Sweating with Samurai Swords Never Felt so Good!

Imagine it, ancient Japan. Your robes roll with the wind. The air strokes your face with its gentle fingers. You look around you as the sky turns gray. You knit your brows and spread your legs. You firmly stand as you unsheathe your sword.

Feel that hilt; grip it good as your fingers curl around its soft exterior. Deeply breathe in and wrap both hands around the hilt. Raise your arms and get ready. Slash the air with your sword, sense that adrenaline, that energy. Sweat rolls down as you swing, gashing an invisible foe with strength flowing through your body. As you continue, your speed increases. Your hits become harder, more powerful.

Can you imagine it? Can you feel that rush of energy?

Learn to dance with a Japanese samurai sword with this workout. Use an ancient technique to get those curves. Get the body you’ve always wanted with this latest and raving exercise, the samurai sword workout. Trim your body. Stomp and swing the cholesterol off your system. Burn that cholesterol! Pant as you move with your katana, beating the fat away. Move your hips and torso. Slit and slash your foe, the flab.

Surely, you will notice how your body changes with this workout, especially around your waist. You will get the curves you’ve always wanted in a very beautiful way. Because it is safe, you don’t need to worry for any side effects.

Escape the stresses and problems of modern life. With these choreographed movements, you will definitely strengthen and tone your body. Your focus will sharpen with this workout as well.

Originally this workout targeted the male audience, but inventor, Takufuji Ukon, noticed how women raved the said exercise and enrolled for lessons. With his sword dancing ability and fitness training, he combined exercise and Japanese culture in a wonderful symphony of healthy movements.

He states that the exercise can make women believe that they can be someone they can never be.

He tells his students to imagine their enemies as body flab, and channel their negative energies and whims on that enemy. He says that the time for cutting people is over and the killing of pessimistic thoughts is now.

Several of his students confirm the workout’s positive effects. The women’s self-esteem improves as well, claiming that they do feel good just hacking away.

With these confirmations, surely wielding a sword made of wood can lift your spirits, make you feel powerful.

Swing your hips and cut that enemy! Stomp one foot forward and release that dark aura. Defeat your enemies with your optimism and esteem enveloping your blade. Feel good inside and out.

Imagine it once more, ancient Japan. Your robes gracefully flutter as you wield your sword with precise movements. You pant and feel your hot breath mixing with the air. You put your right foot forward. Your foe kneels before you, waiting for your attack. Without hesitation, you raise your katana and slice his shoulder. Your blade rips his flesh with accuracy. A victorious and triumphant feeling electrifies your entire body. The sky slowly turns blue, applauding for your victory.

The First Japanese Samurais arrived in the US on March 29,1860

"Tateishi Onojiro Norijuki, aka Tommy," (1860) by the studio of C.D. Fredricks & Co.

U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry shoved his ship into Edo during 1853. He sought to end the Tokugawa government and started capturing the Japanese community. Also during that era, Adm. Perry and the U.S. consul had destabilized such government resulting to food deprivation and political conflict. The U.S. created formal dealings in order to manage but disparagement of the Shoguns (a commander of a force) had commenced.

Throughout this commotion, a U.S.-Japan Treaty of Amity and Commerce was formed and a designated Japanese representative cruise to America to bring it to President Buchanan. It was March 29, 1860 when they reached San Francisco and such tour lasted for three months ending in New York. That started the new show “Samurai in New York” held at the Museum to honor its 150th anniversary.

Different displays were presented in the well-ventilated site. Among the entire exhibit, a souvenir to the U.S. Navy was in the central display case. A Japanese sword with a uniquely profiled sharp curving blade. It outlined the element for an introduction from the productions of Walt Whitman’s poem “The Errand Bearers.” The meaning was apparent, tensions that were rising en route for the Civil War had outmoded the Japanese visit in New Yorkers’ awareness and that time it made a huge impact.

The Show wasn’t presented remarkably as it seem. It was modest and needed a lot of wary understanding for it to become known. Gigantic enough, well-known photographers like Mathew Brady flew and incite the Japanese delegates. New Yorkers also rushed to buy those captured images of men in their kimonos.
As the principals claim the main stage, other imagery mark members of the assignment whose distinctiveness were lost. Opposing to American outlook, these were not superior affiliates of the shogunate. Most were in 20s and 30s and do not take any inventiveness. Unwilling to leave the Hotel, they visited a rubber factory, schools, hospitals, and naval shipyard.

As an effect, representatives frequently accounted life in the hotel. One picture shows how they use equipment such as sewing machine in which some became curious because it was new to them. Another picture displayed a reminder that Japan was eager to progress more technologically.

