Review of Facts and Fundamentals of Japanese Swords

Gentlemen

I am sure most of you are aware of the recent publication entitled "Facts and Fundamentals of Japanese Swords" written by Nobuo Nakahara and translated by Paul Martin.

Phrases such as "Polishers should not be allowed to earn a living destroying swords" promise the reader a few unexpected opinions and helps make it a very good read!

I have reviewed this interesting book on http://www.To-ken.com/Articles. Your comments would be welcome.

Regards

Clive Sinclaire

Nice review, I like this guy who's not afraid to speak his mind. Like some of our board members.

http://www.to-ken.com/

this link works for me then click on Articles at the bottom

If the book is as straightforward as the review it should be a good read. Sometimes hard to get a good understanding of many basic premises that have been around for a long time when many authors are hesitant to write what they really think, and in the west many "facts" are often just interpretations or re-statments of others thoughts.

I am currently halfway through the book. Unexpected, refreshing, useful, one to recommend, just as the review states!

Veli

I too have read Nakahara's wonderful book on the sword. What a refreshing change from the conventional accounts that have already appeared in print. Nakahara Sensei has jumped into the murky water with both feet and written a clear and authoritative text, made even more enjoyable by Paul Martin's superb translation and occasional clarifying notes. Here is an author who is not afraid to give his opinion on so many matters that others have hedged around for fear of offending. Well done both of you.

Ian Bottomley

It certainly looks good.

Clive's link above does not work for me, but going through Steven's Token page and then clicking on Articles soon did the trick.

I am reading this book for the second time and I like it very much. We are very far from what we are used to read about Japanese swords. The author tries to make us think and gives a wealth of detailed information. We would need more translated books like this one.

A pleasure to read.

Hmmm, I just ordered it from Amazon.com.

There where back orders for a couple of weeks

direct link http://www.to-ken.com/articles/Bookreview.htm

I have just received this book, and cannot recommend it highly enough. It really is an excellent book for both beginners, and those who are more advanced in their learnings. I now consider it one of the must-have's in a Nihonto library. Yes, there are many new ways of looking at things in here, and a lot of new info to go through.

One of the things I missed in Connoisseur's was better pics and photos. Well, this book has them, as well as a huge amount of info.

It answers most questions you could ever ask, as well as many that you didn't know you needed to know

Those who are looking for explanations of saidan mei, or ato-mei, or gaku-mei or any other types of mei....this book has them, along with pics of some of them.

A great chapter on mumei with some surprising conclusions. An excellent section on saiha (retempered blades) and even some great FAQ's.

Sections on kantei, horimono, maintenance etc etc are all present.

At first this book sounded like a basics-book with just a little info. I couldn't have been more wrong. It is packed with weeks-worth of reading.

Yes..you could say I am enjoying it. At the price, it is a must have. Well done to Paul Martin and Nobuo Nakahara.

Brian

Ordered it from Amazon.ca and told will not be available until September

Ordered it from Amazon.ca and told will not be available until September

same here in the US. Oh well, will be a nice surprise when it does show.

regards.

Ordered it from Amazon.ca and told will not be available until September

 

same here in the US. Oh well, will be a nice surprise when it does show.

 

regards.

Even not available at Amazon in UK, Germany and Austria

Kodansha Europe (UK) seems to have stock, so not sure who is able to sell it currently, but might be worth an email to them or Paul Martin and ask where it can be bought right now.

Brian

hopefully you all will still be around is September, as will the book, id try re reading one of your other books on swords until then. you might be surprised what you relearn.

........ try re reading one of your other books on swords until then. you might be surprised what you relearn.

....but the cover is sooo nice

Ordered it from Amazon.ca and told will not be available until September

 

same here in the US. Oh well, will be a nice surprise when it does show.

 

regards.

Even not available at Amazon in UK, Germany and Austria

it is available on amazon marketplace

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listin ... dition=new

You can buy a copy here, its in stock with free worldwide delivery:

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/97 ... ese-Swords

Shibata has plenty of stock of this book in their store in Tokyo if anyone is heading that way or knows if they do mail order.

Well worth getting and no doubt will spark some interesting debates.

Hello, I ordered a copy from Amazon about a month ago and was also told mid September. The copy I get from Amozon will become my working copy, highlighting, notes ect. But I want to get a signed first release for my collection, does anybody know if these will be available?

P.S. Maybe about 47 Ronin should pay Amazon a visit.

If your having trouble obtaining a copy, try ABE Books website, a number of the outlets on there have it in stock.

Regards

David

Got mine today. I flipped it open for some perousing, and before I knew it I was 10 pages further. Compelling read and a job very well done !!!

Got mine today, from tesco books for those living in the UK, at a grand cost of £18.90 with free delivery.

http://www.tesco.com/books/product.aspx?R=9784770031303&bci=381|Interior%20Design%20%26%20DIY*12|%C2%A310%20to%20%C2%A320*23|Coming%20Soon

Although it will state that delivery will take nearly 28 days I received mine in 2 days.

You have to go through a bit of a sequence to get the free delivery though, click on the free delivery details link.

I'm sure this will quickly become one of the must have books.

Bernie

Come back from 3 weeks holidays and found my internet down, took more than 10 days to have it fixed by the IP.

Meanwhile in my mails, there was a surprise. By courtesy of Paul I got a free copy of his book together with one of his cloth sample.

The cloth is fantastic and I encourage every on to get one or several, at this price, it is a gift, fantastically smooth with a very good feeling, it is a must.

The book in itself is a surprise. I read it once and now reread some pages at a time.

Spectacular and outspoken in some fields, it is the first book I have read on the subject which talks about Nihonto in a totally new way.

For NMB members who have not read it, I won't go further, for those who haven't yet order it , run and grab it

Welcome back Jean

Received the book yesterday and am half finished. I will read again.

I cannot recommend this too highly. It belongs in every Nihonto library.

Todd...you mean you can't recommend it highly enough?

Brian

I ordered my copy from The Book Depository and it arrived within two weeks. As Brian has note there are some interesting thoughts on mumei blades as well as origami.

Hi crowd,

since I couldn' wait until amazon will deliver, I got my copy from abebooks within 5 days (from UK to Germany).

The following review is my personal oppinion, not intended to offend anyone.

This book is easy reading for those who allready know *The Japanese Sword* by Kanzan Sato.

You may allmost fell asleep during reading . BUT then there are some *individual* theories about boshi,

shape of blades and osuriage mumei swords which will wake you up again

There are some more chapters on repair of blades and the method and traces of suriage jobs,

which are well worth reading as well.

Some of the authors opinions like *do not pay much attention to the difference if a sword has itame

or mokume hada* or *no need to differenciate between nioi and ko-nie* are , well ehrr, *not mainstream*.

Anyway, good buy for the price and may thanks for this good translation job to Paul Martin.

Greetings

Andreas