Thanks Marc,
Actually, I found one aside that suggested that Stephen Hayes invented the straight-bladed ninja-to. That's an interesting suggestion to follow up on.
But no, my question isn't about the ninja-to, it's about that tengu sword in the middle. AFAIK, the tengu sword has never been to Hollywood, it would be illegal to carry it down the street near the dojos it's in, and it's taught as a weapon in a school that claims a long and colorful history leading back to Japan.
I figure that most weapons don't spring from a vacuum, and if this "tengu sword" is Japanese and anywhere near as old as the school claims, there are probably weapons like it lying about in people's collections.
So far, no one's come up with another example, which leads me to suspect that we actually have a brand new sword here, invented by the Saito family in Hawaii or possibly Japan. That's neat in itself. Most swords don't have known inventors.
Best,
F
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