearly even from a distance. A gold sageo cord is wrapped and knotted at the kurikata, adding a warm amber accent that ties the hardware tones together.

At 40.55 inches overall and 2.8 lb., the proportions sit within classical katana geometry. The full tang construction anchors the blade securely through the handle, and the consistent dragon motif across tsuba, saya, and sageo gives the complete mounted piece a coherent design identity rather than the mix-and-match appearance common in this category.

Whether displayed horizontally on a sword stand or mounted vertically, the contrast between the polished blade, brown cord handle, and the dramatically carved black-and-orange saya creates a composition that holds visual interest at close range and across a room. Every decorative element - the hamon line, the carved dragon relief, the rayskin texture - is grounded in traditional katana construction vocabulary rather than surface-applied ornament.