Lareon

I suppose as others have said it depends on the flaw and age, I have a very old blade that i will be having polished and go to shinsa and it has two faults 1. a large sword strike on the back edge of the blade, i find this a beautiful addition though and would not like it removed. 2. the boshi is potentially lost. I will still have the blade polished and go to shinsa though, It is my favourite and has pride of place in my collection. Once the situation with getting items too and from Japan is sorted I will do it. I've been waiting patiently for almost a year

What Can Be Imported The UK law on the import of curved blades saw a number of changes over the last few years, initially banned in the 2019 offensive weapons act, a provision was made to allow certain curved blades to be imported. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-offensive-weapons-act-2019/statutory-guidance-offensive-weapons-act-2019-accessible-version Above is a link to the 2019 offensive weapons act. Swords are covered in the offensive weapons section The law states the following defences existing under section 141 of the criminal justice act 1988 apply to the simple possession of a weapon any of the following: 1. of historical importance 2. to be used for Historical re-enactments 3. to be used for sporting activities 4. to be used in film or theatre 5. possessed on behalf of a museum or gallery or to be lent to such body for cultural educational or artistic purposes 6. religious reasons Exemptions: 1. Antique weapons over 100 years old are exempted from section 141 2. there is an exemption for curved blades 50cm or longer made before 1954 3. there is an exemption for curved blades 50cm or longer made by traditional methods in any time period. Most likely as a pure collector you will not meet any of the defences of section 141 but you will most likely meet the exemptions. Who Can Import Anyone may import items that are legal in the UK I would highly recommend being affiliated with a membership body like the To-ken society, not just for the sake of importing but for the knowledge and help they provide. Having communicated with them on some of my rarer items they have been a great help in putting me in touch with relevant people and the membership cost is low compared to the expertise you will receive in advice. https://to-ken.uk/ How Do I Import To import into the UK can be slightly tricky if you have never done it before. I have imported many items, mostly from America and didn't have any issues...until I did. 1. Your items need to be packed well. Not just for the protection of the items but by law any sharp blades or items need to be well packaged to ensure that the delivery company will not be harmed in delivery 2. Choosing the right Courier. Many people have their own preferences and the list of who will carry a sword is ever shrinking, At the time of writing 24/06/2022 I have used UPS, DHL, Parcelforce, EMS, Fedex before choosing your courier please do extra research as some of these say they will not ship a blade and obviously times change and they may have changed policy when you read this. 3. Documentation. Here is a big one, Documentation is key. I enjoy buying gunto that maybe have no pictures or very few pictures and with an eye for the fittings being of significant quality that the blade inside will be good. I then like to share the unboxings with the community. This means i tend to buy a lot of swords that have no documentation. who has documentation on their guntos? there's not many. How do you import these items? well you're legally allowed to import a sword made traditionally or before 1954 so you have to prove this with documentation For more expensive purchases you most likely will have your documentation from shinsa or from a reputable seller who knows what they are doing. This is going to be a lot easier. a. Get the seller to write a letter stating the sword is traditionally made or made before a certain date. b. If you have the date on the nakago, translate it and include this in your documents package. c. You have the smith's name on the nakago? translate it and include history on this smith. What will most likely not be accepted as evidence a. photos of similar items, including references from books. I referenced gunto fittings in one of my seizure cases but it was rejected as it was not relating exactly to the item i was appealing, even though the Gunto fittings showed it to be of a certain era. b. A sworn statement by yourself. your word can not be accepted as proof c. pictures and evidence of things that require in depth knowledge this one is tricky, remember the people you are dealing with know nothing about swords, they don't know patina, or what a Hamon is, they don't know what the nakago symbols may mean on a Gunto and they don't know what a smith's signature means or signifies. Shipping labels This one has been an issue for me, even with all the evidence included in my shipment in the document folder, the shipping label has caused issues. I've used many companies before to pick up, pack and ship my items, They are lazy when it comes to the label. "Auction merchandise" "Swords" These are not good enough. Even with all your evidence it is critical that the label produced by the shipping company is correct. 70cm sword is not good enough 70cm sword made in 1320 by Masamune in Shirisaya with sayagaki by Tanobe San of the blah blah blah is much much better Get your shipping labels correct! Import Tariff Codes The tariff codes changed in January 2022 so a google search may find some outdated information. https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/headings/9706 Ive included here a link to the tariff lookup service set to 9706 that at the time of writing is the code for antiques. Antiques over 100 years old https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/commodities/9706900000 antiques over 250 years old https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/commodities/9706100000 For both of these items the tax rate at the time of writing is 5% Include the following to make sure you do not pay 20% tax VAT footnote 03001 5% tax rate applicable obviously if your sword is not over 100 years old then you will not be able to use these import tariffs legally. These are quite simple and should not cause any issues Delivery Once the items have been shipped they will pass through customs in the country of origin then they will hit the UK This is the critical point where a number of things will happen. 1. the item will go to either the domestic courier or will be shipped by the original shipping company. 2. The items will go into Customs, this can take anywhere from a few hours to a couple of weeks, to even sometimes over a month at the worst. 3. the items will most likely now have their import fees added on to them and you will get a notification to pay this. Check that the import fees are correct and are using the 5% rate. The shipping companies are very lazy and will just auto add the 20% I always have to call up and point out it's 5% not 20% 4. The item will be released and shipped and hopefully arrive 4b. The item will be seized Seizure I will be writing this next section based on my own experiences of two separate seizures that occured around the same time. For me the first i knew that my items had been seized was the police arrived at my door. I didn't expect this and since i'd never had issues before (quite a few imports) I didn't think that It would happen so i guess i got a little complacent. if you wish to read about it, You can see the progression of the issue here the police gave me a handout and told me that keeping swords were illegal etc etc. you can read about it above Seizure Steps 1. Initial Seizure Notice The first seizure notice i received was handed to me in person by the police The second seizure notice i received was in the post ( I guess the police didn't see the need to come again) the Seizure notice comes as a letter and a booklet the booklet describes what to do any how to go about appealing if you wish to The letter states the reason for the seizure and a description of the items seized. Be aware this is the last time you will receive a communication from borderforce, they will not reply to emails and you may contact them for 1 hour a day on their phone line. This is fairly pointless as the people on the phone have no knowledge of the case and cannot help in any way except to maybe to acknowledge receipt of information but I don't recommend calling as it achieves nothing. 