Howdy. I'm looking into getting a nice katana in the next couple years. I don't want like a 50$ one from BudK, I'm more in the $100-400 range. I figure If I'm going to get one, I'll wait and get a really nice one.
If you guys know any place where I can get a nice katana with a great blade and a tight fitting handle and hilt and you told me, that would be great.
The majority of japanese-style katana produced today are from China. The reason why is that Japan has strict laws governing their swordsmiths, which only allows them to make a very small number of katana each year. This means that the price of an authentic nihonto (forged in Japan) has become astronomical.
That doesn't make the Chinese katana so inferior though. A nihonto will inherently be better by virtue of the care and manufacturer put into one of these limited blades which a Japanese swordsmith must charge an arm and leg for in order to keep his living. However, there is nothing magical about the processes or materials used. In fact, most of the forging methods which define a traditional Japanese sword come from China in the first place. China has the methodology, Japan has the art. The Chinese taught the Japanese how to make swords the way they do now, but the Japanese perfected the art around it. You could almost say that a Japanese styled katana from a Chinese forge gives you the "best of both worlds". I use a Japanese katana because of the martial arts that are built around it, which give me proper instruction to master the use of that sword, right from the draw to the swing. However, I am more than happy to get these Japanese styled blades from a reputable Chinese forge.
Most of the Chinese swords in the market today come from forges in Longquan, known as "the City of Treasure Sword", which is steeped in historic sword smithing legacy (as well as porcelain, off topic). Most of these Chinese forges use very traditional methods, even for inexpensive blades. Mind you, these are mass-produced blades by smiths who reside in a country where it is easier to become a sword smith. Not in a country where becoming a sword smith requires extreme dedication and an impovershed life for the sake of your trade. They may be hand-forged with traditional methods, but that doesn't make them better than any carefully crafted, limited quantity Nihonto. It does however, make them very fine blades for general purpose use.... which are cheap enough that you won't be afraid to use them! You may get cheaper fittings and wraps, probably a cheap saya, etc. As long as you find a well-forged blade though, that is the heart of the katana. All the fittings and such are very easy to disassemble and change up on any katana made through traditional methods.
If you know what to look for you can actually get a well-crafted Chinese katana in the price range you're looking for, but you have to be careful and knowledgeable or you could also end up with a non-functional wall hanger. Of course I'm talking about the UPPER range that you listed, not the lower range. Don't even look at swords near $100 if you want more than a wall-hanger.
First of all, you need to know just what you're actually looking for in a Katana. There are functional cutters that use modern steel methods such as unfolded steel (folding steel into layers to beat out impurities is a traditional method found in Japanese swordsmithing), through-hardened (as opposed to the traditional clay tempering, aka differential hardening - yet another technique the Japanese learned from the Chinese), using modern steels like spring steel (high yield steel that will return to its original shape), tool steel (very hard, durable steel), or high-carbon steels like 1045, 1060, or 1095.
In order to be functional as a sword, the steel must be heat-treated, which is usually defined as either Through Hardened or Differential Hardened. Differential hardened blades are clayed during the heat treat process in order to protect the back of the blade from over-hardening while allowing the edge to gain maximum hardness. That keeps the structural integrity of the blade without losing its edge. If swords were treated all the way as hard as they were in the past, then they would be brittle and break easily. That is why the clay tempering system was originally developed, was to prevent so many blades breaking in battle. Nowadays swords are made softer with durability in mind over edge hardness. If swords are hardened all the way to modern standards, then they will not have the hard edge that swords of old with very high carbon content had. Thus, differential hardening allows a modern sword owner to keep a better cutting edge than most other modern swords. In other words, in the past Differential Hardening was used to allow a softer back, but today it's used to keep a harder edge.
