Paz

Tony Did you provide them documentation ie they sent you the c160 form , or prove its antique. I know anything that isn't handmade is seen as suspicious. Your problem seems the paperwork by seller. While mine seems to be human error by customs , I absolutely belive they have new people working their.

Brian that seems likely what may have happened. Either way it's incorrect and I can't belive how dull you have to be to ignore my evidence of amount paid in gbp. I thought they would do the currency homework, plus the PayPal shows currency aswell.

@GakuseeMichael I emaild them the currency telling them i paid in gbp. I'm beginning to laugh at it now. I will get my money back even if I pay the amount. I beleive its a currency thing as the hmrc said Update I called parcelforce politely. And a lady has agreed to send an email from her behalf to customs border force. And I've explained that it looks like a currency issue. Telling her I paid 3,112.23 gbp sterling, as on the PayPal screenshot and invoice from aoi shows yen. Also commodity code 9706.00.00.00 , as I may not even need to pay according to hrmc person as its more than 250 years old. 3 people from parcelforce and one from hmrc both agree this looks like an error. I will hopefully be an export expert after this.

Urgent help required. I called parcelforce as my item had been cleared My sword has been cleared from customs. But with a 4,000. 00 VAT charge , yes you read that correct 4k. It cost me 3,112.23 I'm astonished. I sent all paperwork with How much I paid , invoice and PayPal screenshot. I called hmrc who said that doesant sound right but then told me to tell parcelforce to do something on their end. I call parcelforce again, and the guy tells me to email PFW-ccb and try to get them to look at. There has been a big mistake The choice I have is to pay 4k and raise a form to get the money back or let the parcel go back to Japan and get a refund off of Aoi art. I'm at wits end. Any advice please . I've now emailed pfw ccb with my complaint. Please note that i have not yet received the letter. Regards

How lucky Jon. So how long did it take aftet they stopped asking for paperwork ? Ie processing through customs clearance. My final email was a pasted description of mino sword lineage from aoi art. Which they then said we will clear it for you soon. If they weren't satisfied with my info would they charge me full 20 percent Vat ? As i gather this is all to do with how much to charge VAT. What a fiasco

I would like to update this post so that it helps the original poster and anyone else who is considering or in the midst of importation. I have had PM from people asking me about the process, as well as I have had a few PM exchanges with more experienced members of the community. As we all are here to help each other. I would like to thank the members I have had these PM with. So my sword arrived in the UK from Aoi art last week on Tuesday. I gave aoi the instruction to write " over 100 years old antique " 9706.00.00.00 custom tariff. I beleived this would do the trick. However customs clearance then sent me a c160 form, which arrived this Monday, asking me for an invoice evidence and proof of payment. I completed the form, and attached evidence such as PayPal screenshot of the amount I paid, invoice from aoi, and a copy of my membership card of the Token society. I then received an email response 3 days later, asking for more information regarding the date of manufacture, as they could not accept "antique over 100 years old". Upon which I then replied with the sellers description of the swordsmith school and lineage ( 1552-1578) late muromachi period. Later they replied to tell me that my paperwork and item was now in process of going through customs clearance. Which I gather will take another couple of days. ( as they are busy). As a first timer, yes it was stressful. Never looked so forward to receiving a charge letter. For anyone else, please take head of advice from the more experienced members. And do provide more information on invoices. I was under the impression that AOi would do this, but it seems that they only write what you tell them. Next time, I will state date, how much I paid in gbp ect. Hope this helps. I will update once I hear more news.

I'm sure with the climate we have in Britain, that we can use displays similar to Brian's. Including led lights. Im sure I can find a suitable glass cabinet with lights somewhere 🤔

It is indeed first time Mark. I have imported iaito before where I had to prove docs to ups. But as this is for more expensive and real, its kept me on edge. Just very anxious. Im to a point where I want to pay the tax and pick it up from local depot.

Well Mark they seem to have passed the paperwork forward. Just waiting for the release. I beleive they don't trust the sellers declaration on the front , and would rather rather buyer provide the invoice and proof of how much they paid.

Hi John. I will give them a bell. But I've received a message from parcelforce telling me that they are forwarding my paperwork to clearance, and the sword will be cleared soon. So what I wrote to them seems to have worked. Wel wait and see. It seems that this is happening more often in the UK. Regards

Hi John I copied and pasted Aoi art description to me, they emailed me you see. You usually can't access the sales page after it's been brought. But I could forward them the email attachments to me. All there doing is deciding weather to wck me with high or low VAT, before they release the sword. Regards

Thanks @Ray Singerat least the hozon paper is correct. I could tell them to open the Box and find these papers to confirm it. What a hassle. Regards Paz

Hi all can someone please translate the below. Im also trying to translate these using a English translator. It's a backup incase it is required by customs who want an approximate or exact date of manufacture. Thanks

The part about listening. How I wish that was true. I don't think you should be Calling us childish , when your the one planning on playing samurai. You might aswell buy the whole armour and go the full extent.