2. Challenge to seizure the next step is to decide if you wish to have your items back. If you don't, you can stop reading here, if you do then you will need to do the following. There are two avenues to proceed from here 1. Challenge the legality of the seizure 2. Ask for restoration of the items. myself personally i did both but in both cases when the items were returned to me i dropped the appeal on legality of seizure. i will explain later in the article why that is and what made me come to that decision. So you can achieve both of these goals in one letter, there are templates supplied by borderforce on how to write it but any letter will do and i recommend writing your own. you need to do the following 1. describe the items 2. Describe why the items are legal to import 3. confirm you own the items 4. include a paid invoice for the items showing you have bought them 5. include any extra information proving why the items are legal to import. documentation is key here. I know this can be difficult if you have already provided everything earlier. 6. Say whether you wish to challenge the legality of the seizure, ask for restoration or both. Do not lose your temper and be professional at all times. It is very very frustrating and it will get more so as the process goes on. you can write to borderforce or you can email them. Both of these options will be provided in the documentation you received from seizure. Initially I posted everything and printed it out, but it got expensive and i realised that email was fine. (I didn't realise this at first and thought I had to post it) there will now be 1 or two processes running at the same time 1. court case 2. restoration procedure Borderforce will ask you a few steps along the way if you wish to keep challenging the legality and they will warn you that they will charge you court costs if you lose the case. Both times my items were released to me before the court cases could start so I pulled out of them. I will not be going through the court proceedings as I've not experienced it for the court proceedings the following will happen 1. you will provide your information 2. you will be entered into a queue for a court date, this will be around 7 months wait, may be less, may be more 3. you will be given a letter or email just before they apply for this asking you if you wish to continue. 4. they will notify you on the date they are about to submit the proceedings to court , so you have time to pull out if you wish for restoration the following will happen 1. you will provide your information 2. you will await a decision by borderforce on restoration ( this took 4 months in both cases) 3. you will most likely be denied restoration 4. you will be given the choice to appeal (you should) 5. you will then for the first time be able to speak to someone who has any form of power, a high officer. 6. the high officer will communicate with you directly and you can give any extra evidence that may be lacking or was highlighted in your denied restoration. 7. the high officer will give you the result of the appeal 8. if you are successful you will receive your items back - for a fee 9 if you are not you will be able to apply for a tribunal - documents will be provided (I haven't ever gone this far so I can't write anything about it) a little information about point 3 above. from conversations with borderforce themselves they advised me that most likely I will have my restoration denied, before it even happened. this was on the phone with them. They stated that the restoration is done by someone who has no real power and just looks over what happened and if the items were seized for any good reason (being a sword) then it would be upheld. I was told to then appeal and that would be the place where someone with decision making power would weigh up the options. you're looking at a few months so you might as well make a cup of tea and await the first rejection then move onto appeal. I found the high officer to be good to deal with and I can't really fault them at all. They are sensible in their approach. The steps before I found highly frustrating and bordering ridiculous but I have to keep reminding myself, the borderforce have far less knowledge than any of us on the items, they do not have expert knowledge at all. Key Information This was one of my biggest mistakes in the process, I didn't realise I was dealing with people that knew zero about Japanese swords. I assumed since they were the ones restricting them and managing the import of them they would have some knowledge. This is not the case and you have to tailor your documents to this, I provided a lot of information to border force to the point, that they commented on how much I had supplied. Simply because I did not know what they wanted. They will not tell you what was the exact reason for seizure even if requested, they will not provide you with any information and they will not understand many things. you have to explain everything as if to a novice. It is a good test of your own knowledge though. Appeal When you reach appeal your life will get easier, up until this point you're talking to a brick wall. if you are missing anything they will ask for it (you have to have provided a solid foundation for your information though) I had to provide 1. to-ken membership 2. Date i joined 3. communications with to-ken members to prove activity 4. images of the hamon 5. images of the nakago 6. I showed that provinces didn't exist anymore in Japan and what dates they had changed name 7. I provided images from books to show fittings. (wasn't helpful in the end) 8 i provided letters from the seller and letters from experts on the items (mixed results) 9 I provided background information on the smiths when possible and when it wasn't possible i tried to provide other information to age and clarify traditional methods of manufacture 10. I provided invoices and bank statements showing i purchased the items. Both of my appeals were successful in the end as i had clearly proven the items were legal to import. It just took a long time to get this far. I was given the option at this stage to cancel the challenge to legality and i did in both cases. Why did I cancel my legal challenge? Initially i was very upset at the way i was treated and the police coming to my house etc etc. In communication with the high officer though I received the following information I would again respectfully point out that any sword with a curved blade over 50cm in length can legally be seized at import by BF, and that the sword would remain seized until BF was satisfied that the strict criteria for a permitted defence had been attained and proven. This would seem to me that any sword can be legally seized until they are satisfied with the result. I'm not sure how i would stand in court challenging this if this is the case. Since i am not a lawyer and didn't seek legal council on the matter i can't be sure. I'll leave that fight to someone else Good luck all and hopefully if you're ever in this situation this information will help Cheers!

