YarinoHanzo Nagamaki Review
Jul 31, 2012 15:04:10 GMT
Post by Jussi Ekholm on Jul 31, 2012 15:04:10 GMT
Introduction
Well how many production nagamaki do you see for sale? How many of them are low-priced? I have been looking for an affordable nagamaki for a while now. Then I found out one by YarinoHanzo, heck I threw it in the shopping cart and thought I should calculate shipping for fun. For some weird reason there was a huge discount on the price, and I couldn't resist it...
*Now several factors have risen that greatly had affected to my review. Not knowing these factors caused me to have errors when writing this review. I will now try to correct these facts, and as side by side comparison with my earlier statements you'll see the difference.
Historical overview
Nagamaki is a form of naginata. Naginata and nagamaki have sometimes similar descripitions but personally I tend to think the mountings make the difference. Nagamaki has in my mind shorter shaft and longer blade with straighter shape. Unfortunately the blade on this YarinoHanzo piece is a very large naginata blade, while their type 2 seems to have a nagamaki blade. However I personally liked this type 1 in overall above the type 2. So in conclusion this could be a short shafted large bladed naginata.
*There has been a great miscommunication between the manufacturer and the Chinese forge. The final product differs greatly from the planned weapon, therefore this weapon along with another design will not be continued anymore. The forge made several errors which resulted in completely different product than was planned. The original plan was much closer to "typical" nagamaki.
Full disclosure
Well, it's safe to say my review will be negatively biased as for years I've been focusing mostly on antiques, and this is a low/mid-end production piece. I haven't ever owned a polearm before but I've seen both antiques and higher end production. I've never seen other pictures, than the ones on their website, of YarinoHanzo swords, and I don't know anyone in Finland who would have seen them, some Italian forumites have written few words about them, but that's about the information that's available on them on the Internet.
Initial impressions
YarinoHanzo gave me a very big discount when purchasing, I don't know the reason for that (maybe discount week etc.) but that factor made me place an order. That was major factor on purchasing this nagamaki. The shipping was, well it was hard to negotiate. I've never had a package delivered by that company before, they usually handle bigger shipments for companies. Therefore negotiating a delivery date was a real pain as they couldn't deliver the package after 16.00, and that's when my work ends. Well the only good thing about having a fever and coughing like a maniac is the fact that I was able to get the package delivered to me. However this is not Yarinohanzo's fault, but it left me bit irritated, as the package was in the city already in the last week but I couldn't get it.
*The discount was due to the discontinuation of this product.
Statistics
Nagasa: 65,8cm 2 shaku 1 sun 5 bu
Overall length: cm
Overall length in saya: cm
Motohaba: 3,15cm
Sakihaba: 4,7cm
Motokasane: 8mm
Sakikasane: 8mm
Sori: 2,8cm
Kissaki: -
Nakago: 30cm
Shaft: 113cm
Sugata: Unokubi-zukuri
Mune: Iori
Hamon: Notare (acid etched)
Hada: -
Hi: Naginata-hi
Steel: 1060
Components
The blade was again a disappointment. Super heavy blade that would need much longer nakago and thinner profile. Acid etched hamon and dull blade was not something I was looking for. The transition into unokubi is very subtle and as it's so slight it adds to the weight. Execution of the hi could be better. Nothing really good to say about this.
*The blade was with different specs and shape than it was supposed to be, nakago was much shorter than it was supposed to be, therefore resulting in completely different product than intended. And the blade had to be dull due to Italian law. Therefore my expectations about sharp blade were not realistic.
The saya and the shaft have both fairly nice ishime pattern. Ishizuki and the other metal parts are of ok quality, something that you'd expect in this price range. The shaft is better in overall than the blade. Saya fit leaves much to desire. Tsuba is ok quality, nothing special, just an iron tsuba. Seppa and habaki are ok quality. Unfortunately habaki had a small shim...
*Shaft was made from the wrong material than what was ordered from the forge.
Handling characteristics
Needless to say due to massive blade and short nakago this is super blade heavy. This is not a good thing. The shaft as a whole barely acts as a counterbalance for the blade. I've not practiced any ryu that involves polearms but I can say right off the bat that this is not how they should balance. So another clumsy product by YarinoHanzo...
Conclusion
Well there aren't many production naginata/nagamaki around. So I decided to try my luck with this one. I got 50€ discount, so this was 240€. For the price I'm fairly satisfied with the quality, as you cannot expect wonders with this price and with the reputation that this seller has. For comparison Paul Chen Naginata costs 700€ in Finland so this was only for c.1/3rd of the price. Too bad the blade is again so bad as rest of pieces are fairly nice.
*So as there were several factors that affected the product, my initial opinion is not entirely realistic. The unfortunate miscommunication with forge had happened and reduced this product to ok level. As I sharpened the blade and cut with it the weapon cut very well. The shaft breakage that I described earlier must be partly because the forge used different wood than was ordered for this product (although I blame myself for overly hard cutting). But if this weapon would have come out with the specifications that were intended for it, it would have been good.
