The Arts And Arms Of The Samurai - 2017 Minneapolis Japanese Sword Show

[lklahn]

"The Arts and Arms of the Samurai”
Minneapolis, MN Japanese Sword Show 
November 3, 4 and 5th 2017.
The event will be held at the Crown Plaza Hotel and Suites Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport - Mall of America, 3 Appletree Square (I - 494 & 34th Avenue South) Bloomington, MN 55425
Main Hotel Number in Minneapolis: 1-952-854-9000 Toll Free: 1-800-227-6963
There is a 5000 sq foot sales room where national and international vendors will be selling swords, fittings, armor, Japanese antiques, calligraphy, books, and like items. below. There are 90 - 6 foot sales tables available. 
See link at bottom of ad for reservations, set up and show times etc.
General Public : Bring in your Japanese, German & US items to sell or for a free appraised.
General Admission: Admission to the sales room is $10.00 per day. 3 day pass is $25.00 
Hotel Info: Reservations: (1-952-854-9000) Toll Free: 1-800-227-6963. When calling in use group code - TAA -The Arts and Arms of the Samurai is the group name. 
For Further Information and table reservations/details contact:
Larry Klahn, (lklahn@aol.com) 123 6th St. South, La Crosse, WI 54601 PH:(608-784-9900) or online at: http://www.threeriversmartialarts.com/…/2017-minneapolis-s…/

[Grey Doffin]

Hi guys,

As I'm driving to this show I can take with me any of the books from my site.  If you'll be at the show and there is one you'd like to see, even if you don't plan to buy it, I can lug it along.  Contact me by email through the site:  grey at japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com

Grey

[b.hennick]

If you attended this show can you please give a report on the show? I'm surprised that there have been zero posts on the show.

[Grey Doffin]

Glad to Barry and sorry for having dropped the ball.

The show was sparsely attended with maybe 20 dealers set up (I heard, don't know if this is true, that there were about 10 no-show dealers).  There never was much of a crowd in the room but I managed to do quite well with business (way more than paid for the weekend).  I had about 10 or 15 attendees for my care & etiquette talk, which is a good turnout.  Later Saturday there were talks by Markus Sesko and Chris Bowen, put on by the local sword club, which I was unable to attend due to doing quite well with business (I heard good things about the talks) and a demonstration of Kudo (archery).  Sunday at noon was the drawing for a raffle of a suit of armor, donated to support the local club by Sword Guy Joe, and won by a couple of handsome dudes who plan to take turns wearing it at shows.

I had a great time and will be back if there's another next year (Larry Klahn told me the show dates were supposed to have been mid October but the hotel double booked his weekend; maybe better timing next year).  By the way, Larry and crew did a wonderful job of running the show.

Grey

[b.hennick]

Thanks Grey!

[Wayben]

As Grey mentioned the show was rather sparsely attended, but it seemed that everyone was having a good time. I attended the talks on Saturday by Markus on "The impact of Shinshinto and Bakumatsu eras on Meiji Swordsmiths" and Chris on "The Kato Smiths of Meguro, Tokyo". Both were interesting and well done. Chris included several blades on display for the attendees to view.

 

Overall, I came home with less cash and more metal and reference material, so it was a good weekend!!