There were mainly two sides with different goals and showed different disappointments. For the Japanese, the visit was like a ritual. For the Americans, the celebrations were fixed to business. New York Merchants that were thankful for the opening of Japan and presented to Adm. Perry a silver service that is shown in a duplicate of the treaty. Unsure thoughts from the American side become noticeable as the show progress.

Members of the Japanese Embassy, photographed on their trip to America in 1860. Picture by C.D. Fredricks & Co

A song sheet’s lines displayed racial appellation while with the Japanese work of art showed a solemn appreciation of their ability. Some were uncertain in engaging affiliation with the Japanese; others were focusing onto their philanthropy. But without question when our exchange with Japan is fully open, goods that were bought by the Japanese will be returned to us in the figure of replication with enhancement.

Samurai in New York: The First Japanese Delegation, 1860
Through October 11, 2010

The exhibition documents the visit of the first Japanese ambassadors – 70 samurai – following the missions of Commodore Matthew Perry to Japan, starting beginning in 1852, that opened Japan to trade with the West.  In addition to important international trade documents, 19th-century photographs, ephemera related to the epic visit, newspaper accounts, the exhibition features 19th-century woodblock prints, silver, ceramics, and jewelry.

New Folded & Forged Katana with hand polish

Ok after all of the troubles I’ve got with the Konron dudes (have to post that thing here some day) there’s finally light at the end of the long, dark funnel.

A few weeks back we received the first monosteel katana sample from the Zhui Feng forge and last week the folded piece came in. Not necessary to say I was happy as a little child. Yeah, still after all of these years, when new pieces come in, it’s like Santa Claus who’s dropping a package :) )..always super excited !

Anyway let’s dig into this and give you a first review and some facts. This is the piece we’re talking about

hand polished katana

Our Handpolished beauty

Doesn’t look bad at first sight right ?

This katana is a forged&folded piece. The forge is making their own steel in a Zuku-Oshi Tatara (high furnace – for the people who can read Dutch, I’ve posted an article about Tamahagane maken here). So basically we can say they are producing their own tamahagane for these pieces.

Second thing I have to pint out is that they are using the traditional method to forge the blade, in other words they are using a lamination method (can’t remember which one but will ask it again) to construct the blade.

And that’s a big difference with some other Chinese manufacturers who are also making their own steel BUT lot of them don’t laminated their blades which results mostly in a very bad edge and or soft blade. So it’s nice to look but not really good if you like to actually use it for tameshigiri.  Still have another tamahagane piece here from another manufacturer with chips in the edge just from some soft cutting (reed !!)…And for a sword in that price range that’s not something you like to see.

I didn’t do a cuttingtest yet with this one but the bending test I did is already promising and the forge is willing to give a nice warranty on this blade. Once they’re back in the forge (Chinese new year now) I’m finalizing this thing but I will try to aim on a very looooong warranty :)

The beauty of this blade is without any doubt it’s handpolish. To be honest (actually I can’t remember a time where I wasn’t) it’s the best polish I’ve ever seen on a Chinese blade in this price range..period! And have seen quit some handpolished pieces in the last 6 years. This one is very subtle yet prominent … judge yourself :

The nice handpolish

The Nice HandPolish

The only thing I want to see a little better is the polish of the kissaski but we’le get there…

This piece only feature 1 mekugi-ana where I definitely like to see 2 once they go into production as well as telling them very clear which side they have to start wrapping the tsuka. Typical Chinese to start at the wrong side…But for the rest, very tight wrap and nicely shaped diamonds.

The tsuka is very well constructed (forgot to take some pics of that), has a nice Rikko shape and is covered with real rayskin of course and bleu silk ito. No Chinese ito but the Japanese stuff. And I’m sure because I’ve send them the ito :)

Same goes for the fittings, I still had some Japanese imported fittings lying around here and I send them with express mail so they could mount them on the sword. First they were only planning to send me the bare blade (since Chinese new year was very very close and they were running out of time) but I preferred to see a mounted sword. Think you have the same feeling about that…

Despite the fact that this sword is a rather big ‘thing’ with it’s 78cm blade and no hi, it still handles very well and has a nice balance.

Anyway, enough for today…we’re back on the track and very soon, the option to make your custom katana will be available again. But this time with a better and more accurate delivery time.

I was so pumped that i had made a video :o

/p>

Leave me some comments there as well if you can and hook me up there because i have more video’s to come very soon..

For more detailed pics, you can head over here.

