Nihonto Club

Nihonto Club resources can be searched in a number of ways depending on the nature of information requested. Choosing the right search mechanism is crucial in order to get the most relevant and best presented information. A list of search scenarios with tool recommendations is shown below.

Site-wide search

If unsure about the information needed, the site-wide search should be used (available at the top of every page). It uses site's built-in search engine with pages indexed daily. Advanced Search option is available in order to express the search criteria more precisely. Being a good generic tool for searching, site search isn't as powerful as Google search. If you can't find something which is meant to be on the site, you may as well use Google Custom Search which is embedded into the site. It sometimes fetches better results. Or you may use Google directly as Nihonto Club is well covered by most of Nihonto related search queries.

Smith Search

If you are looking for a particular smith either by name (Romaji or Kanji) or Hawley ID (please note that spaces should be omitted), Swordsmith Index search form is the best tool which shows results in tabular format. It is extra helpful in cases when there are too many smiths with the same name. You may also search by parts of the name or individual Kanji characters.

Tip: it is also a very efficient way of looking for Kanji characters by their romaji readings and vice versa.

Signature Search

The best way of searching for smiths by signature (either full or partial) is to use Signature Search tab of Swordsmith Index. This is by far more efficient way of searching by signature than the site-wide search. You may use both Romaji and Kanji.

School/Group Search

Use the form on Schools page to search for smith school/group.

Bibliography Search

If you are looking for Nihonto related publication (by name, author, year of publication etc), the best way is to use Bibliography filter page. Also, clicking the author's name on the Bibliography page will show all publications by this author.