Samurai's Sword

Samurai's sword, by its real name katana, is a melee weapon added to Fallout 3 in the Mothership Zeta add-on.

Background
A katana is a type of Japanese sword with a blade length greater than 60 cm (23.6 inches) and characterized by its distinctive appearance: a curved, slender, single edged blade, circular or squarish guard (tsuba), and long grip to accommodate two hands. It's also commonly referred to as a "samurai sword" or "samurai's sword" since it was generally the main weapon used by samurai and was the symbol of the samurai caste.

The katana became renowned for its sharpness and cutting ability and its origins go at least as far back as the Kamakura Period (1185–1333). It usually handles with two hands, but some techniques and combat styles requires only one hand.

Characteristics
The samurai's sword does higher damage than most other melee weapons, however, it lacks the special effects of Jingwei's Shocksword or the Shishkebab. On the other hand, it has a higher critical damage than most bladed melee weapons, and has a relatively low AP cost compared to similar weapons, allowing for more attacks in V.A.T.S.

Variants

 * Chinese officer's sword
 * Vampire's Edge - The weakest of the Chinese officer's sword variants, Vampire's Edge weighs only one pound, and is the only variant to use the regular sword's skin.
 * Jingwei's Shocksword - An electrified version of the Chinese officer's sword, the shock sword is much stronger and deals electrical damage over time.


 * Clover's cleaver - A Chinese officer's sword that was cut from the base game. It was intended to be used by Clover and was to be the Evil follower unique weapon, much like Fawkes' super sledge and Butch's Toothpick were for the other Karma levels.
 * Katana - A variant of the samurai's sword that deals much more critical damage, but knocks foes down with critical hits.

The following table compares the Chinese officer's sword and its unique variants to the samurai's sword.

Location
The samurai's sword can be found in the Waste Disposal area of Zeta, accessible through the Maintenance Level (which can be entered only during the quest "Among the Stars"). It is at the "end" of the area in a closet full of medical supplies (see Waste Disposal article for a map with the location marked). It can, however be found later, before you enter the Bridge: simply kill Toshiro and loot his body.

Bugs

 * When trying to exit the Waste Disposal area, the Teleportation Matrix might not work. PC users can fix it by selecting the teleporter in console and use the command "activate".
 * The sword might not appear if Toshiro Kago has been killed before entering the Waste Disposal area.
 * When decorating your Megaton house, the sword's image will not appear while idle. However, if you look directly at it and get close enough to pick it up, then the option to pick it up will appear - picking it up will place it in your inventory like normal even though you can't see it.
 * It is possible to acquire two swords. First, get the one in the Waste Disposal. When you return to the Engineering Core, drop it right in front of Toshiro. Talk to him and tell him you found his sword and he'll miraculously acquire one. Kill him and it will be on his body (just don't lose/forget the one you dropped).
 * It is possible to equip Toshiro with his sword and still retain a copy. Reverse pickpocket the sword onto him, allow him to equip it, and pickpocket it back.

Behind the scenes

 * A katana is sometimes paired with a wakizashi. The pairing of a katana with a wakizashi is called the daishō, that appeared during the Muromachi period (1336–1573). The daishō could only be worn by samurai and it represented the social power and personal honor of the samurai.

Gallery
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