Careful heat treating, shaping and polishing reveals the tight "Hada" or layer pattern of the blade and the white particles of the "Hamon" or temper line. The skin steel is forged and folded repeatedly, to remove slag inclusions and voids and is then wrapped around the core steel before the resulting billet is forged into a blade, traditionally referred to as Kobuse construction. This charcoal-fired furnace produces a very pure steel from iron sand, and this steel "Kera" or bloom can be broken and separated into high- and low-carbon pieces, which respectively form the "skin" steel and “core” steel of the blade. Tamahagane steel is made by building and firing a Tatara, the traditional Japanese sword-steel smelter. The Paper Crane theme is carried to the outstanding hand woven silk Sageo, the result of many hours of skilled work on a hand loom The Saya of the katana houses a Kozuka (small knife) while that of the Wakizashi carries a Kogai (hair pick) The Kozuka and Kogai are decorated with musical instruments of the theater. The Menuki feature thespian masks, a symbol shared by the Japanese theater and its western counterpart. The Daisho’s name stems from the origami (the art of paper folding) cranes that decorate the striking Tsuba and Fuchi/Kashira, all of which feature highly-prized “Nanako” or stippled backgrounds. The blade is crafted from Hanwei’s own Tamahagane steel while the fittings reflect the atmosphere of the Japanese theater. The Paper Crane Katana, with its attendant Wakizashi (SH2328) is without doubt the greatest achievement in sword making artistry yet available from Hanwei.
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