The scrutiny is for myself and I believe I will be held to a higher degree of evidence required at the point of import. Basically if I don't want them seized I need to probably do a lot of leg work in the documentation. The biggest issue so far has been the shipping companies loose wording on the packaging. The second seizure i had i included a lot of information in the import packet, to be honest i thought it would be fine after the first lot but the shipping company on the label wrote 4 x swords. and even though the documentation with it was all good they flagged it. I barely supplied any extra information on the second import because it was all there and it passed the appeal process basically just on the original information. I sent some extra photos of the items highlighting some things like ages on nakago etc but borderforce have zero knowledge of swords so basically it's all paperwork that can be rubber stamped.

The appeal has been successful for the second set of items. once I have received them I will share with the community! I will be posting a new article in the forum that includes all the issues and steps I had to take for reference, maybe it can be pinned to the board for others to see if they have the same issue. I have been warned though that all future imports will now come under the same scrutiny, so once you have a seizure or two you will have more issues. Tony

Yep, more to provide a clearer view of all the text, even the left side that was quite hard to read in the original pictures; Since there was interest in the sticker itself.

I've got a surrender tag that is pretty gone. It's from a star stamped masatsugu. I can't make out the kanji at all. I'm including a couple of photos but because I don't want to damage it I haven't unfolded it fully. If people think it's possible to translate I will unfold. Any chance on this one?

Thought you guys might like a photo of the whole sticker

You also state that you understand the reason that BF seized the swords was: “due to the nature of the goods”, and you continue: “If this is the case then there is a valid exception on the goods. “They can’t be seized due to this fact as they meet exceptions stated in the act”. I would respectfully point out that any sword with a curved blade over 50cm in length can legally be seized at import by BF, and that the sword would remain seized until BF was satisfied that the strict criteria for a permitted defence had been attained and proven. Page 4 / 10 If BF may consider that a permitted defence for importing the sword is satisfactorily proven, a decision to exceptionally return the sword can be made under Section 152 of CEMA. The first set of items are going to be released to me soon but i wanted to point this bit of information out that i received When the swords were first seized they were seized due to "the nature of the goods" I responded that the nature of the goods was antiques and met legal requirements for import. in my final letter from borderforce on this matter with their final decision, this was one of the sections. This basically means you can't really appeal the legality of the seizure as they have the legal right to seize it.

