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

Friday and almost weekend for most of us. A couple of minutes ago we received some pictures of a new forge we’re working with for the last 8 months (behind the screen :D ) and we thought it was a good idea to shear that with you. We stumbled upon this small forge about a year ago when visiting some of our suppliers in China. It’s a very small forge with only a few people working there and the smith is a 30 year old fellow that does some great work.

This morning, we received a phone call from a lady who was dealing & selling authentic Japanese swords. First she was asking me if we bought/sold these kind of swords. ”From time to time”: I told her “so if you have something, you can always contact me”. At present we don’t sell these things ‘public’ but when a customer ask about it we start searching..in the future we’re planning to open a new category on the site with real authentic Japanese swords. Back to the little