Today i came across a tweet that lead me to some nice samurai stuff from Lego. Thought it was nice to list some of that here :) And i wondered if there was more of this funky stuff out there... Samurai Army       Bad Ass Samurai Warriros     Or more into the 'Ninja thing' ? Buildings & scenery They're

Ukiyo-e Heroes and woodblockprints, not something i was very familiar with untill a few days ago. Thanks to the famous work of Utagawa Kuniyoshi, who drawed a lot of warrior portraits & battle scenes, i knew a bit about Ukiyo-e but didn't really got the idea/concept behind that. And woodblockprints.. well the word speaks for itself but i had no clue about the process behind it. Once you start to digg into that it's quit amazing what kind of artwork could be made back in those days. But

When i tell people what my job is most of them do think it's awesome..especially sword fanatics :) But as with all things in life, nothing goes exactly the way you planned it. And since i couldn't find any satisfaction by just (re)selling the big brands  and always like to 'dot it my way', working directly with Chinese forges was the only way left. Although it's most easy way and can be a real pain from time to time... Today i want to share the 'Konron Story' with you to show you that this

Anime have their roots in Japan and are still very popular among the (mostly) younger people in and outside Japan. One of the most popular anime series in Japan is 'Neon Genesis Evangelion' and with the release of the upcoming movie 'Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo' (November 2012) there's already a lot of promotion going on. Since a lot of swords (alike)and other weapons  are being used by these characters, the Bizen Osafune Japanese Sword Museum saw's it chance to bring together history

Last week Ford posted a link to an interesting project on kickstarter. A couple of guys were looking to fund their documentary where they want to return the  sword of a Japanese Officer (that ended up in the USA as many of them)  to his family in Japan. Since i really liked the idea, i contacted Brad to see if he was interested in an interview in order to catch some extra attention. A couple of mails later the case was closed and the interview ready to publish.. By the way, i liked the idea

A lot of folks want to buy their iaito in Japan mainly because : someone told them to go there who can build a katana / iaito better than the Japanese ? the big players on the iaito market (in Japan) let you choose your ideal length of blade/tsuka or you can build one from scratch made in Japan = good quality stuff I the last, let's say 6 years, i met a lot of practitioners and i've noticed  that a lot of them (do i dare to say most ?)  are really 'uneducated' when it comes to the

First a little side note. I'm not posting this to bash on the other person (although my water was boiling a bit when he started to use |@# words ..),  but rather to show how myths and 'flat' knowledge  about the Japanese swords are still a live and kicking today. The whole e-mail conversation started with the question if i could ship the Tsunami katana to his country... just you have the context.. and for both of us, English isn't our native language :) This is what followed : Me : Thanks

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,

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

This thing is ‘hitting the samurai sword collectors and practitioners for a long time now and it looks like the UK government is really going to execute that plan. Starting april 2008 there will be a ban on the import, sale and hire of samurai swords and once the law is in place, those who violate it could face six months in prison and a £5,000 fine. We all know politicians are kind of weird with a strange look on things so they came up with a ban that will only affect single-edged, curved