Brano

"Nihonto Group. Discussion and Study of Traditionally Made Japanese Swords" alone has over 13k members Many items are offered for sale via FB and I would say more successfully compared to NMB Perhaps NMB is more educational oriented - or at least that was the intention

Not necessarily just one In the last Tokubetsu Juyo session, only 21 blades passed Of these, 3 were Norishige blades and what was even more surprising - 3 were Rin Tomomitsu blades

Just to clarify No single one o-suriage blade younger than the Oei has passed Juyo And it is generally difficult to obtain Juyo for Shinto or Shinshinto blade even if the blade is ubu and zaimei Especially in today's times Juyo means important

Michael - Thomas described his own perception of collecting He didn't insult anyone, he didn't preach Yet your own comment mocks his post I really don't understand who this can benefit It would be wonderful if everyone treated each other with respect and courtesy - not just on this forum Unfortunately some people don't behave like that in real life either

First of all, to be clear - I have nothing personal against you But to say - "If you disagree then you are saying there are “rules” to owning a nihonto" is nonsense You are talking about historic significance What exactly do you mean by this term? The documented history of the blade, or is it enough that the blade is 400 years old? If something is on the market in the amount of several hundred thousand pieces, that does not mean that every piece is historically important And authenticity is the absolutely basic prerequisite for a nihonto I do not at all condemn anyone who collects in any format - it is their free decision, their money, their responsibility I am only emphasizing that a collector in any field should educate themselves

How long have you personally been studying Nihonto? What I wrote is not an assumption, but an experience

I completely agree with you on this too.

I can agree with you on a lot of what you wrote Colin However, I think it is unrealistic for anyone to gain enough knowledge about nihonto in a few months to be able to judge the quality of the blade they are looking at

Well- fortunately I don't need your permission to express my opinion It's clear from your response that you don't care about the possible reason at all, but rather are trying to open a new conflict with the author of the topic For me, it's therefore this discussion closed

Dear Hokke I thought I answered you But I understand - maybe it wasn't obvious So, if anyone gains some knowledge and at the level of this knowledge creates a collection in the best faith - he can make a repeated mistake From his subjective point of view - because his education has moved in time and he suddenly realized that his decision in the past was a mistake from today's point of view However, many others who would look at his blades would say - don't be crazy, your blades are amazing It's all subjective, a question of education, budget freedom ... I really don't know if it's understandable for people who use English as a native language And yes - I use a translator, because my English is not perfect What is a "very expensive mistake"? Something different for everyone - and I think in this case the absolute amount is not important, but it is certainly significantly higher than your upper limit, because we are talking about a hundred blades at the mid-to-higher quality level here.

I see the same thing in your comment as Nathaniel does It's a bit childish And also, how many people can admit - I've made so many mistakes And then tell others publicly It happened to me and all I want - try not to let it happen to you Are you curious about how it could have happened and why? There can be several reasons Depth of knowledge at the time of purchase After a few years of study (depending on how much of our time we spend on it) many of us think we know enough to know what is good We gain confidence and try to build an amazing collection We often get into the so-called dead zone for nihonto with our purchases Too expensive for most collectors, but too cheap for it to be a great blade and be of interest to a collector with knowledge and a sufficient wallet (whether we like it or not - every hobby, including nihonto, is about money and our financial capabilities at the end of the day) And some stay here - and some study further and find that they will never know enough to be able to say that they really understand nihonto Nevertheless, they have learned more and can appreciate blades that they could not a few years ago And therefore they decide to say goodbye to some blades in order to get new And such sales almost always bring a loss

Your post is off topic Marcin But OK - I live in the inland country and haven't oiled the blades at all for several years So it depends where in Poland you live If you need to oil - again the common rule applies - less is more The right amount of oil in a very thin layer is important so that you don't contaminate the inside of the shirasaya with oil

I live in a country where I don't know any enthusiasts who are seriously interested in nihonto So books were my only source of education (apart from learning from the blades I bought) You ask what are books good for? I firmly believe that your question concerns only books on nihonto Books can help you in the beginning, for example, to get familiar with specific terminology that even Japanese people do not understand, if they are not interested in nihonto Learn basic kanji for swordsmiths or terminology so that you can read the most important information in setsumei A number of publications by Markus Sesko in English describe in detail the properties of blades from a metallurgical point of view, which were published in Token Bijutsu Among other things - many important books show blades in real size (for Tanto the whole blade is shown, for longer blades only parts are shown - but almost always in a 1:1 scale) Observing sugata will improve your skills in kantei and determining the time of manufacture of the blade Many books contain high-quality photographs (Tokubetsu Juyo Nado Zufu, Nihonto Taikan, Showa Dai Meito Zufu ...), which will allow you study the visual structure of the blade And if none of that is for you, you can always use a book as a paperweight or to support anything Joking aside - for me, books have been very helpful in building my collection

You see - and my experience with Rai Kunitoshi is on the complete opposite spectrum It was a mumei katana offered by Seikodo and then by Fred Weissberg on nihonto.com and in my eyes it was one of the best blades I have ever seen I totally understand what you mean - a big name doesn't guarantee a great blade You are right It depends on what you find

If you buy one blade for 4k then almost certainly yes - if we estimate the absolute loss in case of need to sell But then is it better not to buy anything - or not? If you buy 3 blades for 4k each - then probably not We all have our own preferences for buying and it is always our decision and our responsibility Personally I think Rayhan means it in good faith, as most people who have gone some way in collecting nihonto My personal view on the matter is that if you spend say 20k for 8 blades over time, you will do better if you buy 2 blades for 10k You will spend the same It is highly likely that the blades will be more metallurgically valuable If you need to sell - then you are looking for 2 buyers instead of 8 ... I will try to put it another way If you mix your blades among 1,000 others similar - can you recognize yours? If yes - then it is unique and if it is unique in a positive way, then the sale will be easier If no - then you have something that is on the market in the number of several thousand pieces To be clear - I do not want to lecture anyone Just presenting my view The only thing that is important - educate yourself regardless of what you want to buy If you can recognize what a metallurgically great blade can look like (if that is what you are actually interested in), then you will be able to better decide what compromise is acceptable to you We all collect at some level of compromise