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                          Refers to the unsharpened end of the blade where, it is covered by the grip and other components of the hilt or handle. The tang will usually taper in width and thickness from the area of the lower guard or quillion block towards the pommel. The heat treatment of the tang will favor malleability (or bendability) over the brittleness which accompanies increasing hardness. In some cases, the tang will even be of different composition and welded to the root of the blade. Maker's marks may occasionally be found on the tang.

Shapes of Tang tips:

�     "kurijiri" is a rounded tang tip

�     "haagari" is asymmetrcally round

�     "kiri" is a square cut tip

�     "kengyo" is symmetrically pointed

�     "iriyamagate(katayama)" is asymmetrically pointed