Thats right Doc, a Proper tamahagane blade will cost you heaps. Starting at about 3k for a unmounted unpolished blade from a "unknown" smith. There was a forge in China doing them in the proper Japanese tradition (the son had trained in Japan), smelting their own iron for 3.5k for a fitted sword and but they had a fire a couple of years back and while they are back making swords they aren't doing the tamahagne line. Japanese steel was pretty poor quality back in the day which is why they developed the complex folded steel and and soft inner core with a harder shell technology. The edge was still very brittle and you will often see dents on the back of old nihonto that saw battle. The swordsman would block blows with the softer spine of his sword rather than risk the edge.The whole martial art of Iaido is basically fast draw, draw your sword , make the cut before your opponent has drawn and avoid steel on steel contact.It's a fascinating history of technology.
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Gavmeister