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Post by skane on Oct 7, 2019 19:40:07 GMT
At the discounted prices at multiple vendors, I think it's a decent deal for fans of the movies. Don't recall any companies making a functional replica of that sword.
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Post by snowbite on Jan 24, 2020 21:29:37 GMT
These are now sold out everywhere. Did anyone here get one?
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Post by captainharlock on Jan 28, 2020 17:40:03 GMT
I got one and my twin brother got one as well. I have already shipped mine off to Josh at Cottontail Customs to have a new Tsuka fabricated. Mine came cracked and rather than trying to fix it I decided to have it completely redone since I was going to have the Tsuka rewrapped into the movie accurate “battle wrap.” Josh can post photos of his work if he likes. While not perfect I was happy with the $738 shipped I paid for it. The blade isn’t robust enough to be a true dotakuni blade. The Yokote isn’t geometric. The blade has a decent polish for a production blade, The Nakago has burrs on it but not too bad as does the Habaki. The saya is nicely finished but there does seem to be some binding when sheathing. The sword fits in too tight when sheathed but this will loosen up with time. The tsuba fits on too tight and I had to wiggle it off back and forth which took about 20 minutes. I couldn’t even get it all the way back on when I shipped it off. The Tsuka is overly large in shape and profile. Once I have all of the issues sorted out with Josh I will be quite happy with it I am sure since it’s just a movie piece for me to display. I loved these movies growing up so I jumped at the chance when I found out. If you aren’t interested in that aspect of it, I would say skip it. My bugei bamboo that I sold was a better overall sword which is the only thing I own to really compare it to other than some custom swords and a motohara. So maybe I am not the best judge.
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Post by Robert in California on Jan 29, 2020 2:33:18 GMT
Nice! Beautiful hamon!
btw, the SGB Store Ad should be "in your face" here at the chat site. So anyone comes direct to the SBG chat site, first thing seen is the Store Ad
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Post by snowbite on Jan 29, 2020 3:12:25 GMT
I got one and my twin brother got one as well. I have already shipped mine off to Josh at Cottontail Customs to have a new Tsuka fabricated. Mine came cracked and rather than trying to fix it I decided to have it completely redone since I was going to have the Tsuka rewrapped into the movie accurate “battle wrap.” Josh can post photos of his work if he likes. While not perfect I was happy with the $738 shipped I paid for it. The blade isn’t robust enough to be a true dotakuni blade. The Yokote isn’t geometric. The blade has a decent polish for a production blade, The Nakago has burrs on it but not too bad as does the Habaki. The saya is nicely finished but there does seem to be some binding when sheathing. The sword fits in too tight when sheathed but this will loosen up with time. The tsuba fits on too tight and I had to wiggle it off back and forth which took about 20 minutes. I couldn’t even get it all the way back on when I shipped it off. The Tsuka is overly large in shape and profile. Once I have all of the issues sorted out with Josh I will be quite happy with it I am sure since it’s just a movie piece for me to display. I loved these movies growing up so I jumped at the chance when I found out. If you aren’t interested in that aspect of it, I would say skip it. My bugei bamboo that I sold was a better overall sword which is the only thing I own to really compare it to other than some custom swords and a motohara. So maybe I am not the best judge. Thanks for the feedback, captain. Sorry to hear about the cracked tsuka. I'm puzzled why Hanwei didn't go with a battle wrap like in the films (and the manga). Disappointing about the blade too, they could have at least used their Raptor blade. They pretty much nailed the silver fittings and the tsuba, though. A few other trivial details: The tv show shows a hineri wrap, but in leather, and dull metal fittings everywhere. The TV blade has a double-hi (futasuji-hi?), the manga shows a bo-hi. The rattan details on the saya gets a different treatment everywhere, it seems.
