
I was recently shown a rather lovely shinken. It was 2.57 shaku, which is close to the perfect length for me. It was beautifully crafted and had, according to the seller, neither been used nor ever resharpened, as it had been made for a shrine.
To have a shinken made for me – which is probably my best option if I ever want one, as antique shinken 2.5 shaku or longer are very hard to come by – would cost in the region of ¥700,000 to ¥800,000. This is a lot of money that I don’t have. I’m looking at saving for a number of years to be able to afford a blade. The blade I was shown recently, however, was ¥250,000. This is still very pricey, but less than half what I would expect to pay for a brand new blade.
I can’t say I wasn’t tempted to buy it. My sensei has already told me to go ahead and get a shinken when I can afford it (in consultation with him, naturally). I don’t have that kind of money yet, but I am saving up. However there was another factor that decided things for me. That was my sensei himself, who was sitting next to me when we looked at the sword.
“It’s nice,” he said, “but you couldn’t use it for iai.”
He gave a number of reasons why (balance, curvature, weight), but he needn’t have – if he says no, then I’m going with that.
This made me realise anew that there really is no rush to getting a shinken. If I’m to do iaido for the rest of my life – which I think is possible – I have all the time in the world. Well actually, assuming that I pass each of my next few gradings first time (which is quite unlikely), I have at least ten eight years* (a shinken is required for the 5 dan grading). But that’s still plenty of time.
I know people who have gone out and bought shinken soon after starting iai, and in all honesty I worry about some of them. In some cases I feel it’s only a matter of time before the blood starts to fly. There is also the question of maintaining a shinken. It’s a valuable investment and again, I know of some beginners who buy them and really don’t look after them. Not only do I need to save money, but I also need to know I can commit to the responsibility of owning and using a real sword.
I don’t doubt that at some point I will purchase a shinken. But there’s no rush.
Anyway, later that evening, I got to handle a tanto from the Kamakura period. Now that was really tempting.
* I can’t count.