And now to the pride of my collection, a very nice display piece, this is an ornamental katana.I am going to use the real terms, so forgive me, sword enthusiasts, if I err.
The sword is 37 1/2" long with a 26 1/2" blade, which makes it a daito, or long sword. Both the tsuka (handle) and the saya (scabbard) are decorated with various metal menuki (ornaments), the most impressive of which are the tsuba (hand guard), which is shaped like a pair of wings, and the koiguchi (scabbard mouth), which has an oriental wingless dragon curled around it. When the sword is sheathed, these two combine to make the winged dragon seen in the bottom picture (above). The kabuto-gane (pommel) is a stylised representation of a helmeted Samurai's head. The saya is decorated with a flame pattern, both halfway along its length and at the sayajiri (scabbard tip). The tsuka has a menuki on each side depicting the dragon biting its own tail, twisted to form the infinity symbol, which looks nice but would make the sword impractical for use.
And that's me done with the mangling of the language.
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