kaien

taken from http://ca.geocities.com/spacephysicsisu/meteoroid.html#composition It seems a meteor would contain the proper material for forging a blade, and even to an educated modern day person the idea of having a blade forged from a meteor is intriguing to say the least. If I was a very wealthy person I would love to have a blade forged from a meteor, as a way to set it apart as wel as conversation if nothing else. To a person living centuries ago it would surely be a priceless treasure to have a blade forged from the very material of the heavens. It's this reason stories like excalibur have captured our imaginations for generations. While perhaps not commonplace, and perhaps not even in Japan, I am sure this type of thing took place. I think it would require immense wealth to have such a blade forged, and that type of wealth was not something a typical Daimyo or at times even the emperor had. The only thing I am not sure of is just how easy it would be to remove impurities from this type of Iron. After enduring the conditions of frozen space then going through extreme temperature of the earths atmosphere what type of chemical changes took place and did the impurities bond in some way to the iron? This is just speculation, I know nothing of metallurgy or geology, or of sword forging for that matter. I just found this an interesting topic.

What Lee brings up is a good point for someone with such limited experience in this. The sword itself doesn't look terrible, like one would assume with a fake. Is it common when finding those too good to be true blades that don't have glaring signs of a fake to actually be what they say, However they have done something to cover up a fatal flaw of some sort? Perhaps not worth the asking price, but this blade doesn't look like a cheap chinese forgery either. I would love to know where the truth is in this blade, certainly it may not be what the seller claims but maybe it isn't such a bad blade either if price was lowered.

I have always regarded ebay as a complete no no, for nihonto at least. I have heard so many horror stories that it has completely scared me away. I suppose for a very experienced collector there can be some good buys, but all I tend to see are lists or threads such as this one. Has anyone gotten a truly good deal, for a nihonto, on ebay? I would be really interested to hear some success stories. Hermes that is a great idea, and for someone like me it would be an absolute mst have before bidding on anything.

hey there fliwis I'm glad you made it here. I hope everything worked out ok with that ebay Tachi. This board is great, the members are some of the most knowledgeable around. This is the guy I PM'd you about, I believe he is in France.

My book arrived today! I am very happy I got this book, it has so much of the info that I was looking for. This is certainly going to take a great deal of time to read, but I will enjoy every minute!

reinhard, that sounds like an excellent book. I will absolutely keep an eye out for it, although sounds like it may be out of my price range for the time being. I can only imagine all of the great books out there that have yet to be translated, or perhaps ones out of print that never were and never will be translated. Are there many books out there you guys know of that are in Japanese only? If so, it's one more reason to keep plugging away at the Japanese.

I just wanted to thank everyone for their replies and help. I went with the connoisseurs to start with, and it sounds like it will last m for quite a while. The free time I have for activities such as reading goes first to learning Japanese. After my brain gets nice and mushy from repeating and memorizing enough Japanese terms I usually need a break before reading

I am trying to build up the courage to ask the wife if I can get another book, and if I am able I was between either the craft, or the comprehensive guide by Sato. I was leaning towards the comprehensive guide by sato, but you think the Craft of the JS would be the better choice?

damn!!! I always have to be so impetuous.

okay, thats what it was. I knew I read something loses it's status if ever taken or sold outside of Japan, which makes much more sense. In fact I believe I read this in regards to many very highly valued swords being taken out of Japan after the war and therefore never being able to be reinstated as a certain title.

very good, thank you for the suggestion. I will check out amazon right now to see if they have it. update - Amazon is crazy, or I should say the people selling used on Amazon are crazy. Most of the used books were charging more than the new version was. I found a good copy on ebay though and look forward to reading it. Thanks again for the suggestion.

actually I really am not sure and think I was totally wrong. I am interested to find out as well. I totally lost confidence in what I posted and edited it out, but I believe that when a papered sword is sold to someone outside of Japan the status of that sword is void and no longer recognized by the nbthk. This is how I understood what I read on the process of registering a nihonto,

you most certainly can get a hang over, and that is not necessarily true about warming sake. There are some cheap as well as not too cheap sake that are better when warmed and then again some that go to crap when warmed. Come to my friends restaraunt at closing and we will send you home with a $250 hangover. I will not over drink when having sushi though, I couldn't bare the thought of possibly puking up such great food!

that makes things more clear and I can definitely understand why you feel that way. Just be careful, laws seem to protect criminals more than honest people.

It may indeed be capitalism and a shrewd person, but I firmly believe in Karma and would not want to trade mine with that persons. As for the situation in this thread I don't understand why you are even getting this involved. If this guy really never got paid then he has an excellent case against this other gentleman. I don't understand why he hasn't gone to the authorities yet, or why he gave merchandise to this other dealer without being paid first? There is 3 sides at least to every story, his, the other guys, and the truth. No matter what, you were presumably treated fairly by this guy and really have no beef yourself, so you should absolutely use caution posting anything negative about that dealer unless it pertains directly to your transaction with him.