Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #151432 in Books
• Published on: 1983-06-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 220 pages

Synopsis
One of the foremost experts on the Japanese sword describes their history and appreciations in this book, with photographs and illustrations.

Customer Reviews

Nicely presented but rather dull
This is a nicely presented book - it has a stylish cover and lots of nice photographs in it, but its a pretty boring read if your just casually interested in japanese swords. I found it poorly written, with just lots of names and dates strung together as paragraphs, and so not very interesting.

Excellent overview book with good photographs
This is a new edition of a classic book on Japanese swords. So far as I can tell, the only difference from the earlier edition is the (very nice) dustjacket.

The book includes a history of the sword, some basic information, though it's not a primer on collecting, and some good photographs of some truly excellent blades and fittings. The largest criticism I would make is that the photographs of blades don't show the subtle details, especially of the temper and "grain", which collectors are interested in. On the other hand, you can see the whole shape of the blade well in the photographs.

If you're interested in swords, this book is a must-have. Serious collectors will find it a bit simplistic and general of course, but the blades included are some of the best, which makes up for a lot. For people who just are interested by Japanese swords and want to find something out about them, this book is perfect. For the beginning collector this is good, but something like Yumoto's "Japanese Sword: A Handbook" is more important.