Quote:
Dan Harden wrote:
Hi Bud
Know one knows it more than the Japanese themselves, who know full well they can pick up a sword and have instant credibility beyond all evidence to the contrary.
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Yup, and the same extends in to the craft of the sword. I've had no shortage of people tell me I can't polish or mount swords because I'm not Japanese. It doesn't seem to matter to them that I'm *not* working on antiques anyway as I *do* know better. I.e., I know I *don't* know enough to work on antiques. But then I get to see blades in fresh polish from Japan and cringe knowing full well there are a couple non-Japanese I know who at least wouldn't have rounded out the damned lines and destroyed the overall shape. But when I'm with craftsmen and we start comparing things then those questions become irrelevant. And we talk, drink, share secrets, tell a few lies and get on with our lives. Then I come back to the on-line world and read page after page of blathering BS from people who wouldn't know a koto blade from a WWII entrenching tool... And so it goes. But we've been having this discussion for a long time, neh? Preaching, choir, etc.
In the end the work has to speak for itself. Just like waza.
Quote:
Dan Harden wrote:
And that is what is wrong with Budo. [i]"I need no books to tell me that!"
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Some just don't know how little they know... Things get said, get repeated, and soon something totally ridiculous becomes "common knowledge". All with the best of intentions I suppose.