Logan_86

Really? Huh.. Well I guess that goes to show that without a trained eye its easy to misjudge the quality/authenticity of Nihonto. Learn a bit more everyday though

Hi Logan. Welcome! I'm pretty much in the same position as you, but I can say that this is one of the best places around for absorbing knowledge. Most of the little I know regarding Nihonto I learned from reading the posts of other members of this board. A good place to start is buying a few books, a list of books can be found at the top of this page under "Suggested Reading". I personally highly recommend "The Connoisseur's Book of Japanese Swords" by Kokan Nagayama, it can be found on Amazon for around $40US if I remember correctly. Being a newbie myself the only advice I can really offer is don't get too far ahead of yourself like I did.. Make sure you can at least tell a complete fake from the real thing before you buy, especially if you're looking on eBay. Anything from China is highly suspect, but there are fakes from pretty much everywhere these days. Best of luck! Regards, Logan H Edit- I meant "Hi Joey"... Can you tell I'm a bit sleep deprived?

Forgive me if I'm wrong, as I'm new here and not yet very knowledgeable, but I can't imagine that Koshirae being more than 10 years old.. Does the blade it came with appear authentic? Regards. Logan H.

Wow, thanks for all the replies! Sorry about the double topic.. Not sure what happened there. Anyway, I've put in a bid on eBay for "The Samurai Sword Handbook by John M. Yumoto", which I found to be highly recommended on several sites. If any of you know of a book that you feel would be a good choice for someone just starting out, let me know and I'll see if I can find it. I can see I still have a lot to learn before I start buying anything, but perhaps in a few months I will consider making my first small purchase, and I'll see where things go from there. I'm happy to see that I can probably get something worth while for the price of a few car payments, rather than a whole car, and I'm only 21 so I've still got plenty of years to work my way up. I remember when I was about 10 years old my martial arts teacher showed me an old sword that he brought from Japan in his youth, he told me it was from the early 16th century, but I don't remember much else about it other than the fact that it was simply beautiful.. I'm going to be heading to Lethbridge later on this week, if possible I may stop by his place and ask if I could find out a bit more about it. He recently suffered a heart attack though, so I'm not sure if he will be well enough to see me. Edit - Just found that Suggested Reading link at the top of the page.. Right in front of me and I didn't notice it :lol:

Thank you for the reply. Can you suggest where the best places to acquire this knowledge may be? Can I learn most of what I need to know from the web, or is it best to order some books? Which books would you say would be most beneficial to me? I live a good distance away from any major cities, so the chance of my being able to attend any sword shows is slim at best, unfortunately. From what I've found in my searches, this board seems to be the most knowledgeable and I'm sure I can learn much just by hanging around here for a while

Hello everyone, this is my first post! I'd like to say a little about myself, my name is Logan and I'm from Alberta Canada. I have always had a fascination with Japanese swords, in my opinion there is no better symbol of the grace, beauty, and power of the warrior spirit. I had always dreamed of buying an authentic Japanese sword, but never had the funds. A few weeks ago I got a raise at work, and decided finally to give it a try.. So I burned myself on eBay, and am now the owner of 2 pieces of Chinese junk. Luckily the price wasn't great, and even though fake they are much nicer than any of the (also fake) swords I've seen for sale in pawnshops around here. Anyway, on to my question. How much money would you say a person need spend to have this as a rewarding hobby? I'm not a rich person, but in a few months I think I can have close to $2000 for a purchase. I know I should start by learning more about it, so that I don't make the same mistake again. I plan on buying a few books, and have been spending most of my free time reading about Nihonto on the web. I pretty much would just like to know if this is an affordable thing for a person who makes less than 40k a year to do or not, before I sink too much into it. Any input is appreciated, thanks in advance Logan.

Hello everyone, this is my first post! I'd like to say a little about myself, my name is Logan and I'm from Alberta Canada. I have always had a fascination with Japanese swords, in my opinion there is no better symbol of the grace, beauty, and power of the warrior spirit. I had always dreamed of buying an authentic Japanese sword, but never had the funds. A few weeks ago I got a raise at work, and decided finally to give it a try.. So I burned myself on eBay, and am now the owner of 2 pieces of Chinese junk. Luckily the price wasn't great, and even though fake they are much nicer than any of the (also fake) swords I've seen for sale in pawnshops around here. Anyway, on to my question. How much money would you say a person need spend to have this as a rewarding hobby? I'm not a rich person, but in a few months I think I can have close to $2000 for a purchase. I know I should start by learning more about it, so that I don't make the same mistake again. I plan on buying a few books, and have been spending most of my free time reading about Nihonto on the web. I pretty much would just like to know if this is an affordable thing for a person who makes less than 40k a year to do or not, before I sink too much into it. Any input is appreciated, thanks in advance Logan Howes. Edit - Thanks for the tip John, can't believe I didn't notice that up there :lol: