Greg F

Ive had the pleasure of purchasing a few items from John over the years including my first wakizashi and he was very patient and extremely easy to deal with. Happynew year John.

Thanks Ken the fabric is very nice. They really are good quality . Thanks Francois.

This is the the two mon design bags I have from Tomoko. There are other colors and designs to choose from and this type of draw strings are easier to use. Please take a look. Cheers

Hi Brian I will mention it to her. All her bags are made by her and and very well made with nice Japanese pictures and the ends are reinforced. I will put some pics up over the weekend when I get time. Tomoko is a lovely person and very easy to deal with.

Hi members I just wanted to let you all know about an eBay seller that is my Sensei's wife from Japan. I recently bought a katana bag from her and its the best bag I've had. Please check out her items. Regards Greg

Nice one John.

I dont have a problem with a sword used by a Japanese martial artist thats made for them in Japan as much as I do a westerner trying to feel mord like a Samurai by using Nihonto when they can get the same results practicing with a repro. I spoke with my Sensei about this who is Japanese and when I asked him if he thinks its ok for westerners to use Nihonto for training he laughed and shook his head.

Very pleasing blade to look at Ray.

I know that but if newbies think its ok to use shinsakuto because guys on Nmb do it a whole range problems are likely to happen. I get it , I got a low quality shinsakuto years ago because it was very cheap and used it for iaito for a little while but now I think even that sword deserves preservation, just my opinion. My Sensei is Japanese and thinks repro swords are suitable for cutting and iaito for iaido. I also understand that sword smiths make part of their living making swords for this reason but I'm not sure Nmb is the best place for this, again just my opinion. F

Michael this place is about preservation of Nihonto not the destruction of it. I don't believe there is much of a difference in feel apart from knowing your cutting with Nihonto. There are excellent cutters made in China that do the job just fine but we are probably wasting our time trying to change your mind as it sounds like you've done it already. You say you can find swords made for training if you know where to look. Well if you know where to look why ask here where you know its about Nihonto preservation. Ultimately your going to do what you want but I hope you change your mind.

Well done and congratulations Jason. Its definitely good to see someone start off with a nice blade like this. The only thing I think is good to start with a lesser sword would be to learn how to care for and handle Nihonto properly before risking damaging a good sword but as long as they learn the necessary care its all good as im sure you are. Enjoy your lovely sword.

Georg thank you for sharing this wonderful journey your on that all of us envy. I've really enjoyed the progress from the beginning and really looking forward to seeing lots of pics when your treasure is returned to you. I hope you have koshirae made for it too but not as important as what you've had done already. Congratulations on such an amazing enrty into the Nihonto world. Brian well done steering this along. Long live Nmb.

Hi Mauro, I see what you mean. Thanks for info mate. Im happy to leave them up if people think it ads to the thread in the way of learning. Regards

Being the owner of one of the rain dragon tsuba at the top of this thread (tsuba with blue background from Grey) im enjoying this thread. I collected quite a few images of similar tsuba including some in this thread but unfortunately I deleted them. Thanks for your efforts Dale and Yas. Regards

Here are some of mine

Great information thank you Yakozen. Regards

I wouldnt think Mino but could be Mito imo.

In a sword fight anything can happen so it could very easily be fight damage. Its not like in the movies where its all choreographed. Tsuba are mainly for protecting the hand from sliding up onto the blade and from an enemies blade but there would be countless times tsuba were hit by blades producing these type of scars.

Excellent tanto Alex, sorry you have to sell but hopefully it will be back in your collection one day.

At first I found it distracting but now I dont mind it as long as the forum is going ok financially. I vote yes but if we struggle financially I think it could be removed I guess.

Grev your tsuba pics are my favorite part of this thread so far.