That clay tempering process is what creates the hamon line (temperline) that runs along the edge of the blade between the two differentially tempered steels. However, this hamon line is such a classic signature of a Japanese sword (in fact, it's literally like the signature of the bladesmith as the clay is often carefully placed for an aesthetic pattern) that many through-hardened blades will have a hamon line artificially added through wire brushing or acid etching. Wire brushing is the worst, as it will leave scratches in the metal which will encourage rust. If a cheap sword has a hamon then the seller should tell you that the sword was "clay tempered", "differentially hardened", or has a "natural hamon". If they ever use the words "aesthetic hamon", then you know it's been faked. Again, that's not to say that a Through Hardened blade can't be a durable cutting sword... but if it's through hardened it should look like it's through hardened, in my opinon. It's only good if it's true to itself.
Folding is another traditional method used in Japanese swords, known by the Chinese from at least the Han Dynasty and is thought to have been introduced to the Japanese around the Tang Dynasty, but its use is not so important anymore with the purity of modern steel. Back in the day other steels had many impurities which a folded steel blade did not. These days, folding steel is more often used to create an appealing hada (grain) in the steel, as the steel comes quite pure already and doesn't necessarily need folding to beat it out. Nonetheless, you can't go wrong with well folded steel. Generally a blade is folded up to about 10 times, which creates 1024 layers. These layers increase exponentially with each fold, so by 20 folds you have about a million layers, which offers no further benefit to the steel. 16 is about the maximum number of folds you're likely to see.
So if you want a traditional katana, then look for one that's clay tempered and hand forged in folded steel, then hand polished and sharpened (this will be done with water stones). Many Chinese forges in Longquan will perform these traditional procedures. However, although these traditional methods are certainly desired they are not a "necessity" for a sword to be a durable, balanced, good cutting sword for tameshigri (test cutting) or other practices (ie, iaido, etc.). I personally always go for the traditionally made swords, as that is simply my preference. Tameshigiri however is performed with many swords forged in non-traditional steels and reviews will show that such swords can be even more durable than a more "traditional" katana.
As for the rest of the sword... the samegawa panel should be genuine rayskin, as this is what helps to hold the ito (braid on the tsuka) in place. Silk is the best material for ito (with the best stretch and grip), but cotton is also good. Synthetic materials are of course not good. The sageo (the cord attached to the saya) should be a much heavier fabric than the ito. An authetic nihonto or a very well crafted katana should only need one mekugi (bamboo peg) to hold the blade into place with the tsuka, as the tsuka should be well fitted and tight. However, you can't expect that much from a cheaper Chinese katana, so common practice on a good "production katana" is to use two mekugi instead. Double pegs is a good thing to look for in the price range you're after, even though you'll see much better swords with only one mekugi. The mekugi should be bamboo and not wood. Granted, mekugi are easily replaced (and should be inspected on a regular basis), so if you did get one with wood mekugi you could replace that easily if the rest of the blade is to your liking. However, to find the rest of the blade suitable when even the mekugi are that cheap, is probably unlikely.
Tsubas may come in copper, brass, iron, or even steel. Iron is the most common material while copper is the most common "cheap" material used. There is nothing wrong with copper tsuba (or fuchi and kashira), but an iron tsuba, fuchi, and kashira will balance the blade more towards the tsuka and less towards the blade. About 5" from the tsuba is generally a preferred point-of-balance, but point-of-balance should really be a personal thing and not one that somebody else can tell you.
If a katana follows all these traditional processes and materials then it should hold up to regular use, and if any particular parts are inferior they can be replaced since a traditional katana is made to be disassembled. A samurai disassembles his katana to remove the koshirae (funiture, such as tsuba and tsuka) every time he sharpens or maintains it, and stores it in shirasaya (plain furniture) when not in use over a long period of time. These methods and materials were developed over countless generations of Japanese martial arts and study. To get most of these traditional processes done in a sword however, is time consuming and will generally keep a sword within the upper ranges of price. However, I have seen smiths who offer an awful lot for much less than you'd expect. If I go to the local retail stores in my town then I will not find a sword such as I described for less than $1200, even mass produced from a Chinese forge. However, I have seen a number of swords with these same specifications selling from online retailers for not more than your stated price range. So I do believe it is possible. Hopefully knowing a little more about what a "proper" katana should and shouldn't have will help to aid in that search.
