First Katana - Yarinohanzo
So I finally bought my first katana. €500 but with a 50% discount, so I paid €250. At first impression, I actually liked it a lot. The blade is straight, the tsuka with hishigami feels solid, the overall proportions look good, and visually it has real presence. The hamon is attractive, the grip feels secure, and from a distance it genuinely feels like a proper sword rather than a cheap wallhanger.
But then I started inspecting it more closely. The saya is slightly loose. The kurikata was snapped off. The sword rattles a little in the saya and will slide out if tilted. The samegawa has a small damaged section. The tsukamaki is acceptable, but not amazing. And then I noticed something that really bothered me: the habaki, seppa and tsuba appear to be glued together with epoxy.
That completely changed how I perceived the sword.
One of the things I love about Japanese swords is the construction. So the idea that the fittings can be disassembled, maintained, adjusted and appreciated individually. Discovering that parts were essentially fixed together to compensate for tolerances made the whole thing suddenly feel much more “industrial” than traditional.
Ironically, I don’t even mind rough tool marks or visible filing. In fact, I like that. It gives character. What bothers me is when the construction itself feels dishonest or improvised.
Now I’m stuck in a weird position:
-visually, I still really like the katana;
-mechanically, I understand why they probably glued it;
But personally it still bothers me more than it probably should that i can’t take it apart. I contacted Yarinohanzo and they are quite reasonable about it. They offered to repair the kurikata but haven’t answered the question about the adhesives they used.
Part of me wants to return it. Another part of me wants to carefully disassemble it, shim and refit the habaki properly, and turn it into a learning project. Did anyone else go through this phase with their first production katana?