Thursday, July 30, 2009

SR Systems - Tiger-Dragon Katana

For my second post of the day, I present you something slightly different from SR Systems. My main inspiration behind the weapons I design is my real life studies and training in Kung Fu. Hence, most of my weapons are from traditional Chinese Martial Arts.

However, once in a while, I enjoy exploring other eastern martial arts and learning about them. Previously, I gave you the nunchaku, my first foray into a different, non-chinese weapon. Also sold at my store is the Shuriken - my first "ranged weapon" creation.

Sticking with the Japanese theme, I present you this time the legendary blade of the samurai - THE KATANA. While i like to think of the Katana as the japanese analog of the Jian, it is a very different type of sword. It can be argued that the Katana is the sharpest sword ever created, and it's multiple folding manufacture process makes it arguably one of the strongest. Ofcourse, it is a one sided blade, while the jian is double sides. And while the Jian is meant to be a primarily piercing weapon along with slicing from all directions, the katana is almost strictly designed to be hand held guilotine with single strike. Hence, if one were to compare the two weapons, they are different completely different sets of techniques, and both have their advantages and disadvantages like all weapons do.

In the end, your personal preference, and competance at using the weapon, is what matters most :) A samurai will train in striking fast and with surprise, letting the weight of the katana give his strike massive momentum, which then gets focussed along its fine edge. A kung fu master will use many motions and move around, making multiple deadly slices at sensitive regions of the body (like the wrist to disarm your opponent) with both sides of the sword, before piercing into the crucial organs. I give the Katana a chinese influence with dragon and tiger tsuba (cross guard) - two opposite forces that bring balance, like the yin and yang.

As all my creations, it works with the usual meters, and I refer you to the July 2009 post on Shaolin Hook swords for technical details. Visit us inworld, or follow the link below to buy it on xstreetsl. Also, i leave you with videos demonstrating the beautiful weapon that was the "soul of the samurai"








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