It's not "pay for style", it's "pay for ugly". You pay more because of the discomfort you cause to other players.
You can feel his glorious beard throb in triumph as he laughs and his mix of cheetos and doritos fall from his lap to the floor.
Pay for style. You can have a cheapass shirt from a low-price bullshit shop or a similar shirt with a famous brand on it. There is a huge price difference. Same goes for this
Yes this would make sense in real life completely, but in a game where UPKEEP and ITEM COST both in CRPG and STRAT are a way to balance the items it doesn't make sense at all and really is just a big moral buster. (especially for the wakizashi which is a very subpar weapon even if you don't account for the price.)