New Member Introductions

[Ken-Hawaii]

Welcome aboard, Eckart.

[mtexter]

Greetings,

 

I've been reading an awful lot about Japanese edged weapons after my grandfather died last summer and left some artifacts in his will  (brought back from his time in Japan during WWII.)  I am eager to learn as much as I can about these, and hopefully start my own modest collection.  My #1 goal is to learn proper care and storage techniques, and maybe someday learn how to polish a blade somewhat properly (although I doubt I'll ever go through the multi-year apprenticeships they have in Japan.)  Anyway, this definitely seems like the best/most active/most knowledgeable forum about this subject anywhere on the internet.  I hope to share some pics soon.  

 

Cheers,

[Ken-Hawaii]

Hi Mike, & welcome. Your number 1 goal is a good one, but please do not address self-polishing of any blades! That's an absolute no-no on NMB! Only trained togi (polishers) should do anything more than keep a blad from deteriorating.

 

A good start point for you is https://to-ken.uk/resources/sword%20etiquette.html & we look forward to seeing your photos.

[mtexter]

Good advice. I'm more concerned with getting rust off of the blades so they don't deteriorate. I'll continue reading!

[LLagrange]

Hello everyone,

My interest in Nihonto stems from a general  historical interest as well as my background in martial arts, and my fairly large collection of high end Japanese kitchen knives, as i am chef by trade. (might be considered sacrilege here but it's true) In my years of collecting blades i have become captivated by the people who make them and the history surrounding them, many of the makers i have knives from have history in making or still do make swords and simply transitioned to knives after WW2 in order to stay in business. Some that make knives today have been around for 700+ years, and i find that fascinating. As far as collecting Nihonto, I am brand new and am looking at starting a collection soon, doing research in the meantime. And this seems to be the perfect place to start, the wealth of knowledge here is astounding. I look forward to learning more and  talking to you all, this seems like a wonderful and hugely knowledgeable community of people.

Thanks. 

[b.hennick]

Welcome L....

It is nice to have someone from my Provence joining the board. There is a sword club at the Japanese Canadian Cultutral Centre  (JCCC) located at 6 Garamond in Toronto. When we were not burdened with COVID 19 we meet at the JCCC on Saturdays. We have about 5 meetings a year.

 

[LLagrange]

Very cool Barry, unfortunately I am from  Northwestern Ontario but if I ever happen to be in Toronto during a meeting I will see if I can come by for sure, or maybe make a trip down for one when we are able to again. I'm looking forward to meeting more people also and seeing if there is anyone else from nearby as well. 

[Brian]

Welcome Logan. You will find many Japanese kitchen knife fans here too.
Btw, just curious...La Grange sounds like one of our South African surnames here?

[Babu]

The brothel that became the Chicken Ranch opened in La Grange, Texas, in 1844. Run by a widow known as "Mrs. Swine".It's also a great track written by Billy gibbons of ZZ Top. 

 

 

[LLagrange]

Thank you Brian. Yes I have already found a few of the kitchen knife people. According to some of the older members of my family it used to be "De La Grange" (translating roughly to "of the farm") so I guess we used to be farmers. Was changed to "La Grange" and then they dropped the space. No South African heritage that I'm aware of, did South Africa have a lot of French colonists? I have lots of family in Quebec, the french part of Canada. I assume they came over right from france at some point like most did. 

 

Adam i never knew there was a town by that name in Texas of all places and yes the ZZ Top track is a great one. 

 

 

[SamT]

Greetings,

 

After countless hours of reading and much valuable information gleaned, I decided to finally join in the discussion. I am sure I will be asking questions for a long time before I feel confident enough in my knowledge to offer much in the way of contributions, but time will tell. 

 

I have been fascinated by Japanese swords for most of my life. Recently this has been slanted toward the swords of WWII. After purchasing my first sword last year I'm completely hooked. I've been ingesting as much information as I can. I am hopeful that you, the members of this fine forum, will be able to assist me in my search for a greater understanding of these incredible creations. I have many questions about some of the swords that have crossed my path. I will be posting those soon where appropriate.

 

I just wanted to take the time to introduce myself and to say thank you to the members who have already answered many, many questions typed into the search bar. I look forward to getting to know everyone and possibly even offer some helpful information in the future. 

 

Thank you and take care out there. 

 

-Sam

 

[Ken-Hawaii]

Welcome to the forum, Sam. Glad to have you aboard, & we're looking forward to seeing photos of your sword.

 

Feel free to ask questions, & contribute what you can.

[Ankh]

Hello everyone! I come from Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia!
I am a young person with a passion for Japanese culture in general and nihonto in particular! My knowledge about nihonto is very poor, I hope you can learn! people with experience in this field!
Where I live, the rules for collecting weapons are very strict and swords are one of them! so to own 1 nihonto very difficult and even more difficult to find resources about nihonto! and fate I have seen you guys so please help me with knowledge!

[AlikN]

Hello everyone ! I am new here, I am more into collecting awards and some edge weapons, I just picked up a couple of Japanese swords one regular size and one shorter in ww2 fittings and would like to learn more about them. So in what section should post it to get some opinions?

[Geraint]

Welcome Ankh and Alik.

 

Ankh, you have our sympathies, stick around and don't be afraid to ask questions. 

 

Alik if your swords are military then post them in that section, by the sound of it they might both be better off in the Nihonto section.  We will look forward to seeing what you have.

 

All the best.

[Dave L]

Heh, all!

