Katana Hinode 日の出

Hinode — the sunrise — and the steel breaks like first light. Tilt the blade and the folded grain runs in waves of water and flame, the gilding on the fittings catching like dawn over a still lake. This is a premium collector’s katana built to be the brightest piece on the rack and to cut when you ask it to.

Forging & Steel

The blade is folded Damascus steel, layered from multiple steels and forge-welded again and again to draw out the characteristic water-flow wave pattern. The folding builds in durability and flexibility, and the blade is crowned with an intricate crossed hamon — the hardening line woven across the grain for depth no single-steel blade can show. Folding several steels together is what produces that layered water-flow figure, and it is also what lends the blade its blend of hardness and give. At 1.4 kg with a 72 cm blade, it balances as both a display piece and a tatami cutter.

Fittings

The tsuba is finely sculpted blackened pure copper lifted with gilding, the dark ground throwing the gold into relief. Both the saya and the tsuka are wrapped in genuine stingray leather — light-red shagreen on the scabbard — dressed with a gold-plated copper menuki kit and pinned by two bamboo mekugi. Few swords carry shagreen on the scabbard as well as the grip, and it is what makes the Hinode catch the eye from across a room.

Specifications

Dimensions

Is it battle-ready?

Yes. The Hinode is a full-tang folded blade balanced for genuine tatami cutting as well as the display case. It sits among our master-tier katana beside Damascus pieces like the Dentō and the Chinmoku.