Where to buy Nihonto?

[ggfh666]

I started saving for a Nihonto. Will take at least a year, but better get started soon:
Are there reliable shops/dealers in Europe?

[tomtom]

Sorry I cant help, but i would be interested to know what a Nionto is? :)

[Danzo]

Sorry I cant help, but i would be interested to know what a Nionto is? :)

http://www.nihonto.com/

;)

Danzo

[Gunscrossed]

Not sure if he is still there but if you're in London try Don Bayney in the basement of Gray's in the Mews antique market, Davies Mews off Davies Street (Oxford Street end, nearest tube Bond St.)

Peter

[sirupate]

Another great place is Aoi Art;

http://www.aoi-art.com/

Cheers Simon

[Rich S]

I've links to about 200 Nihonto sites on my sword links page of my
website at:

http://www.geocities.com/alchemyst/sites2.htm

Rich S

[ggfh666]

Rich,

I know your site is full of info, been there quite often already.But I find it a bit hard to find the dealers on it. I guess they are in the link2 page.
O your popularity has caused an unavailability for the moment...
Simon,

Aoi-art is the site I visit every day. Only a bit sad that they remove things they sell immediately. Like today's katana, it was gone before 9 o'clock this morning.

[sirupate]

I know what you mean, I have bought a couple of swords from them, and the service was excellent, I've got my eye on one there now, but it would cost me my marrriage:lol:

[ggfh666]

Now I know where to find the shops on Rich's site. Even a few in Europe...
Reason I asked for European shops is import taxes. If ordered outside the EU they may add up to 25%. Not that that would keep me from buying in Japan or US if I found what I like and can afford it.

[ggfh666]

For those interested in Swords, German Messermagazin will have a special edition about swords end of april. It will include : Japanese (style) swords from 100 to 10000€ buying advide, tsuka maki how to, most famous movie swords etc. If someones interested I can scan the order form and mail. It will cost about 7.80€

[Rich S]

There are some other sites (non-English) on the Swords sites (Japanese
and other). German, Polish, Estonian, French, etc.

http://www.geocities.com/alchemyst/jsites.htm

You can get to any page from the main index page at:

http://www.geocities.com/alchemyst/nihonto.htm

or the mirror site at

http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/nihonto.htm

Rich S

[Crandart]

Just spotted this thread.
Are you interested in a Shinken (new sword) or an old sword. If your looking for an old sword there is a mass of stuff out there, but be VERY VERY careful. There are a lot of copies out there and some of them are very good. Buy from someone like Aoi, or buy something with papers (expensive). have you tried looking at you local militaria auctions, I've picked up some nice stuff, but you sometimes you have to take a chance with a lump of rust and get it polished.
Be careful not to get sucked it to the alleged superioriy of Koto (pre 1600) blades, there was some real rubbish made pre 1600 and in particular during the Sengoku Jidai, where masses of cheap swords were made and were called bundled swords. Koto swords are often tired(little or no Hamon left) or have flaws in them. A good quality WW2 officers Gunto might be a good starting point for you.
Just be very cautious.

[ggfh666]

Well since I have time all options are still open.
I may consider a shinken, but then I would have to consider if I'm ever(in a distant future) going to use it for iaido and get the correct length (2.55).
Or I could just go for a sword like you would for a painting (only looking). In that case length is no issue. Then there remains the question of shirasaya or koshirae. Shirasaya leaves more money for the blade on it's own, but at the moment I still feel a sword is incomplete without its mountings. Not that it has to be mounted.
If not going for a modern sword there are a lot of remaining questions. Period, style, level of the blade,....
When looking at blades I prefer the late 1800s blades you can see in "Cutting edge, Blades of the BM". The old ones may have more history, but I'm not going to sell my organs to get a good one.
Gunto would only be an option for the mounts, not the blade. If it is a real forged blade in Gunto mounts that would be OK, but I'd rather pass on machine made blades.