Kurikara Wakizashi (倶利伽羅) – Kurikara Dragon

Kurikara (倶利伽羅): the dragon of the sword

Kurikara is one of the most potent images in Japanese Buddhism: a dragon coiled around the sacred sword of Fudō Myōō, poised to swallow it whole. It embodies the force that cuts through ignorance, and it was engraved upon blades and armour to protect the warrior in battle.

This wakizashi renders that image at full scale across its saya: a great black dragon wound around a sword, stretching the entire length of the silver lacquer.

A T10 steel blade with a genuine tōran hamon

The blade is forged in T10 steel, a high-carbon steel prized for its hardness. Clay tempering draws out a genuine tōran hamon: a line of broad, sweeping waves rolling in steady rhythm, a style admired for its sense of movement.

Milky white against the satin-polished steel, the hamon commands the eye. The blade follows a shinogi-zukuri geometry with a chū-kissaki point and a torii-zori curvature, and is carved with a bo-hi. Hand-sharpening completes the blade with an artisanal finish that makes all the difference.

A blackened mounting with a woven-basket motif

The kakumaru-gata tsuba (square with softly rounded corners) is cast in blackened alloy. Its raised surface imitates a woven basket (kago-ami), with stylised stems in relief (takabori), openings for the two hitsu-ana, and a rounded rim (maru-mimi). A gilt brass seppa completes the fitting.

The fuchi and kashira in blackened alloy carry the same raised woven-basket decoration. The handle combines wood with a black faux ray-skin wrap, bound in a hineri-maki brown tsuka-ito, with black menuki. The ichimai habaki in gilt copper is engraved with a sayagata geometric motif.

A silver saya with dragon and sword

The saya is crafted in solid wood, clad in a fine-grained metallic silver lacquer across which sweeps a great black dragon coiled around a sword. The koiguchi and rounded kojiri (maru-kojiri) are lacquered in silver to continue the line of the scabbard. The silver-lacquered kurikata, fitted with a gilt shitodome, receives a black-and-gold braided sageo.

Dimensions and handling of the wakizashi

With a 51 cm blade and an overall length of 78 cm, the Kurikara carries the proportions of a wakizashi, the short companion to the katana. Its 23 cm handle offers a comfortable one-handed grip, with room for the second hand to brace. At 1 kg, it remains perfectly manoeuvrable. In its saya it measures 80 cm, an ideal format to display the painted dragon at its finest.