sencho Posted May 23, 2007 Report Posted May 23, 2007 Found a nihonto shop that I did not know existed... Henry Wilson suggested I post the details on here, when I met him the other night. The shop is called YOKOHAMA MEITOUKAI and it is in the Passport Center Building (2nd Floor) less than 5 minutes walk from Yokohama Stadium. Closest JR station is Kannai, or on the Minato Mirai line Nihon Odori station (which is less than 1 minute from the shop). Shop is open every day except Tuesday. Really nice people in there and the shop is fairly small, but has a great range of swords and some beautiful fittings. They probably have a couple of hundred swords on display including some newly made swords for sale that are ready for final polish and Koshirae to be made. One interesting sword was a decent sized Jo Koto (which looked like it had laid in the mud for 800 years!!). It was really rusted and hardly distinguishable as a sword, except a polisher had opened up a window in the middle. Some of the original Koshirae they have in there is stunning too. Mind blowing laquer work on some of the sayas. One tanto that the owner said was not for sale had a horimono that went right through the blade, so it is carved on both sides. The owner says he loves it so much he cannot bear to sell it! I just bought a nice sword stand and some choji oil.... but I will be back with some hard cash at some point... Their prices seemed not too extravagant either. The shop doesn`t have a website or catalogue list of their stock, but if anyone is in Yokohama area they should stop by. Cheers! Quote
Brian Posted May 23, 2007 Report Posted May 23, 2007 Nigel, Just cos you are furniture around here, doesn't mean you can stop signing your posts with your name :D :lol: Thanks for the tip, that is something that I quickly discovered in Japan: Some of the best and most fully stocked shops do not have an internet site, and I guess their trade is mainly through "word of mouth" The majority of the dealers at the Kyoto fair, I had never heard of, and they worked only via snail mail or at the shop itself. Cash only. Seems wierd, but I think the majority of their customers are repeat business and remain fairly out of the whole Nihonto world. So where are the pics? Brian Quote
Rich T Posted May 23, 2007 Report Posted May 23, 2007 and I might do it if no one else is interested when I go up in November to taker photos of all the top stores and ask permission for 1 or 2 shots inside, to show us westies what we are missing. Also, I used the photo of Ginza Choshuya as a guide on my first visit to the store. The one they have on their website. Justa thought. Rich Quote
Nobody Posted May 23, 2007 Report Posted May 23, 2007 The shop doesn`t have a website or catalogue list of their stock, but if anyone is in Yokohama area they should stop by. Hi sencho san, :? Is this the shop? http://www.meitoukai.com/index.html Quote
Ichi Posted May 23, 2007 Report Posted May 23, 2007 an another is 15 minutes walk from Yamate station. http://www.shouzando.com/index.html Quote
Stephen Posted May 23, 2007 Report Posted May 23, 2007 50 ten thousand yen ...right ....i must be wrong here, this blade for 4k pluse change???? :? :? or am i missing a zero http://www.meitoukai.com/hidehisa.html Quote
Rich T Posted May 23, 2007 Report Posted May 23, 2007 that's 50 x 10,000 Yen Stephen :-) or 500,000 JY so yes, missing a zero. In Ichi's link, this is interesting, Ko Ichimonji, Muneyoshi http://www.shouzando.com/muneyoshi1.htm 4 Million Yen Rich Quote
sencho Posted May 23, 2007 Author Report Posted May 23, 2007 Nigel, Just cos you are furniture around here, doesn't mean you can stop signing your posts with your name :D :lol: Brian Come on Bri`... ... you should be able to see that since I joined the board I have been quite clearly signing my nmae in full at the end of each post... this is no exception and I haven`t stopped signing ever.... you should know :D that I hold the rules in the highest of esteem (just like Milt).... by the way no specific language is specified for names so I decided to sign in Katakana.... CHEERS!! Quote
sencho Posted May 23, 2007 Author Report Posted May 23, 2007 The shop doesn`t have a website or catalogue list of their stock, but if anyone is in Yokohama area they should stop by. Hi sencho san, :? Is this the shop? http://www.meitoukai.com/index.html Moriyama san... that is the shop!!! They told me they didn`t have "home pagey" but it may have been my pathetic attempts at nihongo that scuppered the conversation... Thanks for posting the link... much appreciated... BTW sorry for not being able to meet up with the entire gang in Tokyo this time.... very busy in Yokohama now.... but should be back in August for a bit of a knees up!! CHEERS!! Quote
Stephen Posted May 23, 2007 Report Posted May 23, 2007 500,000.00 JPY Japan Yen = 4,115.37 USD United States Dollars seems to be a good buy for a shinsakuto Quote
sencho Posted May 23, 2007 Author Report Posted May 23, 2007 50 ten thousand yen ...right ....i must be wrong here, this blade for 4k pluse change???? :? :? or am i missing a zero http://www.meitoukai.com/hidehisa.html Missed that one.... I`ll run up there in the morning and buy the bugger!!!! Cheers!! Quote
sencho Posted May 23, 2007 Author Report Posted May 23, 2007 an another is 15 minutes walk from Yamate station. http://www.shouzando.com/index.html Errol... I am headed that way tomorrow.... Thanks.... I will drop by and check it out... Cheers! Quote
sencho Posted May 23, 2007 Author Report Posted May 23, 2007 Stephen, They had two shinsakuto in there before final polish and price was around 25,0000 YEN.... Polish and Koshirae they said would be less than another 25,0000 YEN.... So less than 50,0000 YEN total...... :? Sounds good to me, although I have spent all my cash on Shochu!!! Cheers! Quote
Brian Posted May 23, 2007 Report Posted May 23, 2007 by the way no specific language is specified for names so I decided to sign in Katakana.... Ok..you got me there :D Can't argue that one..lol Stephen..that does seem to be a steal at that price, especially since it looks to have full and decent koshirae. I wonder who on the forum is gonna snap it up? Hmm..hitatsura katana..looks unusual and quite interesting too. Oh well...I'm out. But sure someone will have a go at it. Brian Quote
pcfarrar Posted May 25, 2007 Report Posted May 25, 2007 The hidehisa is sold my brother tried to buy it. The owner has good english and said he has other shinsakuto katana available at around that price. Quote
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