Good morning,
My name is Todd and currently reside in North Texas. I have been a long time unregistered lurker and finally decided to register and participate.
Since my youth I’ve always been fascinated by traditional Japanese weapons. The hook was set when I visited the Kimbell Museum in Fort Worth in 2014 (I think that was the year) and viewed the Gabriel
Barbier-Mueller collection. The amount of craftsmanship on display stunned me.
Since then, I have visited Japan several times for work and always try and hit a museum or the Imperial Palace.
I am educating myself on the subject now as I would like to make an informed purchase in the future.
I have only one katana that I purchased used. It was forged by a Michael Bell, and I purchased it used from a dealer.
I used the knowledge I gained here to address some of my concerns on condition and was able to strike a more than fair deal. I figured I would use this katana to learn how to handle safely and with proper etiquette so when the time comes to get a traditional one, I would reduce my chances of making any mistakes. Plus it doesn’t hurt to have one of the American pioneers in traditional Japanese sword making to start your collection.
The primary purpose for me to acquire a traditional Japanese forged and polished nohinto would be for appreciation, educating myself, display, and one day passing to a niece or nephew that showed an interest.
I will say as a new member that some of the terminology and depth of information is a bit intimidating. I do find it refreshing that there are many here that willing give their time to help people such as myself.
I also tend to ramble so I’ll cut it here!
Thank you,
Todd