Ultra Broad Blade Katana for Row Cut Tameshigiri Review and Test Cutting, DMC Yamato by Ryan Sword

This is the review of a custom specialty katana for tatami row tameshigiri challenges. Starting at a whopping 50.1mm motohaba as the width at the base, the blade is 60-80% wider than the average katana. Historically some of the rare specimens of these wide-bladed katana existed. Today shinsakuto like this are made in Japan for tameshigiri demonstrations at festivals and All-Japan Iaido Batto-do cutting competitions hosted at the Meiji Jingu Shrine annually. This particularly example designed by Brother Nathaniel and custom made by Ryan Sword has a spine tapered back from the shinogi-ji in thickness to reduce the weight, so while the thickness and distal taper at the shinogi-ji is typical for a katana from 7.2mm as motokasane down to 5.1mm as sakikasane, the mune tapers from 6mm to 3mm on its own. The sword has a 28.6" blade (27.2" nagasa) comes in at 1496 grams (3 lbs 4.76 oz)--quite hefty for its size, but with a point of balance of 6.25", it does a lot of the work for the user in tameshigiri challenges on a huge mass of tatami mats, such as a row of 7 mats. The ultra wide blade not only introduces extra mass, but drastically reduces the edge angle on the top portion of the blade to 10-12 degrees, which makes friction almost non-existent when the blade passes through targets.

I did some test cutting on a ballistic gelatin human thigh analog with a wooden dowel in the center--thicker than triple tatami mat roll, but denser and more resistant. The sword sailed through that without me even feeling the impact. Although being a heavy sword, it's still maneuverable so you can redirect the blade to attempt some double-cuts or even triple-cuts, but I showed how much slower it is comparing to a katana of average size and weight.

It is differentially hardened with a wide and bold hamon that has the edge tempered to 60 HRC, and the spine at higher 40 HRC. This is a fearsome specialty cutter tailor-made for cutting massive chunk of soft mass. John of RVA-Katana already contacted me to take the design of Brother Nathaniel for a model of specialty cutting sword made by Cloudhammer Steelworks, probably with S5 shock steel or SX105V Japanese tool steel. Stay tuned!

#katana #nihonto #japanesesword #tameshigiri #sword #saber #swordreviews

Designer Brother Nathaniel / The Levin Lance's YouTube channel ‪@thelevinlance6566‬ , you can find the contact information in the "about" section of his channel page.

Maker Ryan Sword website: https://www.ryansword.com/