Well the first set of items i sent a letter from the auction house just saying to the best of their knowledge they believe them to be of a certain age and traditionally made and this was accepted. The second set of items had the "Director of Asian Art and Senior Specialist" send a letter showing that the four items were genuine and antique. The reply from this one was they couldn't take them at their word. Basically until you get to appeals I think they just follow some script and will just refute everything. Will just await the appeal and see what's happening

I think the sheer weight of documentation that i had provided, also what seemed to be key in this one was a seperate letter from the auction house saying they believed the items to be genuine. strangely the letter from the expert on the second set of items was not accepted but maybe that will change at appeal. As in my appeal letter I pointed out their credentials and that they were an expert. It is really hit and miss it seems. They've asked for a certificate or statement of authenticity on the second set of items. I will await speaking to the appeals officer as you can actually speak to them to resolve issues where as the officers do not even provide a name and seem to just blanket refuse everything.

Appeal 1 has been Successful and the items will be restored to me. second set of items has been refused by Borderforce and has now gone to appeal as well. Hopefully this will also be succesful on my part.

Noticed a few swords in this video. timestamp of note 12:20 Just in case, There are a few scenes in the video here and there of executions and dead civilians. Most of the video is fine but a couple here and there. Just in case people wish to avoid seeing this.

Once this appeal is finished I'll write a whole thing explaining what I've found out. There's been a lot of back and forth since the last update with borderforce.ill include why the items are seized and what sort of thing they will accept as evidence etc. I just want to make sure everything goes through ok before I write it all. But since you ask. Simply the previous import being seized led to the second seizure from what I gather. An npsu officer told me once you have one seizure most likely all your packages will be checked and under much stricter scrutiny. I've not received communication about the second seizure over the initial letter. I contacted them today to enquire about it and they have an internal deadline to get back to me mid June......

A quick update for all. The process for the first seizure has moved on to the appeals process on border force's decision. This is a much better system and lets you speak to someone with a name for the first time. Basically it is my belief up until this point nothing I could of done would have affected the outcome. Now that I can have a dialogue with someone, things are progressing. I'm still in the middle of this process so I will leave out any information or inferences from it until after I've had a result but I've found some interesting information out that will most likely help people in the future. As a side note I've contacted A curator of Asian Art and had them write me a letter about the items from a place of authority. I would of done this in the UK but I did it from America as it has more weight due to being where the items were sold. (odd I know) This should be enough to swing the balance in my favor but as with everything so far. we will see. By the way, I had to prove I was a member of To-Ken with bank invoices and the date I joined. Like I said I will write a proper update when I get my decision which I'm hoping will be favorable if not then It will go to tribunal. Then I have to decide whether to continue with the court case as this is a separate matter.

The defences that already exist under section 141 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 also apply to their simple possession. This includes that the weapon in question is: of historical importance to be used for historical re-enactments to be used for sporting activities for use in film and theatre possessed on behalf of a museum or gallery, or lent or hired by a museum or gallery for cultural, artistic or educational purposes possessed for religious reasons Antique weapons, over 100 years old, are exempted from section 141 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988[footnote 18]. This exemption now also applies to the offence of possessing such antique weapons. There is also an exemption for swords with curved blades of 50cm or longer made before 1954 or those made at any time by traditional methods by hand. Swords with a curved blade of 50cm or more may be imported where the weapon: was made before 1954 was made by traditional methods of making swords by hand is only available for the purposes of use in religious ceremonies or for martial arts is for use in a historical re-enactments or sporting activity for example a martial arts demonstration for which public liability insurance is held this is an extract from the offensive weapons act What seems to me to be the issue is they are following this first section which are valid reasons to import an offensive weapons (section 141) What they are not doing is following the second section which makes the items exempt from section 141 and makes simple possession legal. the minimum proof needed is one of these poitns as stated here. the easiest is that the items were made before 1954. well they are ww2 gunto one with the surrender tag still on. all this has been told to them with reference photos from books etc so they easily meet this case. since the war was well over by 1954 in Japan. They are traditionally made, i did my best to provide proof on this but it is a harder case to make of course. one of them is over 100 years old which i proved by comparing signatures with reference, the age also means it has to be traditionally made. because that's the definition of traditionally made... maybe by the end of this they will both be over 100 years old :p (I provided many pages of information, this is just a summary)