For the freaks, these are the specs :o )

Tsuka28cmSakihaba23mm
Blade (from tsuba)78cmSakikasane4,5mm
Point of Balance15,5cmKissaki40mm
Motohaba32mmWeight1250 gram
Motokasane7mmSori 19mm
TsubaSteelFittingsJapanese Import

Let me know what you think guys, need some feedback here…good and or bad…

What do you think about this Katana Prototype ?

In case you are not interested in the story, you can see the detailed pictures of the prototype here and over here you can let us know how much it sucks :o

These are the specifications by the way :

Tsuka28cmSakihaba20mm
Blade (from tsuba)73,4cmSakikasane5mm
Point of Balance12,5cmKissaki35mm
Motohaba30mmWeight1000 gram
Motokasane7mmSori 18mm
TsubaSteelSori TypeKoshi Zori

Ok this is the short story : Since I decided to break up with Konron (more about this in a feature post)  I’ve decided to hooked up with the people at the Zhui Feng forge and gave them 2 prototypes to work on.

I worked with them a few years back but at that time, their prices were on the higher side and I was unable to compete with companies such as Cheness , Chen, etc  so I decided to stop working with them in order to catch up with the ‘market’.

The quality of their swords was very good but I was looking too much at other companies and especially the price tag.

Now, a few years later, I became a bit smarter (finally :o ) and realize I don’t have to follow the Cheness,Hanwei or any other companies track and play the ‘cheapest price’ game.

So I hooked up with them again and gave them 2 prototypes to work on.

Right now they already finished our monosteel sword and should finish the folded steel prototype before Chinese new year. Since that is next week, I’m not sure if they are able to do so.

The blade is already done but they had to wait for my fittings which will arrive there tomorrow if all goes well.

Since working on new prototypes (with a new forge and new people ) is always a pain in my ass, I like to ask you to give me some feedback and let me know what you like/dislike on this model and what you like to see in a 300-400 euro sword.

You can find the monosteel prototype here and soon i will post the pics of the folded sword here too to hear what you think.

The pricetag is not exactly sure at this moment but it I’m aiming for a 350-375 euro pricetag for the monosteel (i promise i do something special for our members once they go into producion ! If you want to be a part, just fill in your name and email at the homepage)

I don’t have any pricetag ready yet for the folded katanas but since they are making their own steel to forge the blade  (they are not using ”ready to go’ billets as most of the factories does)  and  a lamination construction, I don’t think I will be able to offer it below 1100 euro or . But we will see…

So here are the first pics of the monosteel prototype :

The rest of the detailed pics can be found here

Now, i would really appreciate your feedback and toughts on this piece. Head over to here and let me know what you think ! I really appriciate your help and if there’s anything i can do you a favor with, just let me know :o

Update on Konron Delivery and new Katana boxes on the way

traditional made katana sword box by Konron

traditional made katana sword box by Konron

Ok just a quick update from Konron since we got a ton of questions about the new shipment that was supposed to arrive end of January – beginning of February. Things got a little delayed as usual (adding more stuff & Chinese new year..)but the forge confirmed that there’s a delivery packed and waiting for shipping at the FedEx storage in China so it won’t take ages anymore before we can get them.

It all depends how difficult the customs are this time…there’s still a lot of inspections and security there.

Anwyay, the shipment will contain 9260 steel and 1070 differentially hardened blades although not sure how many of each. My guess only a little of them are with hamon so they will be sold out pretty fast.

The special serie we added to our original order won’t be included yet, some parts are still missing so it can take a few weeks more before they get here. There’re no super galactic swords, they just have a nice different saya than the usual stuff, battle wrap and entirely …black :o

The 9260 serie will contain a new model themed with a dragonfly…the forge made a new tsuba which I posted on facebook…ow you don’t have a facebook account yet ? Damn..go create one :o

Anyway here’s the pic

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3472/3192682288_df4d3917b9_o.gif

I also got a fast movers offer here. When talking to the forge this morning they told me they had a nice surprise for me which they forgot to mention…

They now have traditional swordboxes in stock..Now before you say : “so what..”, just take a look, there’s a big chance you had never seen these kind of boxes !

http://www.samurai-sword-shop.com/konronslideshows/slideshowkonronbox/slideshow.html

Since there’s another shipment leaving the forge within 2 weeks, we can offer these wonderful box for just 120 euro only ! Once in our store the pricetag will exceed 150 euro at least..So if you’re interested, just send me a mail at dave@samurai-sword-shop.com ! You just need to be fast to get one of these…

For those of you who ordered a custom sword, you will get this box for 0,00 euro ! How about that ! The forge started to work on the custom orders so soon you may expect some updates and pic about that too..

