Iaito

[lucian]

Can any one recommend a good iaito supplier I was going to go through tozando but thought you guys may know of some where better, any recommendations?

[alexpollijr]

Most of the time you'll get the same swords through different retailers. This is the case with www.e-bogu.com and www.bogubag.com, to quote a few. Then there's www.swordstore.com, who makes custom Iaito.

my sword is from Tozando , and it's a fine one I think. It's the ka35 'deluxe jidai koshirae'. got it at Y35.000

[lucian]

thanks alex, the ka35 is a Very nice sword i was looking at ka45 but warming to the idea of a custom sword.
oh and the fabreeze should be out there in about 3weeks (:

[chidokan]

I was looking at a few different shops at the Kyoto taikai this week, the nosyuiaido ones are nice as well, although a little more expensive. What surprised me was the low price of shinken and other stuff at the Kyoto museum centre. This is definitely the place to look and see the type of sword you want (they had iaito as well) as I saw more there in a day than in England all year!

Tim

[lucian]

thanks tim i think i will have a loot at the museum Peaces, How low was surprisingly for the shinken?
What times does your dojo train? as I could really do with more iai training been off with injury to long

[GMason]

Hi lucian,

Nine Circles are not too bad if you are looking for a supplier in England. I don't know if you will have heard of them before or not so please forgive me if I'm telling you stuff you already know.

The guy who runs it is called Quentin Ball he practices Iai so he know what he is talking about, he is also recommended by the BKA, hope this helps the address is

Nine Circles (http://www.ninecircles.co.uk)

Again I hope I'm not telling you anything you already know.

P.S the most important thing is ........ next day delivery if he has the size/iaito you want in stock !!!!

[lucian]

Hi Gareth
Yeah I have heard of nine circles but had never looked there for an iaito,
Hard part is picking a sword I like
Thanks for pointing them out to me

[chidokan]

just got a load of catalogues from all sorts of suppliers. Had a look at the various ones in Kyoto and decided that anything above £200 would be o.k. for most people to use, it mainly seems to be the quality of the fitting you pay for as the blades did not vary much at all. So long as the sword is fairly light and well balanced you should be o.k. after you know what the length should be. Saw some for about £120 but didnt reckon much to them, tsuka ito was cotton and a bit loose for my liking.

Tim

[lucian]

Hey Tim any chance I can have a look at the catalogues some time, kind of made my mind up on tsuka Would prefer leather over cotton & silk

[chidokan]

sure, no problem. I have a couple of spare ones from Nosyu and another company that I brought back for general club use anyway.

Tim

[KhawMengLee]

Here's some blades that make you green with envy and wheep at the price.

http://www.aoi-art.ab.psiweb.com/index.html

Some of these, wait...all of these blades look beautiful

[chidokan]

http://www.gix.or.jp/~n-resin/
try here as well for a catalogue of some REALLY nice swords, (in Japanese language), I could get a good discount at the Kyoto show on most of the blades, and the guy was really helpful and spoke english, although I didn't dare use my credit card any more, as I'd already spent a load of money on new kit!!
They had some good cutting swords which worked out at around £2500, not bad for an antique!

Tim