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Wtb: Cheap Katana


XavY

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Hello everybody,

 

I'd like to invest about $500 (or less) on a real antique katana.

The blade may have reached its end of life, be out of polish, and even have fatal flows. Origin and period do not matter, but I'd really like a katana, and price is my first criterion. If I could have a shirasaya with it, that would be a big plus. I know that at such a price I can only get some junk, or hardly better, but that's I want to start with.

I'd enjoy this blade to learn how to handle and take care of a Nihonto according to etiquette - I don't want to impair a good blade the day I'll be able to collect one.

 

Any advice? Thanks by advance :)

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Xavier,

it might be difficult to find a blade at this price that will be a pleasure to look at. As you say, 'junk or hardly better' is perhaps nothing you can learn a lot from.

My advice: invest some of the money in good books now, and in the years to come put some money aside for a better blade, possibly in polish, so you can see what you have.  

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Jean couldn't have said it better, good advice. $500 will most likely get you a Nihonto Ogre and $500 is a lot to pay for learning nihonto etiquette. Double that budget down the line and an entry level Wakizashi could be an option. But either way if its something you are serious about getting into then books will be a must at some point and the best time to invest is now. Good luck with the journey.

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For around 850 Dollar you got a o-wakizashi. Here in the board sometimes are very good "cheap" offers of good looking swords. I bought from Ray some years ago a 59 cm Tomoshige signed Wakizashi in very good polish for around 800 Dollars and i complete it with a Koshirae. A friend of mine is now the proud owner of it for under 1000 EUR.

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  • 1 month later...

Hello,

 

sorry for not having replied any sooner - I did not receive any notification concerning this thread :(. There must be something in the forum settings I did not configure well, who knows.

 

Anyway, thank you everyone for your advice here, and thank you everyone who PMed me :)

 

Just a word: I should have mentioned first that I've read >100 times "buy books before swords" on this forum and somewhere else, which is excellent advice I followed to the letter. Now I've got quite a decent library!  I've also read somewhere that Jean said "BE ADULT !" and I think I am, I know what I do, please understand this and also that after studying the books, buying a sword is probably the next step to do.

 

Maybe I should spare $1000 to get a better sword. But the same is true for $2000 swords, and so on. As I said, it doesn't have to be an objet d'art; just a very low-end Nihonto, because I've a very precise design for it, and as I said, it's not really Nihonto studying, whence the very tight budget. Please also don't show me waks when I said I'd just like a katana. The one Brian posted could suit me, but I'm reluctant to buying a blade with gunto mountings -- please don't ask me why.

 

Anyway, I could find something that roughly fits my budget and I'm happy with it. Thank you again for your help, it was a pleasure reading you :)

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I took a quick look around the usual places. This seller usually has things that sell for under $1000.00 although the quality isn't there.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/LONG-WAKIZASHI-sword-w-White-Sheath-EDO-35-4-23-1-890g/292473157237?hash=item4418c23675:g:Nd8AAOSwdXtankQc

It is a Wak, but it could be an option.

 

Hope it helps.

 

Matt

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I could find something that roughly fits my budget and I'm happy with it.

So I won't buy him a sword now, but I may find your link useful for a later opportunity, just in case. Thanks. :)

 

PS : could fix my forum settings, so now I do have notifications upon replies in "my" threads :)

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Hello everybody,

 

I'd like to invest about $500 (or less) on a real antique katana.

The blade may have reached its end of life, be out of polish, and even have fatal flows. Origin and period do not matter, but I'd really like a katana, and price is my first criterion. If I could have a shirasaya with it, that would be a big plus. I know that at such a price I can only get some junk, or hardly better, but that's I want to start with.

I'd enjoy this blade to learn how to handle and take care of a Nihonto according to etiquette - I don't want to impair a good blade the day I'll be able to collect one.

 

Any advice? Thanks by advance :)

Old Albert Yamanaka saying "Bad swords ruin your eyes"...

 

BaZZa.

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I guess I couldn't explain well why I wanted such a bad sword, and I'm still unable to do so. Nevermind, please don't try to understand my reasons, just forget about it.

This was not to ruin or train my eyes anyway. For this, I still plan to buy a decent sword, or even better ... later. Meanwhile, I keep studying, the way is long but really rewarding. 

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