Preservation of Craftsmanship at National Level

Rivkin · 14th April 2005, 04:17 PM

I'm sorry for being a little bit overly pessimistic about ship modeling - I'm sure it's alive, just like sword making in America is also quite alive. And most likely the needed for personal interaction with a master/good marketing will prevent complete outsourcing of this and sword making industries.

However the market share did move and does move drastically from individually hand made items to the semi-mass produced ones, leaving very few in the business.

Concerning the anti-sword attitudes - I believe the sheer number of "samurai swords" sold every year is enough to recreate Sekigahara. Under every tree you can find a sensei teaching secrets of ninjutsu.

Does it transform into buying traditionally made swords ? Hell no.
At best it goes to Paul Chen and his cuties.

The reasons in my opinion are as follows:
a. There is no need for expensive real thing when something mass produced cuts (not exactly as well as the real thing).
b. With a mass produced thing you get a sword stand, cool dragon on your tsuka, and the certificate that tells you that this is a Masamune's sword.
c. Modern traditionally made swords are very often worse in quality than similarly priced antique swords.

In short, we are all going Kubachi's road - bad blades in all silver scabbards.

14th April 2005, 04:17 PM	#22
Rivkin Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 655	I'm sorry for being a little bit overly pessimistic about ship modeling - I'm sure it's alive, just like sword making in America is also quite alive. And most likely the needed for personal interaction with a master/good marketing will prevent complete outsourcing of this and sword making industries. However the market share did move and does move drastically from individually hand made items to the semi-mass produced ones, leaving very few in the business. Concerning the anti-sword attitudes - I believe the sheer number of "samurai swords" sold every year is enough to recreate Sekigahara. Under every tree you can find a sensei teaching secrets of ninjutsu. Does it transform into buying traditionally made swords ? Hell no. At best it goes to Paul Chen and his cuties. The reasons in my opinion are as follows: a. There is no need for expensive real thing when something mass produced cuts (not exactly as well as the real thing). b. With a mass produced thing you get a sword stand, cool dragon on your tsuka, and the certificate that tells you that this is a Masamune's sword. c. Modern traditionally made swords are very often worse in quality than similarly priced antique swords. In short, we are all going Kubachi's road - bad blades in all silver scabbards.