looking for iaito

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[Bronson]

An opportunity has opened up for me to study iaido locally. I'm looking for a supplier of moderate/low to low priced iaito (I realize the quality will reflect and I'm ok with that). I want to stick with something low priced to start with until I'm sure I want to continue the practice.

Thanks,

Bronson

[Kent Enfield]

First, ask your instructor what they recommend. Different schools prefer different things, particularly when it comes to length. A standard kendo kata bokuto should do fine in the beginning.

Then, when you know what you want, there are plenty of places that sell iaito. Take a look at:

Mugendo Budogu (http://www.mugendobudogu.com/)

BoguBag (http://www.bogubag.com/)

Nosyuiaido (http://www.swordstore.com/)

Tozando (http://www.tozando.com/eng/index.html)

My iaito is from Nosyu (pronounced "no-shoe") and I like it quite a bit. All the other people I know who purchased theirs there are happy as well. I can't speak to the others.

[Arianah]

I was going to start a thread about this, but I guess I'll just latch on to this one. :)

Can anyone account for the quality of these two suppliers' iaito. I'm trying to decide between the two.

http://sdksupplies.netfirms.com/cat_iaito.htm

http://budogu.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/page1.html

I've heard that Peter Boylan's stuff is excellent, but I've ordered through Sei Do Kai before, and love the bokuto and jo that I bought through them. Arg! I can't choose! :) Help? Anyone?

Sarah, off to Aikido

[kironin]

I've heard that Peter Boylan's stuff is excellent, but I've ordered through Sei Do Kai before, and love the bokuto and jo that I bought through them. Arg! I can't choose! :) Help? Anyone?

Sarah, off to Aikido
I know Peter. His stuff is OK though what he calls mid-grade I would call low-grade.

Frankly it's overated. Last I looked, his low-end was priced at $350. Sei Do Kai's low-end is $318 and about the same quality. Both have been known to ship iaito of questionable quality. In their defense, this IS the low-end and as far as I know they have made good on correcting any problems unlike Tozando which is much more hit and miss.

Personally, I would spend a few more bucks and buy a basic Nosyuiaido iaito.

The word-of-mouth on the consistency of quality has been uniformly positive for Nosyuiaido. Check them out

www.swordstore.com

before you decide.

Craig

[JJF]

... as far as I know they have made good on correcting any problems unlike Tozando which is much more hit and miss....
I just have to say that that's not entirely true. I received an Iaito from Tozando about 9 months ago, and I am very pleased with the quality of it. However they had fitted it with a different tsuba than the one I ordered. I wrote a mail about this and was emidiately offered the choice between a new tsuba or a discount on my next purchace. I asked for the replacement tsuba but it apparently got lost in the mail. One more mail went out and a new tsuba was mailed to me - this time as a parcel, so it had a parcelnumber so it could be tracked, and it got here realy quick.

In conclusion: I have no problem with the level of error-correcting and the level of service at Tozando. On top of this I like my iaito. It's on the heavy side (like me :)) but that's what I like.

I have heard good things about nosyuiaido too, but I find they are a bit pricy on their low-end iaito's.

[aiki_what]

Bronson,

Check your pm's.

Mark

[G DiPierro]

I have one of the basic Nosyu models and they are well-fitted and will stand up to a ton of abuse. A few people at my dojo have ordered from Tozando and they seem to have received good quality items. I don't think you would go wrong with either, but if you don't need a longer sword and want to get in as cheap as possible your best choice is probably the KA-15 from Tozando which is on sale for the incredible price of $150.

As far as Tozando service goes, it can be patchy but I have had a similar experience to Jorgen's where they really went the extra mile to correct a problem. I buy a lot of stuff from them and will continue to do so in the future. In fact, I may even get a new iaito while they are on sale.

[Bronson]

Hey everyone, thanks for all the help and suggestions. I've decided to go with the Tozando iaito that's on sale. Thanks for the offer Mark, had there not been a sale I would have taken you up on it :)

Thanks again,

Bronson