<h2 id="what-is-this">What is this?</h2>A LoRA that captures the physical textures of a real Japanese sword (日本刀 / nihontō) — not a fantasy weapon, not a game asset, but the actual material surfaces: the hamon (刃文) temper line that emerges from differential hardening, the mirror-polish of the blade (地鉄 / jigane), the lacquered scabbard (鞘 / saya), and the gold-fitted guard (鍔 / tsuba).This is not a weapon LoRA. This is a matière LoRA — it teaches the model what centuries-old steelwork and fittings feel like as physical surfaces.⚠️ This is a BETA release. The dataset is still being refined. Feedback welcome — especially on hamon pattern accuracy and blade reflection behavior.<h2 id="the-problem-this-solves">The Problem This Solves</h2>AI-generated swords are almost always wrong. They look like plastic props or video game renders:<ul><li>Blades are uniformly shiny with no internal structure</li><li>Hamon patterns (the wavy temper line) are missing or drawn as a simple wavy line</li><li>Scabbards look like painted tubes instead of lacquerware</li><li>Fittings (tsuba, habaki, menuki) lack metallic depth and craftsmanship detail</li></ul>A real Japanese sword has at least 4 distinct material surfaces in a single object — each with completely different physical properties. This LoRA teaches the model to differentiate them.<h2 id="how-it-was-trained">How It Was Trained</h2>Reference images of museum-quality Japanese swords, photographed at 3 distances:<ul><li>Extreme close-up: Hamon crystal structure, steel grain (hada), gold inlay detail</li><li>Mid-range: Full blade with hamon line, scabbard lacquer sheen, fitting transitions</li><li>Full view: Complete sword in context, proportions, light interaction across surfaces</li></ul>Trained with Kohya_ss on SDXL. Beta version — dataset will be expanded in future updates.<h2 id="recommended-setup">Recommended Setup</h2><ul><li>Base model: DreamShaper XL alpha2 (tested)</li><li>Weight: 0.5–0.7 for subtle material texture, 0.8–1.0 for full effect</li><li>Best subjects: Sword blades, katana compositions, weapon still life, samurai equipment</li><li>Trigger words: japanese sword, katana, hamon, nihonto, blade texture</li></ul><h2 id="who-made-this">Who Made This</h2>TextureLoRALab — I studied Japanese painting (nihonga) in art school, earned a Master's degree in Museum Studies (with Merit) from a UK university, and now I combine traditional material knowledge with AI training techniques.Japanese swords are some of the most complex material objects in art history — every surface tells a story about the smith's technique. I've studied these objects in museum collections, and that knowledge shaped the dataset.<h2 id="commercial-use">Commercial Use</h2>✅ Free for commercial use. No credit required.<h2 id="more-textures-in-the-shifuku-series">More Textures in the SHIFUKU Series</h2><ul><li>🟡 Gold Leaf (金箔) — available</li><li>⚫ Kintsugi (金継ぎ) — available</li><li>🗡️ Hamon Steel (刃文) — this model (beta)</li><li>🟡 Gold Leaf v2 (金箔v2) — available</li></ul>Follow TextureLoRALab on CivitAI to get notified when updates drop.<hr />"Style LoRAs teach AI how things look. Matière LoRAs teach AI how things feel."

SHIFUKU Hamon Steel — Japanese Sword Texture LoRA (Beta) [SDXL]

v0.9 Beta — Initial release<ul><li>Trained on museum-quality sword references using the 3-Distance Method</li><li>Covers: hamon temper line, jigane blade surface, saya lacquer, tsuba gold fittings</li><li>Known limitations: hamon pattern variety limited, works best with close-up compositions</li><li>Feedback welcome — DM on X or comment on CivitAI</li></ul>Planned for v1.0: Expanded hamon variety (choji, midare, suguha), more tsuba designs, improved full-length sword compositions

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