Katana

The katana was a type of sword used in some lands of Kara-Tur. Thanks to its normally exceptional design and craftsmanship, the katana was renowned as one of the best-quality non-magical swords around. combining grace, design, efficiency, and sharpness.

Description
A medium-length sword, the blade of the katana was slightly curved, with a single-edge on the outside of the curve and tipped with a sharp chisel point. With quality metal and forging, the blade could be ground until it was sharp as a razor. Properly crafted, the blade had both flexibility and strength while being light and well balanced. Its total length was around   and it weighed. The hilt was long enough for either a one-handed or two-handed grip and had a small, circular guard, with no quillons or other protections.

Moreover, patterns, prayers, or lineages of one's family might be etched on the blade, with additional adornment added to the guard, hilt and scabbard alike, making the whole weapon quite beautiful.

Tactics
Being a rather large weapon, a katana had to be wielded two-handed by humans and others of their size. Special training (or giant size) was required to wielded it one-handed.

Some samurai even wielded their katana and wakizashi together in a two-weapon fighting style, with one in each hand.

In a technique called iaijutsu, samurai could learn to draw a katana or wakizashi and slash at an enemy all in a single smooth action.

Manufacture & Cost
The skills required to craft a katana were rare and prized,  more an art than a science, and the necessary steps were a secret known only to their makers. The technique involved sandwiching layers of iron and steel, heating them, and folding and stretching them again and again. Thus, the finished blade was composed of countless microscopic layers of alternating metals giving it both strength and resilience. A weaponsmith spent many hours in the work and took special care in forging the blade and ensuring it had the proper temper, and in assembling the complete weapon. The whole process could take a month. If it was a weapon of quality, it took an extra two months in finishing, after which it was taken to a temple for the priests there to give it a name. Some notable swordsmiths who made katanas were the mystic Chigatta, Hiroyasu Ohta of Wa, and Master Hu Li.

A katana's value varied widely, according to the craftsmanship, artistry, and the history and significance of the individual sword. The cost could be as low as 50 gp for an average sword including scabbard to 100 gp  to as much as 300 or 400 gp for a masterwork example.

Variants
The boku-toh or bokken was a wooden imitation katana used for training purposes, simulating weight and shape. It had a safer blunt edge, but was a decent bludgeoning weapon if swung hard enough, but was wielded as a sword in all respects. It cost 6 yuan.

Reputation
The katana was a significant part of many cultures in Kara-Tur. A samurai warrior was obliged to be skilled in the katana. To a samurai, their personal katana was no simple sword, but aspect of the honor of both themselves and their family. It could be used no-one else; to unsheathe it or even just touch the scabbard without permission might be seen an insult. Nearly as valued was a samurai's wakizashi; the two were typically carried as a pair called a daisho, meaning "long and short". Together, these marked a samurai's status, and it could be a crime for non-samurai to carry a daisho.

Individual katanas typically had their own distinct names, based on any illustrious battles they had been wielded in.

A particular katana could be a cherished family heirloom, passed down through the generations. If it was lost, family members might quest to recover it and castigate the culprits to alleviate their own shame. A number of samurai even died to retrieve the katana of their family.

The katana was known as the finest sword ever made to the peoples of the Western Heartlands.

History
The design of the katana evolved steadily over time from more ordinary swords, particularly the longsword.

Lands
The custom of samurai wielding the daisho of katana and wakizashi was unique to the lands of Wa and Kozakura in Kara-Tur. The swords—wielded separately—were common in the hands of other warriors, monsters, and supernatural beings in these lands    and also used in Shou Lung. However, it was very rare for foreigners to possess them; they were believed to be honored gifts from important friends, or to have been taken by theft or looting.

However, the swords had spread as far as Faerûn in the mid–14 century DR, such as in the hands of Shou expatriates and other Kara-Turans traveling the Golden Way through Thesk, wielded by the Bushido mercenaries in Chessenta, or by various misadventures (with several katanas known as Master Li's Way coming from a ship that ran aground on the Sword Coast  and Darkened Glory from a caravan attacked by yuan-ti ) or unknown means. Local versions were even produced (such as the katana of the North ). Thus mundane and unique katanas could be found up and down the Sword Coast and in the North by the 1360s and 70s DR. The Corthala family of Amn had their own family heirloom katana. Even Karsel'lyn Lylyl-Lytherraias, a drow cleric of Eilistraee, wielded a katana while on Evermeet.

Magic
Believed to be an almost-perfect weapon already, it was very difficult to enchant a katana as a magical weapon. To do so often needed a great sacrifice; for example, a samurai who lay dying could plead with a wu jen to infuse their warrior spirit with that of their sword. Seeing death as the ultimate challenge to overcome, such great warriors chose to sacrifice their bodies and live on in their ancestral swords. The greater their prowess and their nobility, the more potent the sword would be. One supreme example was known as the Sword Saint Legacy. One who would wield such a katana must then honor the customs of the samurai, or else their fortunes would turn against them.

A katana (or longsword) of a certain value must be shattered on a stone as a material component for the spell sword of darkness to be cast.

Notable Katanas

 * See also Category:Katanas


 * Celestial Fury, crafted by the mystic Chigatta and bearing the soul of a dragon
 * Celestial Fury, a sword of Shou Lung bearing the soul of a celestial
 * The Lost Sword, the last work of master Wanese swordsmith Hiroyasu Ohta
 * Shichi's katana, sword of the monk Shichi No Ken
 * Harmony Sword, heirloom of the Tanomitsu family
 * Crimson Katana, the prized weapon of General Ito Tadashiro
 * Lightning-Stroke Blade, the lost sword of Hidegari Iegusa of Wa