Katana

A Katana is a Japanese sword. It is very long and thin with only one cutting edge. The handle may be bound with a fabric strip instead of wire. It is made by a swordsmith using the folding method, often many more times than European swords. However, they were not folded hundreds of times, as popular myth has it. After being folded about 30 times, folding ceases to add at all to the sword's quality, and will actually cause the steel to lose too much carbon and become iron. It's debateable as to whether katana are truly superior to European swords, as is often believed, or if it's more to do with situation or preference. Contrary to popular belief, ninjas did not use katanas, instead they used shorter versions as they were more easily hidden from watchful eyes. The name for their version of the katana is not standard among everyone and some call it the Ninja-To. It was shorter and would be more useful in a stabbing motion rather than the slashing motion of the katana.