Rain Dragons - Northwest USA Japanese Sword Club

[Scogg]

I am attempting to start a small club for Japanese sword appreciation in the Pacific Northwestern states. I hope to include Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.

To my knowledge, there are no clubs or groups out here that do any in-person meetings or discussions. I would like to change that if I can get enough willing participants.

Looking for input from members who may have started their own clubs - or are members of regional clubs already that may have advice. I understand the Northern California Club is well established, and I would encourage all PNW members to join their membership, for all their awesome resources and especially the Zoom meetings. @Toryu2020. I need to start attending those myself. 

The goal is to create a FREE local regional resource for Japanese sword collectors to network, meet, discuss, and share their swords or collections in person. Oregon/Washington/Idaho are pretty small, and even a yearly meet and greet would be better than nothing. 

Working on creating a private facebook group for the club. I tired this about a year ago, but never followed through. 
Thoughts? Am I wasting my time ? 
-Sam

(I thought 'rain dragons' would be a good name. Considering how much it rains out here )'

[Toryu2020]

Rain Dragons! Perfect!

[Mark S.]

I highly recommend reaching out to the members at the Indiana Token Kai.  Great group of people who (relatively) recently started their own group.

[Tcat]

Did someone say rain dragons?  Love the name...makes me wanna join.

[Scogg]

Stunning collection there! Ive grown to really like the rain dragon motif. 

 

Thank you @Mark S., I’m going to reach out to them for some advice. Looks like a good group! 
 

I’m thinking I’ll have to look into website creation too.

Thanks for the encouragement guys!

Cheers,

-Sam

[Soshin]

@Scogg Sam S., sounds like a great idea and I love the name of the group. I would not bother with a Facebook group if I were you. I personally really hate the setup and design of Facebooks discussion groups regardless of the subject. Having an in-person meeting in a hotel meeting room or some such place in the local community near many collectors would be a great idea. I know a few high-end collectors in Washington State. Feel free to PM if you want their names and contact information.     

[Scogg]

Thank you David! I'll reach out in a while for some contacts. The hotel meeting room seems to be the most realistic option. I share your feelings toward facebook 

This project is still very much on my radar. Unfortunately I just entered the busy season at my work, so it's been slow-going.

I hope to create a website, and reach out to local collectors before the end of the year. Hopefully sooner rather than later.
Cheers,
-Sam

[nulldevice]

I was in Oregon all last week and was thinking "If only there was a Rain Dragons meeting, I could sneak away!" 

 

Hope you can find a good group of collectors out there Sam! 

[Scogg]

Thanks Chandler! Next time you're around, let me know and I'll treat you to lunch! 

I will soon be looking for images for the club website. If anyone has any high definition images/photographs of their collection, I'd love to include them! I am particularly interested in rain dragon depictions on tosogu and also anything with rain, mountains, or nature themes. I'd rather use images that were donated to me for the site, rather than pulling them from random places on the internet. 

If anyone has any good ones, please PM me! 
All the best,
-Sam

[Scogg]

Is there any problem with me using "Token Kai" in the club name? I see most clubs use it, and if it's a deeper intertwined organization that I'm not aware of, I wouldn't want to assume the same wording without permission. What's your thoughts @Toryu2020 ?

For example:

PNW Token Kai
Home of the Rain Dragons

[Toryu2020]

It just means "Sword meeting" and by extension "Club" you would not be infringing on any copywrite...

[Scogg]

Thank you Thomas! That’s what I thought, but wanted to be sure I wouldn’t be stepping on any toes.

 

It will probably take some time to establish a solid base of members, but I will encourage people to sign up for the NCJSC for your awesome newsletters - and zoom meetings. 

 

Thanks for the info! 

All the best, 
-Sam 

[Scogg]

Well... Here goes nothing!

Looks better on computer over a phone. Still working on some minor formatting, and potentially adding some more info and pictures.

https://www.pnwtokenkai.com/

Would love any feedback.
All the best,

-Sam

[Toryu2020]

Link is somehow not working on my computer or my phone...

[Scogg]

23 minutes ago, Toryu2020 said:

Link is somehow not working on my computer or my phone...

Dang! Hopefully I can figure this out. A bit of a learning curve for me 

 

Try again if you get the chance. It seems to be working for me, and I’ve already got an inquiry from the “contact form” from another member. 

 

Hoping I can smooth out hiccups like this before the end of the day.

Thank you for letting me know, 

-Sam  

[Stephen]

Works for me or did you fix it.

[Soshin]

Looks great to me on my Windows 11 desktop computer using the Edge web browser. I never access NMB on my iPhone 8+. I tried your website using my iPhone 8+ by typing the address into my Safari web browser on my iPhone 8+ and it looks great to me as well. @Scogg Sam, do you want me to try and fill out the contact form? Please let me know.            

[Scogg]

Much appreciated @Soshin David! Thank you so much for the kind words, and the image donations. Still working on some minor formatting, and editing my words - but I think the website is nearly done. 

I've already gotten a couple contact form inquiries, so I have confirmation that it works . Thank you for the offer though! 

I hope to establish membership, and then poll members for the most convenient meeting dates/location. Hoping to schedule our first meeting before too long, even if it's just a few of us. 
Thanks for all your help everyone!
All the best,
-Sam

Edit, I just saw Stephens comment: Haven't done anything to fix Thomas's issue... Curious if it's working for him now or not. Glad it's working for you! Thank you for letting me know, I am hoping that it's just a "new website" problem and it fixes itself.