Christmas sales on many unique katanas, up to 50% discount !

It’s coming closer very fast, the end of the year. I don’t know about you but it always remind me of how fast everything is passing by (and how old we become :o ).

Last weekend I was digging in the store and found a lot of swords that are nowhere to be found in the shop. Models that were produced as a prototype but never made the actual production or one time pieces that came in some how , wrong deliveries, etc and while I was planning to do something with most of them I need to face the facts and tell myself that I need to stop dreaming.

Literally a dozen of swords but just no time left here to remount or fix them so I decided to through them in (or out :o ) to the shop for our loyal subscribers at at ‘Christmas price’. Hey, it feels good if you can play for Santa Claus once a year…you should try it too some day.

Here is the result, click on the pics for bigger one’s (once you have a big pic, you will see a next button on the left so you don’t need to close each time you want to see another pic):

It’s not complete yet and there still 5-8 swords here that are not listed yet but I do my best to get them there within 1-2 days max !

If you’re interested in one of them, just send me a mail at dave@samurai-sword-shop.com or call me at 0032 477 90 36 12. First come , first served so don’t yell at me if your favorite katana just left our building.

If you don’t find a nice one, just keep an eye on the page and you will see that more of them will be added.

Our custom katana project is live ! Unlimited options…

After months of dealing with a lot of problems (may they rest in piece) we finally got some good things coming out of the box. In case you didn’t noticed it yet, we now have the “customize your own katana” project up and running !

A short description of how this thing is working. You can go to here and start to design your own katana by choosing all of the components you like to see on your dream sword. There are over 20 different option boxes there that have multiple choices. Not sure how many actual combinations that you can make there..let me know once somebody figured it out ..

So you start with choosing the components (if you click the catalog, a pop up window will appear with pictures of most of the components) and you will see instantly how much your dream katana will cost.

So once you got it ready, just proceed with the checkout process as usual. And no you won’t be billed yet :o After we received your request, we do send it to the forge and they will make a drawing of the blade with all of the specific measurements you gave us in order to give you a better understanding of how the blade will look like.

Later on we’re planning to provide you with a full drawing of your katana, including tsuka, fittings, saya, etc but that’s another story and need lot of work to achieve that.

So only after you saw the actual drawing and you agree with the specs, we will ask you for a 50% pre payment so the forge can go ahead and start forging your sword. During the whole process, pictures will be taken and send to you so you can see the progress of it.

Once the sword is ready, it will be send to our warehouse where we will personally inspect & compare the katana with the exact specifications you gave us (and confirm to you of course) once more just to play the game safe. If all is ok, we will ask you for the other 50% of your creation and ship it out.

The delivery time for a custom order is around 50-60 days which is quite fast..and we’re taking orders from all over the world so this service is not limited to European countries only !

However, if you feel that the different options we offer are not enough to create your own unique katana, we have another solution :o

Send us your request, together with exact measurements and pictures if you have from (other) sample katanas and the forge will once more work it out for you. There are almost no limitations in this process and I’m sure we’re about the only ones in the sword world who are offering such a customization service at that price level !

In case you like to add some more value, we do have good connections with Japanese companies who can look for antique or new super duper high quality fittings to mount you sword !

No need to tell you I’m really excited about this custom thing and it took us nearly 2 years to find a forge who had the right knowledge & skills (and was prepared) to support us. I’m planning to go to the forge again somewhere next year and I promise you to come back with lot of video’s & interviews !

Besides that good news, the forge did start working on a new order for our standard line and we hope to receive them before end of the year or beginning next year..not to make you too curious but there might be some unannounced surprises in that delivery :o

A little note about the folded blades Konron is offering, you can find a pic here of how they make their own steel (tamahagane) to forge these folded blades which does have a kobuse lamination by the way !

The Long expected 9260 steel katana swords are almost here…damn Olympics

The summer is slowly passing by and after a relative calm (depends what that is to your definition :o ) period we’re ready to go full speed again.

The most important thing to mention here is the fact that the new 9260 Konron swords are ready. If all goes well, which is dangerous to say, they will leave the forge this week or next week. The problem we face at the moment are the damn Olympics. The security in China is on red alert now and no transportation company is allowed to transport swords within the whole country. So that’s a major problem that can still take a while after the Olympics.

