III. When Commissioning a Shinken - Don't forget the Xtras!

There are many ways that you can personalize your custom shinken and sometimes as mentioned previously there are some hidden values based upon the associations each smith has with other artisans...

Not all smiths and not all artisans are equal.  Sometimes the higher priced smith also works with artisans that do superior work.  Sword collar materials and design are often a benefit as well as a choice

Another view of a different style of habaki.

Tsunagi or wooden blades are made that show off the tsuka and the fittings.  This is an especially nice  feature for blades mounted in plain wood (Shirasaya).  This is a wooden sword designed to show off the fittings for blades mounted in shirasaya.

 Fine swords polished in museum polish (Kanshyo yo) for collectors often mount their swords in shirasaya to focus on the blade's attributes.  All SwordStore.com swords can be selected either in full furniture (koshirae) or in shirasaya.

Steel carvings or "Horimono" can range from simple to complex.  This fabulous extra is expensive but worth it!  NOTE:  Horimono requires a great blade and one that is heavy weight to support the carvings. This mythological creature "Shishi" is hand carved into the steel.  Thicker blades are required.

There are many different horimono that can be selected.

"Bonji" or Sanskrit for "Fudo Myo" the deity of war.

Here is an example of an "Oshigata" or tracing of a sword's horimono.

The habaki design, choosing full koshirae or shirasaya, having a tsunagi, the level of polish, the style of hi, horimono and oshigata are some of the options open to our clients.

The habaki design, choosing full koshirae or shirasaya, having a tsunagi, the level of polish, the style of hi, horimono and oshigata are some of the options open to our clients.