CNN Article on Samurai Swordsmiths

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Altadan
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Re: CNN Article on Samurai Swordsmiths

Post by Altadan »

quite the opening paragraph he put on that one, haha. Reminds me of highschool creative writing ;)
Thanks for the article, Carter. That slo-mo hammering in the video is really something else!
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Re: CNN Article on Samurai Swordsmiths

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Thanks for the link. Of possible interest to Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa readers there is a Japanese swords and fittings show in Bloomington, MN this weekend (10/19 - 21).
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Re: CNN Article on Samurai Swordsmiths

Post by ChefKnivesToGo »

LostHighway wrote: Wed Oct 17, 2018 8:49 am Thanks for the link. Of possible interest to Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa readers there is a Japanese swords and fittings show in Bloomington, MN this weekend (10/19 - 21).
Do you have a link to info on the show?
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Re: CNN Article on Samurai Swordsmiths

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http://www.threeriversmartialarts.com/t ... word-show/

A friend of mine is one of the exhibitors. If it is permissible I'll also include a link to his site so people can get an idea of what might be shown.
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Re: CNN Article on Samurai Swordsmiths

Post by ChefKnivesToGo »

Hell yeah
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Re: CNN Article on Samurai Swordsmiths

Post by Drewski »

That video in the OP is insane! Thanks for sharing.
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Re: CNN Article on Samurai Swordsmiths

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ChefKnivesToGo wrote: Wed Oct 17, 2018 11:51 amHell yeah
Here you go http://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/
The site isn't much from a graphic design standpoint but he has some really cool stuff and it is easy to navigate. Despite having been doing this for twenty-five-plus years and multiple trips to Japan I think Grey still considers himself a student. Proper sword and tsuba attribution is a tricky subject. He is a custom furniture maker and antique restorer when not involved with Japanese swords. Extremely nice guy.
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Re: CNN Article on Samurai Swordsmiths

Post by mauichef »

Just visited the site. Boy is that ugly!
Regardless....it is quite fascinating even if I didn't understand a single word :?
That is a whole new world for me...and one to stay well away from.
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Re: CNN Article on Samurai Swordsmiths

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Here is a Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/tosogu/ of other collectors/dealers. Some of these people and some of these items will probably be at the show but I have no window into who and what.
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Re: CNN Article on Samurai Swordsmiths

Post by LostHighway »

mauichef wrote: Wed Oct 17, 2018 1:01 pm Just visited the site. Boy is that ugly!
Regardless....it is quite fascinating even if I didn't understand a single word :?
That is a whole new world for me...and one to stay well away from.
Hamon is referenced frequently when discussing Japanese swords so you have at least one point of familiar language.
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Re: CNN Article on Samurai Swordsmiths

Post by LostHighway »

Updates from the Minnesota Arts of the Samurai show: This is the smallest of the five annual shows, with something like fifteen exhibitors (it wasn't fully set up when I was there). San Francisco is the largest show (August 2nd - 4th, 2019) usually followed in size by Tampa (February 28th - March 3rd, 2019). The Chicago show (April 26th - 28th, 2019) isn't as large but is said to be quite well run and would only be a two hour drive for Mark (it is actually in Schaumburg).
Apparently the best modern swords run up to $30k but the values of antique swords are all over the map. Surprisingly to me, at least, you can buy a not great but fairly respectable 500-yr old sword for as little as $1K which seems almost a bargain relative to $1k and up knives. Back when they tested swords on corpses or, more rarely condemned criminals, there is documentation of swords going through multiple corpses (up to six) in one stroke. Chipping on chicken bones seems kind of sad in comparison.
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Re: CNN Article on Samurai Swordsmiths

Post by lsboogy »

I'm heading there tomorrow lost highway - looking for short swords to match period (or better) of some of my collection. How was it? Anything good there?
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Re: CNN Article on Samurai Swordsmiths

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lsboogy wrote: Fri Oct 19, 2018 9:59 pm I'm heading there tomorrow lost highway - looking for short swords to match period (or better) of some of my collection. How was it? Anything good there?
My expertise when it come to Japanese swords is very close to nil, I just have friends in that world. The show is small but there are some good collectors/dealers there so you might find something. When I was there it would guess that there were probably around forty swords out on display but, as noted, the show wasn't entirely set up and that might involve counting some wooden storage mounts and the scabbard, fittings, and the wooden post-polish blade as two swords. I was told that attendance and, to some extent, prices had been down at shows over the past few years. Do you collect wakizashi broadly or have a more narrow focus? What period?
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Re: CNN Article on Samurai Swordsmiths

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My expertise is right up there with yours - I have 4 swords (from a very old 14th century piece to a WWII naval captain's sword), two of them given to me in Japan. I' interested in starting to find some uchigatana stuff, but mostly it's a side thing. I'm just starting down this rabbit hole - going out there to see if someone has an old Kikuichi blade for the most part - I have a love for the crysathemum stuff as it was my first Japanese blade, first whetstone, and is still the oldest blade maker in Japan. If you go to palaces around Tokyo you will see lots of it. Just my take, but my Japanese friends revere it as well.

Gonna run to the farmers market in a few minutes - maybe get some stuff for dinner, and then I'll had to MOA for show
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