THE SAMURAI SWORD GUIDE Learn what to look for when planning to buy www.samurai-sword-shop.com JAPANESE SWORD BUYING GUIDE With the inception of the powerful and highly modernized internet, searching for and buying hard‐to‐find gadgets, gizmos and watchamacallits have never been easier than it was 10 years ago. And this includes finding a good katana. If one wants to buy a katana way back in the good ‘ol days, he had to go out and look for a brick and mortar store where some actual katana swords were being sold. But sometimes, after having traveled quite a distance, the store owner would tell you that they don’t have any katana in stock! What a big disappointment! All of these have changed though with the birth of the World Wide Web. Now you can find ten or more different katanas with just a few clicks and in just a fraction of time. You can quickly compare katanas that range from as low as 100 euro up to a few thousand euro while a real nihonto would probably cost around 10.000 , 20.000 and up to +100.000 euro and more. Well, don’t be shocked! Even a simple antique tsuba can actually cost much more than a regular sword! Nevertheless, the emergence of modern technology cannot quite replace the actual buying process that we have been earlier exposed to – one that allows us to examine closely and even touch and smell the product before we decide if it’s worthy of our penny. Copyright © 2010 www.samurai-sword-shop.com 1 It’s really hard to tell if the katana on your computer screen is worth the price and if it’s really what you are looking for. It’s like being outside of a shop where you can look at all the displays behind the glass and admire them from a distance – but that’s all you can ever do, I’m afraid. You can keep looking at that sword for as long as you like but you won’t get any other detail in the process. But don’t despair! There are indeed ways to ensure that you have made a wise decision in purchasing online items. I have come up here with a guide which I’m sure would help you out in your journey and would give you a better idea of what you may be searching for in the web. Hope you’ll find it useful! Dave Copyright © 2010 www.samurai-sword-shop.com 2 CONTENTS Introduction • Let Me Check My Wallet! • Why Do I Want / Need A Katana ? What do I need ? • I’m a Sword Collector • I’m a Martial Artist I need an Iaito I need a katana for kata and occasional Tameshigiri I’m doing a lot of Tameshigiri (Cutting Exercises) • I want to practice at home • I’m new to this… just like to own a katana! What is important ? • What should I look for when buying a katana? • The steel that has been used. • Differentially or Through Hardened Blades • What’s up with the polish ? • The fittings & other parts of a katana Copyright © 2010 www.samurai-sword-shop.com 3 Let Me Check My Wallet! If you only have $20 in your wallet, then you would surely not go to a high class restaurant but instead you would run into the nearest McDonald’s to satisfy your gastronomical urgings, right? Well same goes true for online shopping…. your choices will always depend on how much money you have in your pocket as one cannot spend much more than what one has. So don’t get crazy trying to buy a katana that costs far beyond what you can afford. There are perhaps much more important things that you need to spend on rather than splurge your bucks on something as ‘trivial’ as a katana. A real Japanese Nihonto and some really good custom made swords will cost you some few thousand dollars. Although occasionally you may find some great bargains like a few antique pieces and/or custom katanas that sell for just $3000 ‐ $4000. However, if you only have a few hundred dollars (which is most often the case ☺) or probably just a thousand bones to Don’t get spare, then what you should be eyeing out are those Chinese crazy trying to made katanas. 99% of the production katanas these days are buy a katana actually being made in China. that costs far Believe it or not, there are some really good and amazing pieces of katanas that are being produced over in China. But beyond what we’ll get to that later… you can afford. Meanwhile, you should also be aware that some Japanese sword companies just buy their products (or sword parts) in China, label them with “Original‐Made in Japan,” or something to that effect, and then raise the price according to the Copyright © 2010 www.samurai-sword-shop.com 4 prevailing Japanese sword rates. If not, you might just end up spending a lot more than what you should have for some production katanas that were made to look like the original Japanese katanas. Why Do I Want / Need A Katana ? This is actually the very first question you should be asking yourself before going out there to buy a katana. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, then you need to find out what your personal motives are for needing/ wanting to have a katana. Are you a sword collector who would like to add some really fine pieces of swords in your collection (definitely not the cheap wall hanger type of sword) without having to spend your hard‐earned cash for some expensive swords that cost like a real Japanese nihonto? Or maybe you are one of those martial artists who are looking to buy their very first (or probably their second ☺) katana to be used during training sessions at your dojo. If so, then you have the choice between an Iaito (blunted and lighter) katana and a real shinken which can definitely hurt you if you are doing the wrong motions or you’re not concentrating at all. Then finally there is this possibility that you have just recently watched Tom Cruise in “The Last Samurai” or maybe even “Kill Never, ever Bill” and suddenly you just cracked up and thought of getting forget that you your very own Samurai sword in case you might need it (for protection in case the enemy arrives :D) or to put on your are still table and use it for some occasional cutting every now and planning to then. buy a weapon ! Copyright © 2010 www.samurai-sword-shop.com 5 I’m a Sword Collector If you are a sword collector, then you most probably want to consider how close to the original katana you would like your sword to be. The price of a katana is predominantly based on the type of steel, the quality of fittings, and the polishing process used. I will share with you later some useful information about steel and polish so just keep on reading. If you like a sword that resembles closely a real Japanese Nihonto, then you must go for a Tamahagane steel (Jewel Steel in English, or Yu Steel in China) blade with a traditional stone polish. Although there are some swords that come really close to the lower priced Nihonto, none of these can be compared to the €15,000 Nihonto made by a famous Japanese sword smith. The sword’s weight and balance will probably not matter that much if you are a sword collector since you most likely won’t use it anyway. You probably don’t want to go for any piece in the raptor serie since that is more the functional stuff made for practitioners and doesn’t feature the traditional clay process to harden the blade and so they don’t have a hamon line (which most of the collectors highly appreciate). Same goes for the Iaito Serie, these swords don’t even have a real steel blade and the hamon is sandblasted so you can skip those one’s too. Copyright © 2010 www.samurai-sword-shop.com 6 All of the swords in the Practical serie of Paul Chen are ok to start with but the ‘just ok’ fittings, the standard polish and the ‘yokote‐less’ blades are probably not exactly what you might looking for in a collector piece. The swords feaured in the Forged Serie are definitely worth to take a look at. They do have a nice looking blade and hamon. The polish is way better than those in the practical serie and they do have higher quality fittings and an overall finish. The Shinto Katana , Golden Oriole katana, 3 monkey katana and Tea Culture Katana does have a very detailed fuchi, kashira and tsuba. The latter one also feature a katate maki (battle wrap) on the tsuka (handle) and is the only one in that serie you will find it on. All of the above swords does feature one of the better fittings in the whole Paul Chen range. Of course it depends what kind of fittings you particularly like. Some people have an ‘less is more’ attitude while others like to see some spectacular The swords in things. I’m not here to discuss about taste , you’re big enough the forged to figure out yourself :o serie are a The Folded Swords are where most of the collectors like to good place to pass by.