dschumann

My retina guy did a very thorough exam (my wife used to be an eye doctor's assistant, so she monitored it) so I think I am good. The front part of my eye is very healthy. This is what I've been doing so far, out of a) lack of funds until literally yesterday and b) fear of making a mistake in purchasing and c) not being able to decide what kind of collection I want. I feel a little guilty doing this, though, as I don't have any skin in the game. Now that I have a truly disposable income for literally the first time in my life, I may have to cautiously rectify this deficiency.

I had an appointment with a retina specialist today and he is relatively positive about my AMD. It is of the dry type, and isn't very advanced. I don't have many of the risk factors for it, except a diet rich in saturated fats, (which I've changed) so he thinks I have a good chance of either having the slowly developing kind, and possibly never developing significant vision loss. I am currently taking an AREDS 2 supplement and have a follow up appointment scheduled in six months. Also have an Amsler Grid installed on the refrigerator. So I am going to go forward with my plans regardless of my vision, for now. Thanks for all the advice!

That is all terrific advice. We won't know a final diagnosis until Tuesday, when I see the retina specialist. I've already decided to have a small collection, if I decide to move forward with this. I think I will start with one blade and go from there.

Well, I haven't posted or even logged in for awhile, because I've been diagnosed with macular degeneration, and it appears to be of the non-treatable kind. I understand it will take some time to lose however much of my vision I will lose, I've spent the last few months questioning my desire to even start collecting. I suppose I can use magnifiers, and ever increasing amounts of light to get some enjoyment from the hobby, but I'm facing a moral dilemma here. I'm interested in anyone else dealing with vision issues and how they've coped and continued to collect. Of course, I can always just buy a sword cane and wander Japan defending peasants and hot young girls, but I am not Zatoichi....

Welcome to the world of pre-industrial processes. I spent a significant amount of my career a) evaluating pre-industrial processes in the developing world and b) educating/arguing with modern engineers and scientists about what form pre-industrial processes take. The first thing to get over is to quit thinking about how the "hole in the ground" provides controls. The controls are provided by the skilled craftsman who has developed the ability to control inputs in a way that exceeds modern rationality. As I stated in a prior thread, the input control started when he was a child, cleaning up around the shop for his teacher.

Not sure of your knowledge level, but the blades aren't chromed; they are polished in a special manner.

To reiterate what Ray said, please don't touch the blades with your bare hands. This causes rust, which will damage the blades. You either need to post better pictures or take it to someone who knows nihonto and can evaluate them in person.

Unfortunately, I won't be in a position to buy Nihonto for at least another month, or I would snap this up in a heartbeat. Beautiful sword.

So, slight subject change, but as a rank amateur, is that the kind of art one is looking for when studying Nihonto? I think that's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in metal.

There's literally a Japanese film series focused around a blind swordsman who uses one. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zatoichi My uncle had one somewhere in all his post WWII "stuff". I am a rank amateur about Nihonto, but Zatoichi is one of the reasons I am attracted to Japanese blades.

This is also my point exactly. The relative scarcity of iron led to Japanese smiths developing more skill in doing more with what they had. And the relative isolation of Japan led to the preservation of these swords.

My personal theory is that Japanese swords were high quality BECAUSE of the relative scarcity of iron, not despite it. Combine this with relative isolation of Japan, the sword culture developed in Japan in ways it never did in Europe.

I am also new to Nihonto. I also have knowledge of other historic weapons. The first thing you need to do is to realize that your biggest foe is what you "think" you know. Once that happens, you can start to learn something.

Thank you for posting that. As a beginner, I was not very familiar with this subject, and the article appears to be as much a comparison between sashikomi versus hadori polishing, something I had heard but did not know much about. Now another rabbit hole of research to travel down....

It would also be helpful if you could take everything off the blade. It's important to note that the naked blade is the real sword, the Koshirae is just what it comes dressed in. Blades routinely had new Koshirae put on when they were periodically polished, so they don't say anything about the age of the sword. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_sword_mountings#:~:text=Koshirae (拵え) refers to the,in when not being used.

I am also new to Nihonto, and I respect your struggle to learn more about your particular blade. There is a skill to photographing blades so someone can "kantei" (study/evaluate) your blade. The first photograph of the nakago was helpful, but the rest are of relatively less important aspects. Here's a thread with lots of good pictures you could use to model as examples. You want to get as close to the blade as possible, especially both sides of the tip. You want to find angles where you can see as much of the detail of the blade as possible without reflections blinding the camera.

I would amend that to say that statement to be a modern, industrial Western reading of a Japanese art object. It wasn't that long ago when Western weapons were simultaneously tools and art that were often given spiritual significance.

It is my understanding, which could be mistaken, that WWII swords had particular length standards, which lead to nihonto being shortened in some cases.

Yet he has an 100% approval rating....

Well yes. Yes, indeed. I made money when I was younger doing conflict area research, among other things, but picked up an A&P license along the way out of general interest. Conflict area research work has dramatically faded over the last 10 years, which severely restricts my ability to make a living. Now that I am older, I am doing 4 month on/4 month off work overseas as an Aircraft Mechanic, which is quite lucrative, and will allow me to finish off my retirement fund to where I can be quite comfortable in my dotage. Plus there is the whole "Aircraft Artificer Ross" aspect of it, as I was, like Lawrence, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army at one time. Anyway, thank you for the kind greetings, and I am deliriously happy looking into all this mother lode of information while I'm waiting to help launch more aircraft.

Thanks! I figured it out on my own. When first signing up, they throw you into a vague part of their site, where it asks you to sign up for your interests, and automatically signs you up for other things. I got caught in a "do-loop" of artwork, somehow, but have undid all that and can now see swords.

Question: How do you navigate that site? I attempted to get on it and look around, but gave up after trying to struggle with their interface.

Hi Everyone! My name is Drew, and I just recently stumbled upon the world of Nihonto. To be honest, the flaky universe of the chinese sword wielding "Mall Ninjas" turned me off from Japanese swords. But I met a semi-serious collector last month who turned my preconceptions on their head. I used to be a historian and researcher, but have decided to make money as an aircraft mechanic. I still research compulsively. And the complexity of the history of Japanese swords appears to be a rich vein of information. I'm currently busy reading everything I can put my paws on. Simultaneously, I'm toying with the idea of buying a less expensive wakizashi just to get my hands on a genuine item and gaining tactile knowledge of the object. Eventually, I'd like to own something koto and valuable, but for now I'm satisfied in study and browsing for an ordinary blade. Something late Muromachi or early Edo would make me deliriously happy for the moment. And the prices appear to be quite reasonable, with original Japanese blades not far off in price from Chinese replicas.