Last Legend: MK II
When the Last Legend MKII arrived I was a little worried. If you visit Sword Forum or other martial arts forums, you will quickly find that people either hate or love Last Legend. Some people will not even let students use them in their dojo because they have three Mekugi. Here is a reference chart on the parts of a shinken.
First Impression
As I opened the box, I was very surprised to see the quality of the blade and fittings. I am not sure why everyone dogs Last Legend, but now I understand that most people that dislike the company probably do not own one of their swords.
Ito & Tsuka
The Ito was very tight, which is characteristic of Last Legend. The sori consists of one inch koshi sori, which basically means the sori starts closer to the tsuba. One thing I really liked was the fact that the tsuka followed the sori of the blade. On quite a few production blades, the tsuka is straight, and does not follow the sori. Last Legend made a good decision on the curvature of the tsuka. The Musashi tsuba came by default on my mkII. This is a good thing because I am a huge Miyamoto Musashi fan. Here are some pics of the tsuba and tsuka.
The blade
I opted for a blade without bo-hi simply because I prefer heavier shinken. I do not hear a loud woosh when I cut, but you do hear a subtle sound when the cut is correct even without bo-hi. The finish on the blade is a cutting finish, and is not perfect. Again, this is a sword for cutting and not a piece of art. You really do not want a perfectly polished blade when the sword is to be used for tameshigiri. Overall, the finish was better than I expected from a production shinken. The hamon has had zero acid enhancements. This means it is not as visible as a Paul Chen katana, but it can clearly be seen. Here are some images.
The edge has little niku. From what I understand, the new Last Legend blades will have quite a bit of niku. This is not really a big deal for competition or tatami cutting, but niku is nice as it can show you the difference between a proper cut and a botched cut. The kissaki could be a bit longer, but overall it looks good. The yokote is nice and prominent. The mune also is on an angle like a roof top; this is very good for cutting as it makes the blade more aerodynamic. One problem I did have was there was a small little gap on one side of the habaki. This really is not that big of a deal because it reminds me to clean under it every now and then.
The Saya
The saya of the sword came in a black gloss finish. The lacquer job was much better than I expected. There were not any scratches or nicks on it when I received it. Last Legend’s quality assurance seems to be pretty high. The sageo is not very good and is kind of short for the style I am learning. I bought a sageo from Shadow of Leaves which quickly solved this problem. Here is an image of the saya.
Conclusion
I want to thank Kevin Cecil of white heron dojo for helping me get this Last Legend shinken. This is a great sword for anyone who studies Iai or wants to try their hand at tameshigiri. Overall, the quality of Last Legend seems to be above that of their competition.