 

After a few decades of doing martial arts -- and now that I'm teaching sword (kejtusu) to little kids, I think it's time for me to look forward a generation or two. 

 

Part of my drive is -- can you imagine? -- repetitive motion from too many thousands of cuts with an Iaito.  This also puts my mortality into perspective.

 

So already, I found a new (old) Tsuba to go with one of my Nihonto, and I'm using the story that the Tsuba and FK and blade can tell as a learning path for my students.

 

I realize, this is a decades long process.  Fortunately, I have decades.  Just not a century any more!  Thanks for everyone who has helped me privately get up to speed.

 

And thanks to Brian who put me up to this.  Brian bravely faced the gremlins attacking my initial registration process, and I'm confident that he's there for everyone.

 

Cheers

 

Dave L in "rainy, nope it's sunny, now it's rainy again" Seattle Washington USA

[Ken-Hawaii]

Hi, Dave, & welcome aboard. After more than 30 years of kenjutsu (MJER & SR), I can easily believe that you're hurting. Happened to my wife & me more than once.

 

Feel free to ask lots of questions, & be sure to dig into the NMB archives - lots of great info just waiting to be uncovered.

[b.hennick]

Welcome Dave - you will find a few swords swingers here. Most of us just study swords not swing them.

[Brian]

Glad you made it Dave. Also important to do these intros for guys you may want to buy from to alay any fears.
Enjoy the forum, lots of like minded martial artists and sword enthusiasts.

[Martin P]

Hi All,

 

I started with NMB about two years ago. I was just starting to learn a little bit where I could ask some questions without sounding like a complete knuckle head. I then got a new job and left my job of 20 years to go work for the fire department. I don’t remember anything now and I would like to start reeducating myself .

 

Thanks

Martin P

[Ken-Hawaii]

Nice to have a first-responder on-board, again, Martin. Let us know what we can do to help reeducate you.

[Martin P]

Hi Ken,

 

Well not a first responder. We kind of joke I am the first responder’s, first responder. I am the departments first FTE IT guy. Not as exciting, but I keep things up and running.

 

I was starting to learn about different hamons. There was a cool contest that one of the guys was doing.  I do have Swords of the Imperial Japan 1868-1945 that I bought from Grant GGil. Great book and I learned more about the sword I had bought. I am now interested in getting a more traditional sword, but there is so much to learn. What reference book would people recommend? Wish I would have been able to pick up the Wakizashi as that would have been a good learning one. 

 

Martin

[Ken-Hawaii]

Well, the first think I recommend, for your reading pleasure, is NMB member Guido's https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/files/file/36-collecting-nihontō-–-what-how-and-who/  That's really invaluable, when it comes to deciding what your Nihonto interests are.

Net, I highly recommend NMB member Markus' free, on-line https://markussesko.com/kantei/  This is a university-level discourse on everything you want to know, but, it gets deep, really fast.

For books, Yumoto's https://www.amazon.com/Samurai-Sword-Handbook-John-Yumoto/dp/4805311347/ is a great primer, and I really like  https://www.amazon.com/Facts-Fundamentals-Japanese-Swords-Collectors/dp/1568365837 but the best source is https://www.amazon.com/Connoisseurs-Book-Japanese-Swords/dp/1568365810/

[Martin P]

Hi Ken,

 

I have added those books to my Amazon cart. I will read through the first link and try and dive into the other one.  Thanks for the information. I will try and be on here more. Just sick of computers by the time I get home.

 

Thanks

Martin

[Ken-Hawaii]

Martin, I opened my computer consulting company back in 1986, so I definitely understand what you're saying. I retired last year, when my wife did, so I guess my timing was good, letting the next generation deal with Covid.

 

Like IT, understanding the basic terminology is hard, but necessary, so I'm Attaching a fillable PDF that I created to evaluate my own blades. You don't have to have a blade in front of you (although I'm sure that you're anxious to buy one) to use the sheet. Just wander over to https://www.aoijapan.com/ & choose one of their blades to see what you can identify. If there's a sword club in your area (state or D.C.?), you might check in with them, too.

Final Nihonto Documentation Sheet.pdf

[Richard Elliot]

Hi my name is Richard.

I've been a watcher for years and I found the forum a good source of information.

I have a modest collection of everything Japan has to do offer that's related to swords.

I hope to be able to also buy and sell on here as in the UK we don't have the availability that other countries have and if course eBay won't permit sword sales in our nanny state.

Rich

[Ken-Hawaii]

Wlecome, Rich. Shoot us a couple of photos of your collection, so we can see what interests you.

[Brian]

Hi Adam. Umm...err....Rich.
Piss off. Get knotted. Sod off.

[Brian]

As you can all see...I am losing patience with this tosser. So from now on, for every new account he sets up (and there have been 3 or 4 the past 2 days that you guys probably didn't even see) I am going to start posting embarrassing pm's, posts and info about Adam Maunder. AKA Shan Maunder.
This will include threats by him, legal nonsense, stupid registration slipups and lots of other things. So go ahead Adam! Try me.
Btw, I am also looking for a UK based legal practitioner who can assist with filing a restraining order against him, and possibly laying official complaints of harassment against his ISP and having his internet shut down. I have all the screenshots and info ready, If he won't go away, then I'll MAKE him go away.
I'll also post his eBay account (public info) and we can spread that around the internet a bit and see who still chooses to buy from that account.

[Martin P]

14 hours ago, Brian said:

Hi Adam. Umm...err....Rich.
Piss off. Get knotted. Sod off.

 LOL, even before I read your post I thought Adam.