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Post by Vincent Dolan on Oct 4, 2010 12:35:43 GMT
So aside from the Munetoshi Yuki, the Kris Cutlery Korean Sword, and the ridiculously expensive MAS Samgakdos, as well as the moderately expensive Hanwei Korean Cloud Sword, there appear to be no Korean swords on the market or am I just really good at not finding them?
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Marc Kaden Ridgeway
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Awful lot of leaving and joining going on here for me .... And gosh I can't recall doing a bit of i
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Post by Marc Kaden Ridgeway on Oct 4, 2010 12:52:17 GMT
I believe there are some Kensei prototypes... PM me if you want more info....
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Post by ineffableone on Oct 5, 2010 8:16:13 GMT
I know I have seen Korean blades on quite a few sites selling Japanese and Chinese swords. I don't think I ever checked them out though so could not say if they were just the usual suspects or different. I did look through a few of my bookmarked sites and didn't find any Korean blades, sorry.
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Post by Hyoujinsama on Oct 5, 2010 9:45:47 GMT
Are you looking for Korean mat cutters, or traditional Korean swords?
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Oct 5, 2010 9:54:39 GMT
Mat cutters, preferably, as I think a traditional Korean sword would be incredibly expensive and I wouldn't want to risk harming the blade with a flubbed cut.
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Post by nihontoman on Oct 5, 2010 18:18:40 GMT
you could ask huawei.... maybe they can make it?
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Post by Pogo4321 on Oct 7, 2010 2:28:04 GMT
So, exactly what are the features of a Korean sword? Some called such are straight, while others have at least a bit of a curve. Some have katana-like handle wraps others have a single type of material fully wrapping the handle. All seem to be DH.
How we define Korean sword? I'm sure there are many varieties as well.
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Oct 7, 2010 2:34:42 GMT
True. However, the defining characteristic in Korean swords is the hira-zukuri profile (I'm not sure of the Korean term) which is rarely seen on anything longer on a wakizashi in Japan, yet is, to my knowledge, found on every Korean sword.
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Post by Pogo4321 on Oct 7, 2010 4:20:31 GMT
Ah. Thanks for that. I hadn't realized there was a single geometry for these swords.
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Post by Hyoujinsama on Oct 7, 2010 4:40:10 GMT
This link has some interesting examples of Korean weapons. They used to have a handful of obviously Japanese blades on there (such as a Rai school blade because some say Rai Kuniyuki was Korean) and a very kamakura period naginata blade, but they seem to have removed a good many of them and replaced them with other blades. www.swordsofkorea.com/swords.htm
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LiamBoyle
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Post by LiamBoyle on Oct 7, 2010 9:32:01 GMT
The problem with defining what constitutes a truly Korean sword is that Korean weapons were influenced heavily by the swords of both China and Japan. Some of the Ingeom/Ingum swords can easily by mistaken for Chinese Gim/Jian. Many of the Jin-geom/jingum swords are almost identical the Japanese swords of the same periods. Straight bladed Jingum swords could almost be considered Chinese Dao with Japanese handles and fittings. All three cultures China, Japan, and Korea used differential hardening which dates back to China's Han dynasty. All these factors combined seem to be what makes it hard to define any particular blades as exclusively Korean.
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Post by Johan on Oct 21, 2010 14:12:53 GMT
I dont think it has good evidence to say Rai Kuniyuki was a korean, although in the early history of Japanese sword making, they did "imported" Korean and Chinese swordsmiths, and they were"naturalized" to be Japanese citizens. But I like the way Koreans took their path when it comes to swords though, it is like in "in-between" Chinese and Japanese influences. Early Koreans blade especially those before the Joseon Period, were almost identical to Chinese counterparts. While in Joseon period, when it comes to Gum or Jian , they still kept the Song period Pommel and retained the outward appearance despite while in China , by Qing period , the Jians are simply moving away from Song and Ming influences.
However, the koreans "apparently" followed the Chinese way of making Jians as decorative weapons , for example the Sainggeom are meant for religious and ritual purposes. Like the Chinese side, by Joseon Dynasty , the swords are increasingly becoming more sabre like, single edge sword be it Hwando ( Single hand ), Unggeom ( Double handed katana like sabre, Hanwei Korean Cloud is an unggeom actually ) and Yedo ( one half hand , Ko-katana like sabre ), plus a myriad of others single edge korean version of Jangdo ( Zhangdao ), Woldo ( Guandao ) and Je Dok Gum ( Single edge sabre , purportedly originated from the Ming General Li Rusong, during the Japanese invasion of Korea Imjin waeran 1592-1598. AND the Koreans did indeed place some of sort of "importance" on Japanese Katana ( Wae Gum) and its certain specific skills from certain Japanese kenjutsu schools as illustrated in the Muyedobo Tongji book ( The Complete Illustrative manual of martial arts ).
I have to agree that for Korean swords, it is very hard to put "specific" finger as "truly korean" despite claimed made by Korean sympathizers. Again, for me this is not a negative issue, no nation can exist unto its own , without learning from or borrowing from other culture.
As for Korean swords, can try checking on this info page :http://gregorybrundage.tripod.com/koreanswords/koreanswordmanufacturers
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Post by Johan on Oct 21, 2010 14:23:32 GMT
Hira Zukuri is similar to samgakdo, however when I said this, I took the risk of getting " fire" from certain people. Samgakdo in itself is three sided sword, in fact Hira-zukuri is "almost" identical. I used the word almost just to be on safe side... he he.... he.... Samgakdo is popularized due to Haidong Gumdo practises of cutting quick cuts on tatami mat or Jipdan, which left the top part still standing and fall to the ground when the second cut was made. Samgakdo is also used to practise cutting papers without "tearing" the paper into pieces, it has a clean cut. It looks easy, but not that easy, it takes practise. I practised HDGD myself, but to be honest, I dont why I never really taken into "samgakdo", dont get me wrong , made by good hands , it is a good sword to serve its purposes. I just dont know why, I havent got bitten by the bug of samgakdo. :roll: However , I love the Jingum and the unggeom :lol:
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Post by Johan on Oct 21, 2010 14:25:48 GMT
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Post by Johan on Oct 21, 2010 14:26:15 GMT
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2010 18:25:58 GMT
I would not consider most modern Korean swords to be in the samgakdo geomotry, most have the same profile as a katana, though sometimes thinner. I think most of us are used to tacking on one type of sword to each country, this is obviously because of the katana being THE Japanese sword. I think if we look through history globally, japan has been the one of the only countries that have made a single style of sword so prominent that we can call it THE Japanese sword. Asking what a Korean sword looks like is like asking what a Chinese sword looks like, there's so much variation, it really comes down to the popularity of a single style in different periods. Still though, many Korean swordsmen used a variety of different style blades, it was very personalized. And although they had both Chinese and Japanese influence, does not mean they had none of their own originality and input. Korea has been making swords for a very long time. Here's a great example of a semi historically accurate Korean sword that could be distictly called Korean in design. www.swordnarmory.com/Limited-Edi ... -182-0.htm This being a replica of this: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Three ... swords.jpg
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LiamBoyle
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Post by LiamBoyle on Oct 24, 2010 11:52:54 GMT
Actually the lack of hilt and inclusion of a ring pommel are distinguishing features of a Chinese Han dynasty Dao.
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Post by Johan on Oct 25, 2010 11:35:51 GMT
yeah ! Thats right , I saw those extant examples in the Book By Alex Huang " The Iron and Steel Swords of China ".
Thats why, it is hard to distinguish even further back to the earlier history especially before Joseon era, extant examples are rare and if they do, can almost bet they look like the Chinese counterparts.
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