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Post by captainharlock on Jan 29, 2020 5:44:55 GMT
I got one and my twin brother got one as well. I have already shipped mine off to Josh at Cottontail Customs to have a new Tsuka fabricated. Mine came cracked and rather than trying to fix it I decided to have it completely redone since I was going to have the Tsuka rewrapped into the movie accurate “battle wrap.” Josh can post photos of his work if he likes. While not perfect I was happy with the $738 shipped I paid for it. The blade isn’t robust enough to be a true dotakuni blade. The Yokote isn’t geometric. The blade has a decent polish for a production blade, The Nakago has burrs on it but not too bad as does the Habaki. The saya is nicely finished but there does seem to be some binding when sheathing. The sword fits in too tight when sheathed but this will loosen up with time. The tsuba fits on too tight and I had to wiggle it off back and forth which took about 20 minutes. I couldn’t even get it all the way back on when I shipped it off. The Tsuka is overly large in shape and profile. Once I have all of the issues sorted out with Josh I will be quite happy with it I am sure since it’s just a movie piece for me to display. I loved these movies growing up so I jumped at the chance when I found out. If you aren’t interested in that aspect of it, I would say skip it. My bugei bamboo that I sold was a better overall sword which is the only thing I own to really compare it to other than some custom swords and a motohara. So maybe I am not the best judge. Thanks for the feedback, captain. Sorry to hear about the cracked tsuka. I'm puzzled why Hanwei didn't go with a battle wrap like in the films (and the manga). Disappointing about the blade too, they could have at least used their Raptor blade. They pretty much nailed the silver fittings and the tsuba, though. A few other trivial details: The tv show shows a hineri wrap, but in leather, and dull metal fittings everywhere. The TV blade has a double-hi (futasuji-hi?), the manga shows a bo-hi. The rattan details on the saya gets a different treatment everywhere, it seems. Great photos Yeah this is definitely a movie inspired blade. The movie saya has a rattan wrap all the way down it’s length and dragon king decided to paint the top around the kurigata for effect and the rest of the saya appears to be carved in a thinner rattan wrap style (?). Not sure why but I think it’s to save money but it’s not bad. Looks really nice in hand but not really accurate to the film. The tsuba is steel and not cast iron which I think would have been nice but it’s beautifully done as is the rest of the fittings. Overall it does the job to convey what it’s suppose to be. If you are a fan of the film and don’t mind the issues it’s definitely worth it. But if you are just buying it as a katana there are better options out there. I don’t know why they didn’t use the raptor blade either which would have been more appropriate this is suppose to be e thick robust blade. Instead they chose a regular katana blade for the piece but maybe they thought it matched the film better?
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Post by snowbite on Jan 29, 2020 16:09:28 GMT
Ah my mistake-I forgot it's a Dragon King, not a Hanwei. In that case, their Autumn Leaf or War Horse blade might be a better choice for blade style. I would guess the simulated rattan is easier/cheaper to accommodate the kozuka. Speaking of, it's a shame there aren't more production katanas with this feature. Oh, and if it's not too late, remind Josh to start the ito on the Kozuka side like the film! Ok, that's enough of me splitting hairs for now
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Post by snowbite on Jan 29, 2020 16:10:56 GMT
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Post by captainharlock on Jan 29, 2020 16:50:14 GMT
I will if people are interested for sure. I sent Josh some screen captures from the movie. I will let him know because I didn’t even think of where the ito starts honestly. He should have the sword tomorrow then he will assess it and make is recommendations based on what he sees. But I agree with your comment on the painting instead of ratton around the Kozuka knife was a cost saving measure. While not accurate I don’t think it looks bad. Maybe one day I will get a new saya made with the fittings but it didn’t bother me too much.
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Post by Cottontail Customs on Jan 29, 2020 17:13:32 GMT
Oh, and if it's not too late, remind Josh to start the ito on the Kozuka side like the film! I could start it on that side but it won't be the correct arrangement for katana. the kozuka placement in the show and movie seems to be on the omote side or the side that faces out when the sword is sheathed in the obi (edge up). this is also the side the tsukamaki should start on. tsukamaki starts on the omote side unless the sword is a tachi/handachi or gunto or where the sword is worn edge down. on the Dragon King version the accessory is on the ura side, possibly due to the added difficulty of working the slot in under the kurikata or maybe to be different enough to not need licensing, not sure. maybe it's also why they didn't wrap it in katate-maki style? you can see here that the kozuka is on the ura side of the DK. or more accurately, not on the omote side.