Well how many production nagamaki do you see for sale? How many of them are low-priced? I have been looking for an affordable nagamaki for a while now. Then I found out one by YarinoHanzo, heck I threw it in the shopping cart and thought I should calculate shipping for fun. For some weird reason there was a huge discount on the price, and I couldn't resist it...
*Now several factors have risen that greatly had affected to my review. Not knowing these factors caused me to have errors when writing this review. I will now try to correct these facts, and as side by side comparison with my earlier statements you'll see the difference.
Historical overview
Nagamaki is a form of naginata. Naginata and nagamaki have sometimes similar descripitions but personally I tend to think the mountings make the difference. Nagamaki has in my mind shorter shaft and longer blade with straighter shape. Unfortunately the blade on this YarinoHanzo piece is a very large naginata blade, while their type 2 seems to have a nagamaki blade. However I personally liked this type 1 in overall above the type 2. So in conclusion this could be a short shafted large bladed naginata.
*There has been a great miscommunication between the manufacturer and the Chinese forge. The final product differs greatly from the planned weapon, therefore this weapon along with another design will not be continued anymore. The forge made several errors which resulted in completely different product than was planned. The original plan was much closer to "typical" nagamaki.
Full disclosure
Well, it's safe to say my review will be negatively biased as for years I've been focusing mostly on antiques, and this is a low/mid-end production piece. I haven't ever owned a polearm before but I've seen both antiques and higher end production. I've never seen other pictures, than the ones on their website, of YarinoHanzo swords, and I don't know anyone in Finland who would have seen them, some Italian forumites have written few words about them, but that's about the information that's available on them on the Internet.
Initial impressions
YarinoHanzo gave me a very big discount when purchasing, I don't know the reason for that (maybe discount week etc.) but that factor made me place an order. That was major factor on purchasing this nagamaki. The shipping was, well it was hard to negotiate. I've never had a package delivered by that company before, they usually handle bigger shipments for companies. Therefore negotiating a delivery date was a real pain as they couldn't deliver the package after 16.00, and that's when my work ends. Well the only good thing about having a fever and coughing like a maniac is the fact that I was able to get the package delivered to me. However this is not Yarinohanzo's fault, but it left me bit irritated, as the package was in the city already in the last week but I couldn't get it.
*The discount was due to the discontinuation of this product.
Statistics
Nagasa: 65,8cm 2 shaku 1 sun 5 bu
Overall length: cm
Overall length in saya: cm
Motohaba: 3,15cm
Sakihaba: 4,7cm
Motokasane: 8mm
Sakikasane: 8mm
Sori: 2,8cm
Kissaki: -
Nakago: 30cm
Shaft: 113cm
Sugata: Unokubi-zukuri
Mune: Iori
Hamon: Notare (acid etched)
Hada: -
Hi: Naginata-hi
Steel: 1060
Components
The blade was again a disappointment. Super heavy blade that would need much longer nakago and thinner profile. Acid etched hamon and dull blade was not something I was looking for. The transition into unokubi is very subtle and as it's so slight it adds to the weight. Execution of the hi could be better. Nothing really good to say about this.
*The blade was with different specs and shape than it was supposed to be, nakago was much shorter than it was supposed to be, therefore resulting in completely different product than intended. And the blade had to be dull due to Italian law. Therefore my expectations about sharp blade were not realistic.
The saya and the shaft have both fairly nice ishime pattern. Ishizuki and the other metal parts are of ok quality, something that you'd expect in this price range. The shaft is better in overall than the blade. Saya fit leaves much to desire. Tsuba is ok quality, nothing special, just an iron tsuba. Seppa and habaki are ok quality. Unfortunately habaki had a small shim...
*Shaft was made from the wrong material than what was ordered from the forge.
Handling characteristics
Needless to say due to massive blade and short nakago this is super blade heavy. This is not a good thing. The shaft as a whole barely acts as a counterbalance for the blade. I've not practiced any ryu that involves polearms but I can say right off the bat that this is not how they should balance. So another clumsy product by YarinoHanzo...
Conclusion
Well there aren't many production naginata/nagamaki around. So I decided to try my luck with this one. I got 50€ discount, so this was 240€. For the price I'm fairly satisfied with the quality, as you cannot expect wonders with this price and with the reputation that this seller has. For comparison Paul Chen Naginata costs 700€ in Finland so this was only for c.1/3rd of the price. Too bad the blade is again so bad as rest of pieces are fairly nice.
*So as there were several factors that affected the product, my initial opinion is not entirely realistic. The unfortunate miscommunication with forge had happened and reduced this product to ok level. As I sharpened the blade and cut with it the weapon cut very well. The shaft breakage that I described earlier must be partly because the forge used different wood than was ordered for this product (although I blame myself for overly hard cutting). But if this weapon would have come out with the specifications that were intended for it, it would have been good.