Zukuri refers to the construction or the blade’s shape of a Japanese sword. This blade design can come in various styles that will completely change the function of a sword.  They differ in terms of their cross-sectional profile, ridge-line, curvature, width, thickness, and the general form of the blade. 

In this article, we will look at the many different zukuri types and explain their characteristics. We generally group them into two categories based on the popularity of their use on longer or shorter swords. 

Longer Swords
Longer swords includ katana, wakizashi, tachi, naginata and nagamaki, feature different blade zukuri designs, making them different in their cutting, thrusting, and handling attributes. 

Shinogi-Zukuri 鎬造り



The Shinogi Zukuri style is the most used on Japanese longer swords such as katana, tachi, and wakizashi and is standard for many Japanese swords on the market today. It has a bend or curve to make the blade drawing out of its scabbard easier, and the ridge line was higher than previous Japanese swords. The position of ridge line differs as follow:
1) The ridge line (shinogi) is in normal height.

2) The ridge line is higher. 


Hira-Zukuri 平造り



The Hira Zukuri has flat blades on both sides without a shinogi ridge line running across its center. It also lacks a yokote or a well-defined area that separates the blade from its sharp tapering tip.
The Hira Zukuri is simple in design, and although more frequent on longer swords such as katana and wakizashi.  It's popular on shorter dagger tanto blades. 

Morokiriha-Zukuri (Kiriha-Zukuri) 両切刀造り



The KIRIHA-ZUKURI is the oldest style of a Japanese zukuri shape that was frequent on Japanese single-edged swords known as chokuto or jokoto before 9th century. It is learned from China. The blade is straight in design without curvature, with a shinogi ridge line running very close to the cutting edge. There can be a defined yokote and a koshinogi, the line touching the spine at the tip, but the kissaki blade tip is narrow and small.

1) The blade has YOKOTE line. 

2) The blade does not have YOKOTE line. 

3) The kissaki is double edged. It is also Kissaki-moroha-zukuri.


Katakiriha-Zukuri 片切刃造 り



The katakiriha–zukuri looks unorthodox because it has two different types of zukuri blades. One side of the blade can be flat and feature a hira–zukuri style, while the other side can have a shinogi ridgeline running throughout its entire length.

Depending on zukuri shape and the design of the ridgeline on the other side, it can be a katakiriha–zukuri combined with a hira–zukuri and shinogi–zukuri, or shobu–zukuri. These shapes emerged in the Kamakura period (1185-1333) as experiments for blades to deal with different types of armor, especially with the arrival of the Mongols in the late 13th century.

1) One side is KIRIHA-ZUKURI, another side is HIRA-ZUKURI.   

2) One side is KIRIHA-ZUKURI, another side is SHINOGI-ZUKURI. 

3) One side is KIRIHA-ZUKURI, another side is SHOBU-ZUKURI. 


Shobu-Zukuri 菖蒲造り



The shobu–zukuri has a ridge line running across its entire length from the guard until the tip, without the presence or marking of the yokote and kissaki tip point. It is similar to the shinogi–zukuri but has no well-defined point that splits the blade part from its kissaki zone.



Nagamaki-Zukuri 長卷造り

The nagamaki–zukuri is similar to a shinogi–zukuri blade shape with a ridgeline running across its center. However, it features a large groove starting from the habaki. The central ridge line has a strong bevel toward the blade's unsharpened spine in front of this groove.

This groove, or fuller, is often accompanied by a smaller groove that runs below the central one. These fullers help to lighten the sword's weight and make it more flexible. It can be frequent on katana blades and nagamaki swords, which were heavier, larger, and used with sweeping attack motions to deal with armor and enemy cavalry.

Kissaki-Moroha-Zukuri 切先両刃造り (Kogarasu-Zukuri 小鳥造り)



The kissaki–moroha–zukuri, better known as kogarasu–zukuri, is a type of Japanese blade shape that would make a single-edged blade with a double-edged tip. It first appeared during the Nara period (710-794) in Japan, and some see it as the bladesmith's experiments with earlier double-edged blade profiles mixed with the newer single-edged ones. 

It has nagamaki style zukuri with bevels and grooves, and the spine broadens in a flat portion, almost 1/3 of the distance near the tip. This style of zukuri is more popularly called kogarasu–maru style, a nickname translating to Little Crow for an antique sword with the same style of zukuri. 

Shorter Swords
The zukuri designs seen on shorter swords were mostly made for a more rigid structure or for taking away the weight of the blade for easier handling. Some of these blade types were used on larger blades, too, but they were more frequent on shorter swords such as the tanto and wakizashi.

Moroha-Zukuri 両刃造り
The moroha–zukuri has a sharp edge on both sides of the blade while featuring an asymmetric form for the ridge line. They are usually straight in design, such as the Ken double-edged sword, or some later moroha–zukuri types can feature a slight curve toward their tips. This blade style can have a well defined ridge-line that crosses through the whole of its blade length. 




Kanmuriotoshi-Zukuri 冠落造り



The kanmuriotoshi–zukuri was also a fairly unorthodox and complex blade profile. It had a single-edged blade, its spine becoming thicker and much wider from the center to its tip point. It did not feature a yokote line to define the kissaki and had a ridge line across the tip that extended from the guard until the very tip. Some could feature a type of fuller design before this thickening of the blade, too.

These blades were also straight in design and made with a rigid structure for more powerful stabs with shorter swords like the tanto. It wasn't a popular design.



Unokubi-Zukuri 鵜の首造り



The Unokubi–zukuri styles were used on shorter as well as larger swords. They had a very similar design to that of the kanmuriotoshi–zukuri, with the presence of a yokote-defining line near the tip. At roughly 1/3 of the blade’s tip  (from 1/3 for katana, from half for Tanto), there is a type of fuller, which is a part of the blade taken out to lighten the weight and make the sharp tip wider for slashing. The weight gets redistributed back toward the hilt, which makes the sword easier to handle.
This zukuri style was popular on naginata blades and even katana swords, but it could also be seen on various tanto daggers. Unlike the kanmuriotoshi–zukuri, the unokubi blades were mostly curved.




Osoraku-Zukuri おそらくづくり



The osoraku–zukuri blade profile was popular on shorter blades because its design could not function well on larger blades. In this style, the Yokote line (the line separating the body of the blade from the point) is positioned around the middle of the blade, and more than half of the blade is made up of the cutting point, resulting in a deeply curved construction.
This fairly complex blade style could be utilized for powerful stabbing and thrusting attacks that might open bigger wounds. It is believed to have originated from Shimada Sukemune, who made many different styles of swords during the 15th century.