Now…we are having a very close relationship with Konron and the owner will take the whole order and drive them to the airport himself. Not a big deal you think….it’s a 8-10hour drive to the airport and 8-10 back so…

We don’t have very good pics yet of the new swords but here are some of them..’straight out of the box, not edited’ :o

So what will be different with the previous generations ? First of all, as mentioned before, they are mounted with imported Japanese Fittings , better ito and signed on the tang. But that’s not all, we do have a little extra for you : There will be different tsuba designs available. I’m not quit sure about how many we speak here but expect 3-5 different designs to choose. And if they’re done their job at the forge (which is sometimes hard to predict) both the hi and non hi version will be available in 2 lengths…but don’t take my word on it for now.

Since there are a lot of updates on the 9260, we won’t be able to maintain the original price of 175 euro. So the new price will be 220 euro, which is (taking all of the updates in consideration) still a bargain.

We expect 50 pcs in this shipment (that’s all he can transport in his car) and looking at the backorders we still have for these, half of them are already sold. Now, I don’t want to make a sales pitch here but if you have any interest or planning to buy one, please make an backorder for it now. Last time, we had some angry people because they sold out just too fast and I do prefer happy customers :o

Second reason…the oil and especially the price of the steel is still going up and there’s very little chance we will be able to offer the next shipment at the price of 220 euro…

Once again, this is no “hurry-to-buy-it” talk, just for your information.

We do have lot of other plans with the Forge (since we’re partnering up with them) which does include offering traditional polish (just check this sample here) , using different steels (experimenting with the famous L6 steel now), offering real traditional katana kits (mainly for the collectors) which will include a tamahagane katana with traditional stone polish, Japanese fittings ,ect. The sword will be presented in a big box in shirasaya and with the koshirae.

We have some other cool things in mind but can’t say too much about that at this point….

Enough talk for today..ow yes before I forget ..just finished our discussion board so if you have any questions, or just like to share something, that’s the place to be. Perhaps you’re interested in becoming a moderator ? All help we can get is welcome ! Eather way, it would be nice if you could introduce yourself there so we have an idea of who our customers/visitors  are :o

A few new Samurai Swords For Sale in our Shop at the moment

Just some updates in our samurai swords shop

The response on the survey we held a few weeks ago was just amazing and I need to thank you if you did participate ! Really, these kind of things are so important to us in order to make the perfect sword for you. Everyone has a different taste, that’s true but it can point us out in the right direction.

Anyway, more than 70% of the voters were choosing for the Japanese fittings on the new Konron swords so….you get what you asked for :o and currently the swords are being mounted and they should arrive here within 3-4 weeks. Not only will they come with improved fittings and ito , there’s another bonus.

The swords will be signed on the tang…”Voila !” What about that my friend ? They will be signed and possible numbered so we can issue a certificate with them. You can find the sample signature here.

Now, what more do we have for you..ow yes, a few swords from the other new forge arrived in our store. So now we have available the new cheap battle ready katana  swords with black and brown ito. As I told you in our previous posts,  I did some cutting tests with it and the video is about ready to be released so you may expect them within 1-2 days .

We already finished another video of another 1060 steel sword with Japanese fittings, ito and sageo. We didn’t had the  time yet to do cutting tests with this katana but I can assure you they’re excellent cutters.

2 Custom katana are ready too , a 1095 Huanuo katana and a customized Practical Plus XL Light katana. This katana isn’t on the site yet so no need to search for it. The price is 425 euro..Just send me a mail if interested in this one.. Video’s are on the way as well. Yeah, planning to make a lot of video’s in order to give you an exact idea of the stuff we’re having here :o

Anyone who like to work on our samurai Tv channel by doing video sword reviews ? We send you the swords of course :o

By the way, we also have an affiliate program now if you like to earn some $$ ! You can subscribe here and if you don’t know what that is or how it works, just give me a little time to make a how to guide for you !

Need Your Input On The New Sword Design

sword design help neededIt’s Saturday morning here and looks like we don’t need to expect a lot of sun today…Ideal weather to finish some things here :o

It seems like most of you guys (and girls ) liked the cheap battle ready katana from the Konron Forge ? The forge had some problems lately..one of the problems was the fact that they did need to re-locate their forge..but that was not the only problem, there were 2 more things going on there. First, the smith (yeah, they only one they have) was in the hospital for 1 ½ month for an operation and one of the polishers was sick. So that sucked big time and caused a big delay !

But good news, they’re fully operational since this week and it seems like all of the troubles are gone and we can continue with our work. Actually the new batch of 9260 steel blades are almost forged so they only need to finish the blades and mount the swords now… and this is the point were I would like to ask you for some advice. [Read more...]