Saotome Kiku Pro

Opening our Standard Shinken product line, is the Saotome Kiku Pro. We built upon the successful and popular design of the Saotome Kiku Iaito, and have improved it with the addition of our premium grade japanese cotton ito wrap. Also this is a shinken, polished with our razor sharp 12 stage hand polishing process. In addition we have opted for a more robust Red/Gold color scheme for this sword which offers a more prestiguous, and yet still traditional look. This red look could be considered flashy compared to modern and Edo period blades, however red themed swords were very popular in the early to mid Momoyama period. So we felt this design offered a way to stand out and be different, while still maintaining historical accuracy.

The Saotome Kiku tsuba is based on a common antique design of the Saotome style of tsuba from the late Muromachi period. It is made around a "wagon wheel" motif. This style is very popular, and incorporates designs with many different number of spokes.

This is a Shinken, or Live Blade. The sword is fully sharpened using a 12 stage hand polishing/sharpening process. This process is designed to create an edge that is extremely sharp, and a finish that brings out the character of the sword. The 12 stage process is superior to the 10 stage finish on our budget swords.

Featuring our high carbon steel blade, designed for optimal balance, and handling, this sword offers a more traditional alternative to the many zinc aluminum alloy blades available. Our steel blades have been designed from the ground up, to offer perfect balance for regular Iaido use, reducing the risk of repetitive motion injury from the more common heavy (or poorly balanced) low cost steel swords available.

The fittings on this sword are all made of 100% Iron. These fittings are more traditional, and will offer a superior balance due to the higher weight (pulling the balance closer to the tsuka). In addition Iron fittings are much more durable, and while not reccomended, could even sustain a direct strike (for example if you dropped the sword by accident) with minimal damage. The quality of our Iron fittings is far superior to that of our Alloy line, but they come at a higher cost, which is why we keep the alloy fittings to our Budget series of swords.