 |
|
My name is Sean Phillips and I'm 40 yrs old. I have always been fascinated with Japanese culture and history, and especially the swords of the samurai. I've always wanted an authentic Japanese sword, but once I realized how much they were I kind of gave up on the idea for a long time. Just recently, I've gotten to a point in my life where I can financially afford to indulge in such an extravagance. I started off buying some Chinese made production swords to learn about the basic sword parts in my hands, as well as being able to learn toyama ryu and practice tameshigiri. After buying several pretty nice Chinese replicas and a couple of Custom modern American made Katana, about a month ago I finally bought my first Nihonto wakizashi with antique tsuba, fuchi kashira, and menuki, with modern koshirae made for it. Its an old tired blade that's seen many polishes from the look of it, and its signed Kunehisa, but that is all that I know of this sword. After seeing this sword and examining it some, I really started to appreciate the details and craftsmanship of these "real" Japanese swords. I started researching as much as possible and looking for my first proper, papered nihonto. After going back and forth on what and where to buy, I finally settled on a wakizashi from Danny @ Nihontocraft.com. I was able to work out a payment plan and put a down payment on an Izumi no Kami Rai Kinmichi, Edo Jidai circa 1660, Tokubetsu Hozon wakizashi. In all honesty, I bought it because I loved the way it looked, its wide sugata, big & bold hamon and amazing polish. I wanted to learn more about the smith, school, era and period of the sword so I joined the Nihonto Message Board and started buying books that were recommended by a few members. I've been pouring over them for the last week or so and I'm just wanting to learn as much as I can about these pieces of art from as many places as possible.
