This is my first katana, and it seems like a good choice. I will say, I actually bought the black version of this, and since it was a BOGO sale, I got this purple one free! They are identical, except for the coloring, and since they don't seem to carry the black one anymore, this review will count for both. Right out of the box: I was a bit disappointed. It looked like an ordinary display sword, good for hanging on the wall, but not much else. I swung it around a bit, and was more impressed: it has a good balance and weight to it, and actually felt reasonably sturdy. I took the black one, and tried to sharpen it up. I was surprised, however, when the black paint started coming off, but its not a big deal. I actually think it looks really cool with an all black blade with a silver edge. My biggest problem was, and still remains, that it is a pain to sharpen. Its really hard to give it a reasonable edge, and impossible to get a razor edge. Admittedly, though, I don't really have a good sharpener. The crowning piece, however, was about a year after I bought it. I filled some empty milk jugs with water, and the sword cut through them BEAUTIFULLY! So, if you want a good display sword that can do some light cutting, and you're low on cash, this is the sword for you!

this sword was awful to me. it bent at a 90 degree angle when i was cutting some stuff. poorly made and the lacing all fell apart. the scabbard broke too

A great katana for display and display only my guard started to wobble after a few light hits on a branch the designe is pretty awesome but could be better a pretty good first buy has nice black finish on the blade but there is something like foam or something else that is white on the inside of the saya( scabbard ) but ok if you have a cloth on u because it gets on the blade every time u pull it out 3 out of 5

The sword was really well made

I got a buy one get one free email for trueswords as I have been a long time account holder for years. I decided that is is the time to make my first purchase. I bought the black emperor katana with sheath and got a purple emperor katana with sheath for free. It was a buy one and get the second one free at equal or lesser value. I decided to get two. One for me and one for my wife. I ordered Thursday and it was delivered the next Wednesday. Very good service. The swords were 30 dollars so of course they aren't going to be live katanas. I took them out the box and they looked good. Not excellent but for 30 dollars they were good. It says ON THE BLADE "Tomahawk XLR 1544 Carbon Steel Handcrafted in China". The tsuba is metal and the tsuka is wood with fake ray skin and it's nylon cord. Nice display piece. Blade is not entirely straight and is unsharpened. Overall nice wall hanger, bad weapon. As expected for 30 dollars.