Most Cost-Effective Katana on the Market! Surudoi by Romance of Men Unokubi-Zukuri Sword Review

If you do your homework, you will be able to find decent Entry-level katanas on today's market with the most generic shinogi-zukuri (鎬造り) blade geometry on a tight budget that check all the boxes in the functionality department, but what about one with more complex blade geometries and one of a kind hilt fittings? Enter the Surudoi katana by Romance of Men, a budget-minded offering that sports a rarer unokubi-zukuri (meaning heron's beak in Japanese) blade that has a prominent distal taper (from 7.6mm down to 4.2mm before the swelling up of the thickness at the tip), the two fullers and the beveled spine on the upper portion of the blade reduce a lot of mass, resulting in the most lively katana I've used, while being rather lightweight too, coming in at just over 1000g (2.2 lbs). The edge bevel is one flat grind from the secondary fuller (so-hi) to the edge, which is a v-shaped wedge that has minimal edge angles therefore increases the cutting potential. But being made of mono-tempered spring steel, it's quite durable too. You will see me doing some abusive tests in this review and found it rather resilient against lateral bending, and edge deformation. The koshirae components are also of one-of-a-kind designs with a strong central motif. All the hilt parts are tightly assembled, except for a couple of minor flaws. All in all, I found it pleasantly surprising to have a compelling offer at the asking price of $155. I strongly recommend this sword to practitioners, cutting enthusiasts and collectors alike. Sword reviewed: https://romanceofmen.com/products/the... Background music: Dues Ex: Mankind Divided soundtracks Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth soundtracks