Sorry, I think you have misread my post. I said cutting and practicing tameishigiri with an antique sword. Not kata.

The op made a thread a while ago proposing doing the same thing. This is just a part 2. I beleive it is trolling in a sense. As the first thread should of really given him the gist that people on here are not impressed with his proposal. However he has made a second thread with the same question, asking our opinions. Now. Why would you go onto a nihonto forum and ask this question when 99 percent of people here have never cutt or practiced tameishigiri with a antique blade ? What reccomendation would he get. This is a question that should be asked on sbg forums. And sbg would most likely reccomend him a hanwei or bugei. My own sensei trained iaido with a modern nihonto, but the point was it wasn't an expensive (5k plus ) antique. It was a modern nihonto for iai. Now there's nothing wrong with that, if your a very rich novice who wants to do backyard cutting without training. But when we're talking about 100 years plus works of art......you get it. But there are plenty of high quality blades made from hanwei and bugei that will give you that satisfaction. I myself was once a backyard cutter with cheap Chinese replicas. As soon as I purchased my first expensive sword around 800 dollars. I cutt once, and couldn't bear to see it damaged. So I stopped.

But the thing is your not practicing kata ? As you don't yet unfortunately have a iaido dojo. Your mimicking what you perceive to be kata, but in reality is not how the blade is or was handled. Which is a more injustice to yourself. In this scenario buy a Japanese made iaito. I just hope your not going to do any iaido sword drawing with a live blade. At least have that caution. A modern blade is more forgiving aswell. But what I'm afraid your entertaining Barrett are pure fantasies. Regards

Totally agree with nihonto collector. There are groups of people who like to play samurai in their backyards. Most people are influenced by media they see , and not by any proper tradition or actual historical background. They think they can use a blade and gain some satisfaction from cutting up bottles ect. To test a modern sword that is fine. Safety be on their heads. But I think it's arrogance and signs of narcissism to ignore advice and purposely provoke people who you know are against cutting fruit with a nihonto. But Barrett should at least understand that this hobby will get boring very quickly. As its empty and not so gratifying

You are a beginner in "JSA " martial arts which involves tameishigiri. Sorry to say. You are a beginner in Japanese swordsmanship. European sword arts is not the same. I cannot understand why you would want to cutt with a nihonto. In nearly ten years of budo I've never ever come across even the most novice anime type enthusiast who dreamt cutting with an antique blade over thousand dollars. We live in a world where we are soo lucky to have quality cutting tools like modern production blades. Even sensei james Williams who does alot of tameishigiri uses a modern blade such as a bugei or hanwei . I've never seen him cutt with expensive nihonto. Sensei tamesubro also cuts with a tori xl from hanwei. These swords are made for dojo cutting. Yes nihontos are used in dojos in Japan under the guidance of very experienced teachers. Let me break it to you as a martial artist. Cutting with a nihonto in your backyard will give you no satisfaction what so ever. It will not give you any feel or idea of being "samurai". You will not appreciate any of it. But you have money to burn go ahead. I find you very disrespectful to our art and the art of preservation. Sorry for the rant.

Thanks all. I'm looking at getting art of the Japanese sword , kubos translation with Paul martin.

Thank you Tony. I track it and call parcelforce as soon as it arrives in the UK. And its cleared by customs.

Thanks Geraint Unfortunately the book by Nagayama is out of print, and very expensive at the moment. The books I have read are, John Yumotos samurai sword And the ones I mentioned. So yes I'm happy for suggestions.

Hi all. I finished reading clive sinclair great book samurai swords. Ive also got paul Martins Japanese sword. My question is how good is Mr sesskos book, and does it add further knowledge to what I may have already read in clive and Paul's book. Thanks

Hi Tony. I've done the same but it's with EMS from Japan. Quoted 9706.00.00.00 over 100 years old. And yes it's parcelforce in the uk who then ask for payment. But the antique and custom tariff should only charge me 5 percent (if they what there doing). I don't think a sword from Japan would be held up In Japan due to the export tariff papers. But how long do you usually wait for parcelforce to send you the charge letter once it arrives In the UK ? Thanks

Hi Charles yes. I've heard about FedEx and their problems in general with swords. The UK uses EMS to parcelforce, which is their UK delivery service.