Uchiha Sasuke Sword of Kusanagi made its first appearance in the manga Naruto chapter 308 and the sword’s name was highly debated among Naruto fans. In that chapter titled Sasuke’s Strength, Sasuke was quoted “You see, the sword of Kusanagi I hold here is a little special”. This caused some confusion because Orochimaru also had a Kusanagi sword when he battled it out with the 3rd Hokage but it looked more like a katana.

The Sasuke sword of Kusanagi is a chokuto which is a straight Japanese sword. The chokuto’s design originated from Japan’s neighbours – Korea and China. It was developed before the discovery of differential heat treatment or tempering technology which later gave birth to the Japanese katana. The chokuto is easily recognized by its straight blade compared to the curved katana.

The name Kusanagi or more accurately Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi (Sword of Kusanagi) actually came from Japanese myth. Legend has it the Japanese god Susa-no-o encountered Ashinazuchi who is the head of a family with 8 daughters. Ashinazuchi lost 7 daughters eaten by an eight-headed serpent called Yamata-no-Orochi. The serpent was coming for the last daughter Kushinade-hime so Ashinazuchi begged Susa-no-o for help which the Japanese god agreed in exchange for Kushinade-hime’s hand in marriage. Susa-no-o instructed Ashinazuchi to prepare eight vats of sake placed separately behind a barrier with eight gates. The serpent took the bait and slithered each of its eight heads through each gate. At that instance, Susa-no-o striked and severed all the heads before proceeding with the tails. Susa-no-o later discovered a sword inside the slain body of the serpent which he named Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi or “Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven”. He then presented the sword to the goddess Amaterasu to resolve an old grievance. That sword’s name was later changed to the widely known Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi (Sword of Kusanagi).

In the manga Naruto, Orochimaru retrieves his Kusanagi sword from a snake’s mouth (the snake slithers out from Orochimaru’s mouth, kind of like the creature in Aliens with a sword at the end). Orochimaru’s character which is skilled in snake jutsu is drawn from the serpent Yamata-no-Orochi. But unlike the story told in the myth, Susa-no is the ultimate jutsu that Uchiha Itachi used to annihilate Orochimaru.

Now comes the best part - the Sasuke sword of Kusanagi replica from TopSwordsis a class of its own. With the blade sheathed in its wooden scabbard, the whole sword is white in colour with a black stripe along the middle just like in the manga. The anime however took a different colouring - the sword was black in colour with the stripe in the middle a deeper black. Hard-core fans can repaint the handle and scabbard if they prefer the anime design since they are both made of wood. Unsheath the sword and you will see a beautiful two-tone black and silver polished blade made of 440 Stainless Steel. The Sasuke sword of Kusanagi replica has an overall length of 40.2”, blade length of 27” and handle length of 10.7”. Overall it’s one elegant and stylish decorative sword that matches Sasuke’s cool and calm demeanor.

If safety is your concern, there's always the 40" Wooden Sasuke Sword of Kusanagi from RoyalArm.The wooden blade has 2 tones of colour, half-black and half-silver. The scabbard and hilt are white with a black stripe in the middle.