New and searching..

[mfm22]

I'm looking for my first sword . I'd like it to be a Katana but would be happy witha wakizashi.

Any tips /advice would be most welcome .

I have read a bit and can see this is a fascinating and extensive subject .

My funds are limited and would like a nice authentic sword . I realize a fully dressed /papered/well known smith will be out of the question 2k -4k usa.

I'm trying to avoid the common pitfalls ,not looking to find a hidden treasure

Thanks in advance

Mike

[Ken-Hawaii]

Welcome to the forum, Mike. You're right that there are a lot of experts hiding in the wings here, & they will often pop up & give you some free golden advice.

 

The first advice for you is to take 9/10 of your $4000 & put it somewhere safe. Take the rest of the money & invest in a number of good books so you can figure out what you want &, possibly, why you want it. Everyone who gets into Nihonto wants their first blade instantly - I was certainly no different - but a fellow iaidoka convinced me to take the path of learning before buying, & I'm eternally grateful to him!

 

Your first book should be "The Connoisseurs Book of Japanese Swords" by Kokan Nagayama, $51.97 on Amazon with free shipping. The second book I'd recommend is John Yumoto's "The Samurai Sword," $18.35 in hardcover at Amazon. I also like Nobuo Nakahara's "Facts & Fundamentals of Japanese Swords, A Collector's Guide," $26.37 on Amazon. You can see, Mike, that it won't cost you a fortune to get some excellent study guides so that when you DO buy your first Nihonto, you'll have lot more knowledge & background. I'm sure that other NMB members will have other suggestions, too.

 

Good luck!

 

Ken

[mfm22]

Thanks for advice Ken . You're spot on and I understand but..

I'm not so young but still a bit impulsive . I've been lurking about and have the 2nd book you reccomended.

It would be wonderful to see and touch these things in real life . I'm going to try and attend a meeting this weekend .

Honestly the more I read about Nihonto the more I realize how vast the subject matter is .

[jamesicus]

I think an excellent on-line resource is Richard Stein's Japanese SWORD GUIDE

[Ken-Hawaii]

Well, with three grandkids, I'm not exactly young, either, Mike. The problem with impulsiveness is that you almost always end up spending more $$ on things than you would if you had spent time time & effort to research what you want, & to then talk to more-experienced collectors to find a great deal. I'm sure you're discovering that a Nihonto collection is not the cheapest thing you'll ever buy, so this applies here in particular.

 

I'm lucky in that my wife & I have both been swinging swords for many years - we both hold black belts in Muso Jikiden Eishin-Ryu iaido - & so we both love Japanese blades to begin with. Linda comes up with a budget, & then we both start looking around to add to our collection. After comparing notes & often asking the real experts in our local sword society (I'm its VP), we're fairly confident when we do buy a blade.

 

If you insist on buying a blade without doing your learning & research, Mike, save some bucks & buy an iaito to start; that's the practice blade for iaido; check out http://www.tozando.com. You'll get the feel of having a Japanese blade without the high cost of a Nihonto, which will then hopefully give you time to learn enough to spend your money wisely.

 

Ken

 

P.S. Please sign your posts with your name, per Brian's rules - thanks!

[Curran]

Mike,

 

If by "meeting this weekend" you mean the NYC meeting, I hope to be there.

Introduce yourself.

 

Otherwise, follow Ken's advice. It is possible to do what you currently want, but difficult for any quality.

If in the USA and it ever proves easy, go to a sword show. My only add on to that is that if you go to one like the Tampa show this February.... make your schedule flexible so you can have a day at the beach or otherwise vacationing as well as looking at the sharp ancient art pieces.

[jamesicus]

Mike:

 

As a follow-up to my previous post, I think ADVICE FOR NOVICE COLLECTORS by Richard George also provides some excellent information and guidance.

[Ken-Hawaii]

James, that's a wonderful chunk of advice! As much time as I've spent on that Web-site, I've managed to miss Richard's post.

 

Great find!

 

Ken