Comments on: A Few Japanese Swords of Note

By: Andrew Shieh, Sunnyvale

Andrew Shieh, Sunnyvale — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 03:19:45 +0000

NOVA's "Secrets of the Samurai Sword" is one of the best short documentaries I've watched.

By: Carl M Christensen

Carl M Christensen — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:43:47 +0000

Fascinating. Lovely photos and intriguing swords!

By: Fazal Majid

Fazal Majid — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:59:24 +0000

It's too bad Nikon dropped the voice annotation feature from the D3 in the D700, otherwise you would not need a notebook. Yeah, but they need to have some reason to lay out the extra cash for the D3. I actually recorded the entire visit on my iPhone, but there's still the issue of matching up the sound to the photos. I could figure it out if I had the time, but that's what I have least of these days )-: —Jeffrey

By: Expat in Va

Expat in Va — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 10:28:36 +0000

Yes, they are heavy. I was allowed to handle a 300 year old sword way back in the day at Maibara, Shiga, and it weight took me very much by surprise- and realized that unless one has arm muscles like Popeye the Sailor, one isn’t going to flash these swords about for very long as is done in the standard samurai dramas.

The next day I was asked by my host if I had slept ok. The why’s of that question were that the sword had been given to my host as a gift, but as he and his wife were about to fall asleep, both of the saw the heads of an ancient nobleman and lady floating above them, and wanted to know if I has seen same. I didn’t.

That notwithstanding, the sword left the house as a donation to the local temple, where I assume prayers were offered for the spirits of those whose life it had ended.

From Northern VA

By: Tim Johnson

Tim Johnson — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 08:48:31 +0000

Jealous!

I have a fascination with swords like these, but living in Australia it’s difficult to see them very often. I’ve seen a few in art galleries here and they really are works of art, but I would have loved that up close experience that you had.