| Capturing the spirit of old Japan and recognised by its | | | | The craft of forging katana samurai swords peaked |
| deadly curvature, the samurai sword is widely | | | | during 1190 - 1337 - many of the swords from this |
| recognised throughout the world as the most deadly | | | | era we're assigned national treasures. Thousands of |
| of all Japanese weaponry. Although gaining modern | | | | swords are still circulated and collected from more |
| fame and notoriety in modern epic cinema in such | | | | recent times; the most popular 'collection' era's being |
| films as The Last Samurai and the Kill Bill series by | | | | WW1 and WW2. eBay is a great place to find both |
| Quentin Tarantino, samurai swords have long being | | | | old and new samurai swords, but beware of what |
| an iconic symbol of Japan and its history. | | | | you're buying - a lot of swords sold today are |
| The most famous samurai sword, the Katana, is | | | | machine replicas and only fit for display purposes. |
| curved and bladed only on one side - if you have | | | | There were however many types of samurai swords |
| seen Kill Bill, you will know exactly what I'm talking | | | | and the other often mentioned includes shorter |
| about. The Katana was developed in the 10th | | | | swords, one being the wakizashi (shoto) and the |
| century to enable Japanese calvery to carry out | | | | tanto knife. Only the samurai were allowed to carry |
| surprise attacks on their enemy and was worn hung | | | | these as a pair. |
| from the belt with the cutting edge faced upwards. | | | | |