I received the letter today and am still going over it and thinking about my next step They have offered the chance to appeal the decision so I will be thinking about what to include in that. Originally I supplied a large swathe of documentation even references from books when they were first seized to prove the age and that they are traditional etc, this was quite detailed information! they even say they have looked at this but then ask for further dates and proof they are traditional again. I said that I was a member of the To-ken society but they want more proof of this even though it is irrelevant and now asking for information that I have provided swords to them in the past???, I'm happy to provide what i can but i've provided a lot of information already so may have to go the certificate route as John has said. I guess I did show @Ian at the Birmingham arms fair my Gassan Handachi and Sent @paulb images of it last year to look at. will write that I guess but this is far outside the scope of the law and very invasive if you ask me. Not Sure why they even want this information it's not part of the law on importing the items. What I really can't seem to get across to them is that the items are legal to import and the argument they keep making is. It isn't a legal item then I need a valid reason to own it. They never have once refuted my evidence but only my reason for owning. These are two separate things as the law clearly states the exceptions and also there is no restriction on possession and ownership. I feel ....bullied

Update for everyone. Finally received a reply from borderforce on request for restoration of the items which has been declined. they stated that a private collection or collecting of swords is not a valid defence for importing swords based on Home Office policy..... Guess i'll email Igor or someone to write a letter confirming I am a member of To-Ken ? then appeal

Managed to speak to a borderforce offficer on the phone today who confirmed that after one seizure of items then items after that point will be under more scrutiny from border force and most likely will be stopped. so the black list idea is the case. wasn't a stretch of the imagination as I imagined that would be the issue No resolution as the guy on the phone has no power to do anything and since their phone line is only open for 1 hour a day just was told to wait for replies to the communication. The guy did say that he felt the system was broken and could be solved by a permit system. The second set of items were bought from a Japanese and korean art auction, I've sent a communication about it and will await and see. well stiff upper lip and we will see what happens!

Well I've Imported parcels with multiple blades in before, sometimes 3 or 4. I tend to get multiple as it's more cost effective in shipping. No issues until this happened. In fact many of my packages before have been Opened by borderforce and released. I know this because the packaging is opened and re sealed with borderforce packing tape. Ups didn't contact me this time. They have done before. But not always. Ups usually sails through. This time though it got seized instantly the minute it hit the UK. Was potentially unwise to import another package since the first issue was not resolved but since I'm not doing anything wrong and it is legal then it shouldn't have mattered. I also don't want to put my life on hold for a year while I await a court date. Sadly though the situation is a bit too much and I will have to now. The cost difference in the UK market compared to the USA is large. -- I went all-in this time with the description of the items. I included signature in Japanese and a translation into english. I included age. I included original invoice. A supplementary document that had the measurements of the blade and a description of each one. I included use case as a collector. I included my to-ken membership. They are all traditionally made blades of course. I have the correct tarrif codes. I included vat code I included a description of the tarrif code I was using. I chose ups because they have their own clearing even though it cost me £500 to ship and insure with them. Hopefully to avoid issues. Here we are though. I'm wondering even after this is dealt with by the court if I will have to repeat this process in the future over and over

Different Carrier, UPS and USA

Yes I'm really unsure what has gone wrong in this whole process and thought it was a one time stupid mistake on the part of border force. It seems to not be an isolated case so I'm unsure what has happened as i have imported many times before. I must be on some kind of blanket black list now...

Update for everyone. Well I tried to contact border force and resolve the issue outside of the court but that has been to no avail even with a ton of documentation and evidence they have not replied. Unfortunately I have had a second package seized with 4 items in, 3 traditional old blades and one mantetsu. Due to this I will most likely be stopping collecting in the manner I have been and only purchase from the UK. the total value of my seized packages now amounts to $10k I must be on some kind of list because I made sure everything was absolutely perfect with this one. I'm not really sure what else to say except I will update on the outcome of Both cases as I will also be pursuing this one too. Best of luck collecting everyone, I will still be lurking around but wont have anything new to show until the outcome of these cases as I wont be buying anything more for now.

There's a couple shown briefly in "empire of the sun" I don't have a screen capture though I just remember seeing them

Aha! Thank you for the link. This is the exact sword in question!

The blade is in rather poor condition but here are a few close ups