Issues with Giheiya

[jdawg221]

Hi! I recently bought 2 swords from giheiya: first I purchased over 2 months ago, 2nd I purchased over a month ago. When purchasing the second sword, Imazu-san notified me that the first sword had it's export permit approved and was ready to ship out. However, he notified me that he would be shipping the second sword with it. I asked him if he could just ship the first sword separately and that I would be happy to pay extra for shipping on the second sword, but received no response from him. Fast forward a few weeks; I reach out to him asking for an update on my swords. He views the message and does not respond. Fast forward again to this past sunday, where I send him a second message asking for updates on the sword, to which once again he views the message and does not respond. I also made sure to send him an email with the same message in case he does not check facebook that often(Messages mentioned were done in messenger, hence how I knew that he viewed them). I am rather patient when it comes to buying a sword from Japan and waiting for it to ship, however the lack of communication from him unnerves me, as every other Japanese seller I have bought from has responded to messages withing a few days of me sending them. Here is a picture of the messages sent after the purchase of the second sword. 

[tokashikibob]

   This is why I rather fly to a sword show in the good ole U.S. of A

[PNSSHOGUN]

Unfortunately this is common for Japanese dealers who don't have good English reps. Basically if there is nothing to update the buyer about (export papers - out of the dealers control) then there's no reason to message. You will find similar experiences with other Japanese dealers, it's frustrating but not likely malicious. 

[jdawg221]

2 hours ago, PNSSHOGUN said:

Unfortunately this is common for Japanese dealers who don't have good English reps. Basically if there is nothing to update the buyer about (export papers - out of the dealers control) then there's no reason to message. You will find similar experiences with other Japanese dealers, it's frustrating but not likely malicious. 

I see. I have experience with maeda and aoi, neither of which have this issue, although perhaps that has more to do with higher english proficiency. 

[Lewis B]

With the availability of great translation apps, why not send messages in Japanese? I feel this often gets a better response, unless the dealer has demonstrated a proficiency with English eg AOI, Shoubudou and Choshuya

[lonely panet]

i waited 6 months for a wakizashi once,  so it happens.

Edited March 6 by lonely panet

[eternal_newbie]

On 3/5/2026 at 9:03 AM, PNSSHOGUN said:

Basically if there is nothing to update the buyer about (export papers - out of the dealers control) then there's no reason to message.

 

This is my experience as well, including with Giheiya. If there's nothing new to say - they won't say anything.

[jdawg221]

Thought I would update this thread. Imazu responded and it seems the lack of communication was as others in this thread stated, issues with shipping related to ocs that he just figured out. He informed me that my swords should be out around wednesday this week. 

[Sansei]

Regarding a potential language barrier, this should not be a concern due to the improving sophistication of translation software on both ends. I send in English they send in Japanese. Google Translate does an okay job on my end (it’s free) and their end software is probably more sophisticated and accurate.