SPECIFICATIONS Blade color - Material Clay-Tempered 1095 High Carbon Steel Guard (Tsuba 鍔) Aged Bronze Scabbard (Saya 鞘) Solid Wood Handle (Tsuka 柄) Real Rayskin Over Solid Wood Menuki Aged Bronze DIMENSIONS Length with scabbard 39.0 in (100 cm) Length of the blade 27.95 in (71 cm) Length of the handle 12.6 in (32 cm) "A spring evening's whisper, fleeting and profoundly calm." The "Shunshō" (春宵)—Spring Evening—stands as an exceptional achievement of traditional steel forging. Designed to capture the serene and quiet beauty of a twilight garden, this piece is a peerless creation brought to life through the rigorous discipline of the classical forge. It harmonizes an understated, graceful aesthetic with the complex physical properties of 1095 high carbon steel, resulting in a forged achievement of unparalleled structural beauty born from a profound mastery over fire and steel. The physical integrity of the piece is defined by exacting, classical forging methods. Through traditional clay-tempering, a bold, naturally occurring hamon—a highly visible, undulating wave—emerges along the polished steel profile. This precise thermal treatment ensures the authentic dynamic balance and resilient properties inherent to historical steelwork, allowing the piece to handle with a natural, unyielding fluidity. Complementing the rigorous forging of the steel is the visual elegance of its aged bronze fittings. The tsuba showcases a remarkable, fully sculpted traditional landscape motif, featuring an exquisite time-worn patina that brings out the heavy relief of the design. These rich, antique tones provide a warm anchor to the earthy brown handle wrap and the premium solid wood scabbard, which is elevated by a meticulously textured, stone-grey speckled finish evoking the soft mist of a peaceful evening. Integrated through heritage practices, the handle utilizes real rayskin over solid wood to ensure uncompromising structural stability. The Shunshō remains a unified, highly aesthetic tribute to the exacting standards of the classical forge.
