Bizento

In years to come may be they will be referenced as Namban Swords!!!! Remember when all showa-to were frowned upon?!..and now look!! DaveF

I echo the others sentiments, many thanks for the link to great info on Nanban Tetsu. will digest the info David

Dear all, This is my first post as a new member to the message board and it is about 'foreign steel' used for blades. I am particularly looking at Echizen blades around the Kanbun period, Yasutsugu and Kanetsune groups in particular. I would be very interested to know where they were sourcing the steel and was it specifically imported for this purpose. It obviously held some importance as various smiths signed their nakago stating that the sword was made with such. Was this more about fashion and trend demanded by the clients or was it a sales pitch!!? or indeed did it make excellent blades and therefore worth noting? any thoughts on this would be appreciated. I hope this is acceptable as a first post to the group, apologies if this topic has been covered in the past. thanks in advance David Fuller