Acquiring Nihonto?
Dec 18, 2018 23:15:34 GMT
Post by uchiha998 on Dec 18, 2018 23:15:34 GMT
I was browsing around this morning and saw this nihonto for sale.
Not sure if it is exactly what you are looking for.
Lol! Your messing with the OP a little, right? That is about the most abhorrent fake I've ever seen. The fittings do not even look they are trying to look like what you find on a true nihonto. The blade looks like some really awful work too. It is folded in that way the screams " I am not a real Japanese Nihonto!" You will find that many of the cheapest Chinese made, modern steel blades, have a nicer hada(the "wood grain" look the blade gets after being folded) than this seller's swords do. Of, course they aren't trying to present their work as authentic and historic nihonto either. What is worse is if you look at the other items this guy sells some of them are even more obvious and ugly and priced at $2000-$5000.
These for example:
Now I should point a couple things. This seller doesn't directly call these specific "swords" nihonto. But he does call them "Collectible Old Japanese Samurai swords", leading people who do not know any better to believe this was quite possibly a sword that is an antique possibly 200-500 years old and possibly was owned by a samurai, and was made in Japan by a Japanese smith. He is selling these at $3850 and $2000 and someone will buy them just because they have some extra money and think it would be cool to have a "real samurai sword", and since people generally believe you get what you pay for, those who really have no experience with buying even production katana from China, can be fooled into believing this is the real thing. Now truly, it would take an impulsive buyer who basically knew nothing more about Japanese sword than the general iconic shape seen in almost any samurai movie and that they were folded "thousands of times". But there are way more of these people out there than you might think. I bet that seller will sell at least 2 or 3 of those awful fakes at those crazy prices over the holiday season. It is just wrong.
Now another thing I should mention to be fair is that he does have real legitimate Chinese made Samurai style swords for sale on in his ebay store. That while he doesn't mention them being made in China, but does freely admit them being made from modern steels, and isn't trying to disguise them buy making them look aged the way some of the expensive and even moderately priced fakes he sells are. These are actual swords that can be used effectively to cut, typical backyard targets like a rolled tatami, bottles and young green bamboo probably. I haven't tested them, and I'm not saying you should buy one, either. I'm just trying to be fair and say that not all his swords are just overly gaudy, historically inaccurate looking pieces of folded tin, a few do appear to be real swords. Just not real nihonto.
I would like to say also, that this reply isn't meant to criticize you for posting the link. Whether you were trying to be funny or simply posted the link in error. I'm not taking any shots at you for posting the link or anything. I've actually run across that seller stuff on ebay before and when I saw the fakes that were as much as a real nihonto, it really made me mad then that someone is so greedy they actually are trying to cheat people that badly. I've seen fakes like that posted as a handmade katana "can cut tree" when really it would probably break on pool noodle at prices that you often see real Chinese made swords priced at. That is the first time I've seen some with an ebay store have something you can buy for $12.95 priced at nearly $4000. I guess the two reason it bothers me so much is that I just know someone who is just browsing ebay for cool stuff and has never done any research on swords before, will see a folded blade on what looks to them to be a one of kind katana and think "hey yeah I remember hearing how they folded the swords over and over so they would be unbreakable" and that person will have the money and buy it. Or someone who has a girlfriend who wants to buy a guy something he would love think, I know I'll buy a real Samurai Sword from Japan for him, the girlfriend buys it and is ripped off. Most people I realize who would even be looking at swords on ebay know enough to realize your basic SLO from a decent or even halfway decent Chinese production katana at least. But there will be one maybe two and the guy pockets all that money. I did message and tell him what I think of him but of course that isn't going to any good. The other reason it bothers me so much, is I just hate seeing the Japanese Sword being not only mocked by people making those SLOs then claiming they are really Japanese Samurai Swords, but on top of that this guy has to price them for what I could probably get a decent Shinto era katana for. Well that just really killed me.
I really just wanted to make sure that I warned the OP and anyone who may not have experience with nihonto to steer clear of that seller and that those "swords" are not Japanese Samurai Swords. After all people who read this forum but may not belong just may take us all for experts.
Ok, I'm done with my rant and if it offended anyone I apologize sincerely(unless you are own/run the ebay store "culture-art-store").
As for the a nihonto for that price that you will find some you. You will have a hard time and have to accept quite if few flaws if you want Edo period or older. That rules out Showato, which you probably could find for that price and in decent condition but those were made during the early half of the 1900s and were produced in factories. People will tell you stay away from ebay, unless you have a lot of knowledge and that means I should stay away from it and I have reasonable knowledge about Nihonto. Where my knowledge ends is when you get into what a Kanesada made blade in a nice polish is compared to a Kunitsugu. Too many smiths using the same name and different generations. I have some books I ordered to learn more about that stuff. Anyway I saw this on ebay and if your friend isn't to picky about flaws, this is a Muromachi period Koto sword with Koshirae and it has some flaws the tsuka actually looks like it maybe kinda shot, looks like it may have some cracking. But hey you buy these mostly for the blade you can get some new Koshirae for it if need be. The blade has really decent polish for this price, in that the hamon is bright and clear as day. But the sword has some scuffs a scratches too. But all in all it is a blade that says to you "hey I was used to cut and fight" and it has that type of character.