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Post by snowbite on Jan 29, 2020 18:40:22 GMT
That's interesting to know! Only one of my swords has a kozuka, and it's on the ura side. It does indeed appear on the omote side in the film as well as the start of the tsukamaki. Can't quite tell in my middle pic above how they handle it in the tv show, and I haven't seen enough episodes to even tell if he even has that little knife at all. It does make an appearance in the manga, though. p.s. Thank you for your input, Josh...I hope I didn't sound like I was telling you how to do your job
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Post by Cottontail Customs on Jan 29, 2020 19:04:49 GMT
That's interesting to know! Only one of my swords has a kozuka, and it's on the ura side. It does indeed appear on the omote side in the film as well as the start of the tsukamaki. Can't quite tell in my middle pic above how they handle it in the tv show, and I haven't seen enough episodes to even tell if he even has that little knife at all. It does make an appearance in the manga, though. p.s. Thank you for your input, Josh...I hope I didn't sound like I was telling you how to do your job not at all I was just pointing it out. thank you for the great pics! in the wider shot with the silk ito, you can see that the sword is being held edge up on the omote side, which is how it would be positioned if in an obi on the left hip and shows that the tsukamaki was started correctly. I've seen accessories on the omote only, ura only and on both sides simultaneously. I don't remember if there's a rule about which which accessory goes on which side. are there any screen shots showing the other side of his sword? maybe his saya does have both kozuka and kogai
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Post by bradc on Jan 29, 2020 19:22:30 GMT
--- Edit as pointed out by cottontail customs below my brain had a ura vs omote failure so everything below was backwards before I edited it right now ---- Interesting that the kozuka appears to be omote in some stills. I should definitely watch that show again. For those who are interested in some historical context outside of the show. The Kogai was traditionally on the omote side (Kogai predate kogatana I beleive). If you look at most tsuba (including this one) there are two holes. These actually have informative names. The round one on the ura side is called the kozuka hitsu-ana while the hole with the extra bump is called the kogai hitsu-ana. So, while maybe not matching the show, putting the kozuka/kogatana on the ura side is more historically correct. Here are two articles that touch on the topic: www.mandarinmansion.com/article/nanban-tsubawww.nihonto.com/uchigatana-koshirae/SBG swordstore has a good picture of the tsuba here: sbg-sword-store.sword-buyers-guide.com/product905.html
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Post by Cottontail Customs on Jan 29, 2020 19:39:42 GMT
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Post by bradc on Jan 29, 2020 19:48:56 GMT
I was under the impression that the kogai would be on the omote side. You are correct. I very much flipped my vocabulary there. All ura were omote and vice versa in my post. I need more coffee... I edited the old post for posterity with a note that the original was incorrect.
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Post by snowbite on Jan 29, 2020 20:21:01 GMT
After a bit more zapruder investigating, it looks like no kogai on Lone Wolf's film sword. I've also just noticed the DK repro is missing the metal koiguchi fitting. By the way, this is about ten minutes into the River Styx movie (the best of the six, IMO), when he's in the bathtub when he thinks he hears the assassins coming. You get brief closeups of the hilt area on both sides.
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Post by Cottontail Customs on Jan 29, 2020 20:36:54 GMT
After a bit more zapruder investigating, it looks like no kogai on Lone Wolf's film sword. I've also just noticed the DK repro is missing the metal koiguchi fitting. By the way, this is about ten minutes into the River Styx movie (the best of the six, IMO), when he's in the bathtub when he thinks he hears the assassins coming. You get brief closeups of the hilt area on both sides. wow, great screencap-fu! yep, no second accessory. so DK has the kozuka on the correct side, traditionally. now the question is, is the object we see in the movie and tv version actually a kozuka/kogatana or could it really be a kogai? is there a shot of the tool out of the saya?
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Post by captainharlock on Jan 29, 2020 21:06:11 GMT
After a bit more zapruder investigating, it looks like no kogai on Lone Wolf's film sword. I've also just noticed the DK repro is missing the metal koiguchi fitting. By the way, this is about ten minutes into the River Styx movie (the best of the six, IMO), when he's in the bathtub when he thinks he hears the assassins coming. You get brief closeups of the hilt area on both sides. wow, great screencap-fu! yep, no second accessory. so DK has the kozuka on the correct side, traditionally. now the question is, is the object we see in the movie and tv version actually a kozuka/kogatana or could it really be a kogai? is there a shot of the tool out of the saya? This turned into a fascinating thread for me. In the river styx, the kozuka knife gets thrown into the saya. That’s the best look I remember from memory. I feel like I need to go back and rewatch them. Thanks for joining the discussion josh. Good to see you here!!!!
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Post by snowbite on Jan 29, 2020 21:22:30 GMT
There's a couple scenes where he stabs a tool into the floor, pulls up the tatami mats and blocks an attack. I'll see if I can find one.
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Post by snowbite on Jan 29, 2020 21:25:34 GMT
wow, great screencap-fu! yep, no second accessory. so DK has the kozuka on the correct side, traditionally. now the question is, is the object we see in the movie and tv version actually a kozuka/kogatana or could it really be a kogai? is there a shot of the tool out of the saya? This turned into a fascinating thread for me. In the river styx, the kozuka knife gets thrown into the saya. That’s the best look I remember from memory. I feel like I need to go back and rewatch them. Thanks for joining the discussion josh. Good to see you here!!!! That was indeed a kogatana/kozuka knife, but it belonged to a thug who threw it. Itto throws it back at him and it flies right into the saya pocket. Classic!
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