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A katana, shown at a long angle to reveal the nioi, which is the bright, wavy line following the hamon. The inset shows a close-up of the nioi, appearing as the speckled area beside the bright hardened-edge. The nioi is made up of niye, which are single martensite crystals surrounded by darker pearlite.
Tamahagane. Tamahagane (玉鋼) is a type of steel made in the Japanese tradition. The word tama means 'precious', and the word hagane means 'steel'. [1] Tamahagane is used to make Japanese swords, daggers, knives, and other kinds of tools.
Once the billet is created it is drawn out farther, generally tapering to the edge(s) and point. The technique of fullering might be used to create a ridge or ridges down the length of the blade. Whether single or multiple, the ridge's primary purpose to give the blade greater structural strength relative to its mass.
Muramasa – The katana forged by famous swordsmith Muramasa, it was rumored that it was a demonic sword that can curse the wielder to murder people. It also said that the demonic sword rumor was made by Ieyasu Tokugawa, the 1st Shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate because he hated those swords made by Muramasa.
The word katana first appears in Japanese in the Nihon Shoki of 720. The term is a compound of kata ("one side, one-sided") + na ("blade"), [6] [7] [8] in contrast to the double-sided tsurugi. The katana belongs to the nihontō family of swords, and is distinguished by a blade length (nagasa) of more than 2 shaku, approximately 60 cm (24 in). [9]
Katana, showing the hamon as the outline of the yakiba. The nioi appears faintly as the bright line following the hamon; especially visible at the tip (kissaki). In swordsmithing, hamon (刃文) (from Japanese, literally "edge pattern") is a visible effect created on the blade by the hardening process.
It does this by displaying either predominantly nioi (匂), which is a mix of extremely fine martensite with troostite (another type of tempered steel), or the larger martensite crystals called nie (錵), which look like individual dot-like mirrors.
It is also a sword with a mind of its own. In Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time is the sword Callandor, which is actually not a sword, but a powerful sa'angreal shaped as a sword and made out of crystal. It is kept within the Stone of Tear. It can only be taken by the Dragon and is a major sign of his return.