https://youtu.be/yT_V_ne8Ftg?si=Kc161P4ruxZzTW8-

The Dai Tōken Ichi (DTI) 2024 catalog is out. DTI is the largest and most important sword show in Japan; the catalog is always full of spectacular stuff.

Enjoy!

Thanks

Hi, if anyone know Nimofan Katana site? Theyr swords looks decent but never heard about them

I

Not sure if the text is upside down or not but I recently got this sword at a estate sale and was able to reveal the tang, attempts at google translate have been unsuccessful

Okay, I really don't want to be "that" guy but I've read multiple sticky threads and googled endlessly and I'm still kinda stuck on making a choice. I'll try to keep it short so;

I'm looking for a katana obviously, pref under 300,-

It's mainly going to be for display purposes but I do like the thought of it not being complete and utter junk.

I've come to the conclusion that alot of recommended brands and retailers are US focussed and either don't ship to Europe at all or add fees like 80,- euros.

I'm kinda hesitant about the Chinese custom katana's like ryansword or handbon. I like the thought and prices but there is risk with the shipping, customs and returns in case of any problems.

I find the hanwei/Paul chen blades in my budget a bit dull for display

Lots of retailers offer "John lee" blades in my country. Don't really know if they are that good to begin with and they aren't much better lookwise to the hanwei..

I've found a musashi katana I really like but it's been out of stock for ages and is 310 so top end of budget..

Yarinohanzo delivers but I can't find too much feedback if those are prober blades or not.

And then there are multiple blades I really like from a website named zwaardenshop.com. multiple are called "musashi" but I can't find any of them on the musashi website so that makes me wonder if they try to abuse the brand name or ?

So yeah... Am I overthinking it since I'm probably going to swing it once if I even will or would I really be better off getting a ryansword/hanbon and trust the process?

P.s. didn't post links on purpose since there would be alot..

Since I got alot of mixed answers on my other post I have decided to make a poll

View Poll

Hi folks! Check out this sweet tanto I forged from 80CRV2 with "Raasblaar" handle. I call it Golden Sabimaru inspired by the game #sekiroshadowsdietwice Im torn between making a traditional scabbard vs a leather sheath with some gold trimmings. What do you all think?

i have someone trying to sell me a bunch in bulk saying it's a good business opportunity lmk if there's a market for katanas

Unsure if this is the right place to ask this, however I thought I might give it a stab (pun intended) in this sub.

Although I would say I am more knowledgeable on European medieval and early modern arms and armour, I have always had a deep affection (as many do) for Japanese arms and armour too. I have recently taken up Kendo, and obviously this is in no way an analogue for actual historic sparring. It is a sport with limited targets and rules which clearly render it inaccurate to form a comparison with the reality of historic sparring, however it is interesting to see what seems to be a focus on accurate, single cuts with intent. Particularly, when comparing to HEMA (again, not an accurate point of comparison), there seems to be much less focus on parrying/grappling etc., and rather a focus on landing one solid cut.

Again, I wish to reiterate that I understand these are not accurate points of comparison for historic combat, however it did cause me to wonder how well Japanese armour functioned against nihonto. As I said, I have a greater understanding of European arms and armour. As most understand, by the advent of plate armour, swords effectively became redundant as a solo arm specialised for cutting. Swords simply couldn't penetrate European armour, so swords were mostly relegated to side arms, moreover the goal wasn't always killing (especially given a man in state of the art full plate likely has a sizeable ransom), just defeating. Other blunt force weapons take centre stage, and when swords remain, they seem to be used primarily to get an opponent to the point at which, if you did wish to kill them, you could do so either by slipping the blade between the armour or using a dagger to do so. This obviously impacted the way that sword techniques developed.

I do not know if Japan experienced a similar phenomenon. From my understanding, Japanese armour for a multitude of factors, primarily the limited access to high quality metals, was not as effective as European plate. It seems to be a comparison between scale/segmented iron vs. solid steel plate (which they later purchased from the Portuguese). Of course there are big changes and developments in Japanese armour throughout the different periods, and from what I've read the higher tier armours were traditionally designed to protect against arrows, however I want to know how effective they were at protecting against a well landed cut with a sword.

TLDR: Katanas are designed for cutting, and the martial arts that have developed out of this tradition still maintain great emphasis on landing strong cuts, did the katanas of historical combat frequently penetrate Japanese armours?

Hello everyone, I will be traveling to japan soon and am going to do a fair bit of traveling around for the 9 days that I will be there, the destinations are as listed;

Narita

Sendai

Nagoya

Hiroshima

Hakone

Tokyo

with the possibility of stopping at stations in between.

I am going to be with my girlfriend (is Japanese and can translate for me) and my daughter so I cant make the whole trip about swords, but I want to definitely see some legendary swords and some of the process of making koshirae, From fittings to tsuba to ito wrapping, I'd take whatever learning experience I can find.

I did find a knife making class in hiroshima where you forge a knife from a nail, My girlfriend is looking into that for me, And I am going to the flea market in nagoya in the hopes to find a cheap beaten up old sword.

Any advice on places to visit for sight seeing, or to learn, or to look for inexpensive swords/fittings would be greatly appreciated thank you!

A few swords from my collection from hanwei , paul chen and koto

Looking for recommendations for a functional tanto (not a wall hanger) preferably sharp? I’ve loved the look and feel of tantos for years and would love to have my own :)

Today I got the good news and Yao sent me the pics before shipping. It looks to be as I expected. I did skimp on the $80 polish and it still came out better than I had anticipated. Can't wait to get it here in Canada.

Here's the specs:

1. 1095 clay tempered (no hazuya polish); no groove
2. Full ray wrap handle
3. Genuine leather ito (battle wrap)
4. Brass musashi guard
5. Matte black scabbard with engraved rings and buffalo

https://preview.redd.it/vwcnqkpsbetd1.jpg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ce0c94a63790a0b982d00fabf4178f05e7946f69

https://preview.redd.it/hemeqnotbetd1.jpg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=64bfe2c7452f8c212bd1bbd615c8295f249b3ec2

https://preview.redd.it/402u343vbetd1.jpg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ea6f6600deba5fc94d61e95035ef527f28e530dd

https://preview.redd.it/g6d9683vbetd1.jpg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=991fee72a317a2f660b48e4403ba3e9ffec3c8ce

https://preview.redd.it/8u78x83vbetd1.jpg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2a7449ca4528b705c3ced53b5bd05d06e80471c3

https://preview.redd.it/wtar2c3vbetd1.jpg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4f708763d9d2762e6deb8a03699ff69f72d61f84

https://preview.redd.it/qzdxn43vbetd1.jpg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=29d81402e34c32997542a45f25f82727efbc02a4

https://preview.redd.it/zgmxg43vbetd1.jpg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=51b999a39f5b6bbe18bffb8791ff50e244f7c109

https://preview.redd.it/idbcy53vbetd1.jpg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5c3bc2124d5be02064509f88e4140ac2f92ace77

PS: Thanks to Michael RS for pointing me to HBF for my first custom piece.

This is my fourth trip to japan and i was never able to find any place that sales nihonto so this time i would love some recommendations to where i can find them my budget is 40000-55000 yen I like everykind of nihonto

Hello everyone, I’m the staff member responsible for email communication at Shadow Dancer Swords, and I’m the one who usually corresponds with you via email. This is my second time recording a video, so there might be some imperfections. If this video violates any guidelines, please kindly help remove it.

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