Now this is a very curious weapon, at least from a practical standpoint. Traditionally, the reason as to why the katana (and like weaponry) has a curve is not due to intentional design, but rather it is a side effect from the smithing process. A majority of Japanese blades are smithed quite differently from European ones, which is due to a number of different factors, however the main one is smelting technology. The smelting technology in Japan was not as advanced as the smelting technology in late medieval Europe, and as such the smelters used by the Japanese were not capable of purifying iron completely. The Japanese smelter is capable of reaching somewhere below the melting point of iron, not enough to fully melt it, but enough to make it molten. Due to this, impurities (i.e. slag) are incapable of being separated during this process, and thus the Japanese adopted the folding method (which was not invented by them, by the way) to aid in homogenizing the steel. The reason why the swords are curved however is due to differential hardening, which is where the near finished steel blade is coated in different layers of clay, heated, and immediately cooled in water, which causes the edge to crystalize and bend forward, while the spine (which has more mass) bends the entire sword backwards, causing a curve and the signature hamon line. By contrast, European swords are cooled in oil, then slowly heated until the sword turns blue in a process called tempering, which makes spring steel. This makes the blade more springy and very durable (the blade bends on impact, and then snaps back into place like a spring) and less likely to break, but also less stiff. Now, the reason why I state that this blade (the one in the mod) is rather odd is due to the fact that it is clearly differentially hardened, yet it curves forwards... which normally is a difficult feat to achieve (there were no blades to my knowledge in the medieval era like this, however I have seen modern ones, but they may have been made using more European methods).
I probably just ruined the fun in this mod for anyone who read the whole thing... FOR SCIENCE!!!
I've seen a straight katana created by shaping it backwards, and then hardening it. It's pretty odd though now that I think about it. The design of the katana probably originated because of differential hardening but then it became a preference/aesthetic, so it wouldn't be too surprising for the creator, supposedly a legendary swordsmith, to go to great lengths to preserve the curve.
love the sword and Rurouni Kenshin!xD but i know him as Samurai X. Btw when you said he's fictional you didn't mentioned that he was based on 2 real guys from japan, first one was Kawakami Gensai ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawakami_Gensai ) called the Manslayer and Miyamoto Musashi ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miyamoto_Musashi ) I like kenshin's personality alot hehe
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This sword has around 160,000 polygons. Once again, for your reference, Alduin the dragon has around 20,000 polygons.
Btw when you said he's fictional you didn't mentioned that he was based on 2 real guys from japan, first one was Kawakami Gensai ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawakami_Gensai ) called the Manslayer and Miyamoto Musashi ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miyamoto_Musashi )
I like kenshin's personality alot hehe