Katsujinken

I ordered one yesterday without issue.

Yes, you do need to confirm your particular airline’s policy regarding “weapons”.

I assume you mean checking the sword as luggage during round trip air travel? No, there’s nothing you need to do. If it’s old and valuable, it’s always a good idea/precaution to have documentation proving that you have owned it prior to your trip and did not acquire it abroad (if your trip is international) to avoid any confusion about duties and the like.

Nice choice. Welcome to the edge of the rabbit hole. And to the NMB!

Great choice!

I was going to say exactly this. Here's a video of this process (link to specific timestamp at 46:08)!

Thank you so much! I love this book too.

May his memory be a blessing.

I’ve found ChatGPT does a great job with jargon filled printed nihonto material in Japanese, but I’ve never tried asking it to OCR cursive poetry…

Incredible! Thanks for sharing.

EMS. I have paid duty on a UPS package in the past, but everyone should note the difference between a customs duty and a tariff.

This is one of Sasaki sensei’s students from the wonderful doc “In Love with the Samurai Sword”: https://youtu.be/i5f7HI05mCU?feature=shared He seemed like a very kind, earnest fellow. Glad to see he’s still at it!

新藤五国光 (Shintōgo Kunimitsu) was, in effect, the founder of the Sōshū tradition; three celebrated smiths—Yukimitsu, Masamune, and Norishige—trained under him. At first glance his workmanship recalls the Yamashiro Awataguchi school, yet the prominent chikei (dark steel lines) and kinsuji (bright “golden” lines) that appear in the steel surface are hallmarks of his blades. Kunimitsu favored straight hamon (suguha) of varying widths and, as a master of tantō, is considered a peer of Fujishirō Yoshimitsu. This tantō is forged from well-refined steel showing delicate chikei and is tempered in a neat, narrow suguhahamon. With a slight inward curve (uchizori), the harmonious balance of its steel texture and hamon gives the piece an appearance of dignity and refinement.

Hello Lewis! Wonderful post, thank you for sharing it and best of luck! The video of the Kunimitsu you shared is mine, so I am happy to say I have additional photos, attached here and in subsequent messages.

With respect, I disagree. 9mm would be on the extreme end for a motokasane, far from average. Most brand new swords made for iai and tameshigiri are generally 5-7.5mm at the motokasane.

5-7mm is average, and strength at the motokasane is very important due to the concentration of stress right at that point when the sword meets resistance or some kind of impact, just above where the hands hold the tsuka. That said, swords were generally designed for a purpose, for example armored combat (much more kinetic) vs unarmored combat (more of a slicing action needed), so you’ll see variations. An engineer could certainly explain this better than I can though!

I don’t want to derail the thread, but this is a common misconception. There’s nothing good about a tip heavy sword — it leads to poor technique and other bad habits. Styles that use shinken, where tameshigiri is integral and not an afterthought, generally advise their practitioners to use one sword for everything because tameshigiri is meant to be an extension of kata and vice versa. Great looking sword!

Definitely looks like a repair of some kind. That is not natural.

Would love to hear your point of view on these numbers given how extensive your research has been.

Just wanted to share my experience. I received a blade from a dealer in Japan the other day. It was shipped using the antiques tariff code and passed through US customs on May 2nd. No tariffs / duties! I honestly had no idea what to expect.

Excellent. My dojo is also part of ZNTIR, and I had a great time with some of your colleagues in Japan last May. Ping me anytime.

Charlie, where do you train? I am a godan in Toyama Ryu Battodo and am the chief instructor at a dojo here in New York City (same website as the article I shared). If you want to PM me I would be happy to help answer some more questions. I may even know your teacher.

Hi Charlie, If you are set on buying a shinken I recommend you read this article: https://www.brooklynbattodo.com/reading/5-6-2021/how-to-buy-a-real-sword Beyond that, I would suggest with respect that if you are asking these questions you probably should not be buying a shinken just yet, and certainly not a Japanese blade you’ve never held. What style / school do you practice? What is the nature of your tameshigiri curriculum? What kind of targets are you using? What is your plan for sharpening? These questions can have a big impact on what kind of sword is appropriate to buy — in terms of both the materials and the geometry. As for the blade you’ve described: the lack of taper in the kasane is curious and has a significant impact on balance. I would not buy a sword like this sight unseen if I were asking the same questions you are. My guess is this sword will be tip heavy, which is not ideal for real use. 900 grams is also quite light for a sword you want to cut with as Jussi mentioned. 1000-1200 grams is a more appropriate weight for a shinken of that length. You also didn’t mention if it has a bohi or not. At that weight I would expect the sword to bend easily, especially if it has a bohi. In my experience, most practitioners unfortunately end up using blades that are not ideal for one reason or another, so I urge you to take it one step at a time. I’d be happy to answer more questions after you read the article.

This is perfectly legitimate. It’s just a later generation Norimitsu, not the “famous” one, and it’s a short blade, hence the lower price. There were many smiths who used this name. Always nice to see a signed and dated piece, though.