New Japanese History Discussion Group

The Samurai Archives forum ( http://forums.samurai-archives.com ) is
implementing a private discussion group for (approximately) monthly
discussions on specific aspects and personalities of Japanese history.
Previous discussions include the following:

2006
1. December 1st-December 31st: Kofun

2007
1. January 5th-February 5th: The 47 Ronin
2. February 10th-March 10th: The Shinsengumi
3. March 15th-April 15th: Sakamoto Ryoma
4. June 1st-July 1st: Samurai Films and Thier Remakes

In order to join the group, there is a one time multiple-choice
history test. Once the test is passed, you will be granted permanent
access to the private forum. The test consists of 50 multiple choice
questions. A score of 45/50 is required to pass and gain access, and
you will have 24 hours to complete the test. If you fail, you must
wait 10 days before re-taking the test. To take the test, join the
forum and see this thread:
http://forums.samurai-archives.com/viewtopic.php?t=2518
Of course, you are free to join and participate in the public forums
without taking the test.

The next discussion will be "Hideyoshi's Korean Invasions",
12/1/07-12/31/07. A reading list and some academic articles will be
provided.

Members have the option of volunteering to moderate and run discussion
groups on their interests.

Greetings All,

I run a tiny Japanese historical re-enactment society here in the UK,
and to date all of our weapons have been custom made, as the mass
produced stuff has simply not been up to standard.

This weekend I was chatting with a chap name Hector Cole, a well known
blade smith here in the UK, who is about to make us a batch of authentic
arrowheads (yanone), when the subject of Yari came up.

My original plan was to contact Thom Richardson and Ian Bottomley (Royal
Armouries) for advice, diagrams and photo's for Hector to work from, but
I decided to do a Google search first.

I found that Hanwei (Paul Chen) now offer two Yari, one with a longer
blade, but plain fittings, and the other shorter, but with rattan
bindings. Can anyone advise me as to the pro's, con's and quality of
these yari? Are they worth considering or are they better avoided?

Here's the US source:
http://www.casiberia.com/product_details.asp?id=SH2312

In the past nothing I've seen from these folks has peaked my interest,
until now. I confess that due to design and quality issues I've not
looked at their stuff for years, but I'd be happy to be pleasantly
surprised.

Price wise I've seen these Yari on sale via UK websites from 230 - 450
GB pounds. So, does anyone know of a good UK supplier, just in case?

Yours

Dean

--
Dean Wayland
Head Of The Fight School
http://www.thefightschool.demon.co.uk

On Wed, Nov 4, 2009 at 12:29 AM, Dean Wayland
<dean@...> wrote:

> Here's the US source:
> http://www.casiberia.com/product_details.asp?id=SH2312
>
> In the past nothing I've seen from these folks has peaked my interest,
> until now. I confess that due to design and quality issues I've not
> looked at their stuff for years, but I'd be happy to be pleasantly
> surprised.

Well, my thought is: most yari weren't necessarily made to as
stringent a standard as swords, were they? They aren't usually
thought as highly of and though there are exceptions, many are fairly
unremarkable, that I've seen. That would seem to make it just right
for your use.

-Josh

Hi Josh,

>Well, my thought is: most yari weren't necessarily made to as
>stringent a standard as swords, were they? They aren't usually
>thought as highly of and though there are exceptions, many are fairly
>unremarkable, that I've seen.
>That would seem to make it just right
>for your use.

The yari I've had a chance to examine in the past at museums etc. did
indeed vary wildly in terms of quality. The issue for us with replicas
is their authenticity. We're not looking for perfect copies with
properly folded blades and real urushi lacquer, but Hanwei have a habit
of cutting really big corners, for example in terms of the materials
use, such as plastic and aluminium etc.

After a bit more wandering around the web, I've so far failed to find
out anything about the materials used for such things as the haft, which
judging from the wording of some reviews may not be made of wood as it
should be.

So unless anyone can advise me differently, it's back to plan "A":-(

Thanks for the input.

Yours

Dean


--
Dean Wayland
Head Of The Fight School
http://www.thefightschool.demon.co.uk

You might want to direct an email to these fine gentlemen and ladies:
http://zenkokyudojo.org/zenkokyudojo.htmlTo: samuraihistory@yahoogroups.com
I only know of them as the dojo is less than an hour from me and I visited them when I was contemplating joining (alas, just don't have the time right now...).Very nice and helpful people!





From: dean@...
Date: Tue, 3 Nov 2009 17:29:36 +0000
Subject: [samuraihistory] [Hanwei Yari





















Greetings All,



I run a tiny Japanese historical re-enactment society here in the UK,

and to date all of our weapons have been custom made, as the mass

produced stuff has simply not been up to standard.



This weekend I was chatting with a chap name Hector Cole, a well known

blade smith here in the UK, who is about to make us a batch of authentic

arrowheads (yanone), when the subject of Yari came up.



My original plan was to contact Thom Richardson and Ian Bottomley (Royal

Armouries) for advice, diagrams and photo's for Hector to work from, but

I decided to do a Google search first.



I found that Hanwei (Paul Chen) now offer two Yari, one with a longer

blade, but plain fittings, and the other shorter, but with rattan

bindings. Can anyone advise me as to the pro's, con's and quality of

these yari? Are they worth considering or are they better avoided?



Here's the US source:

http://www.casiberia.com/product_details.asp?id=SH2312



In the past nothing I've seen from these folks has peaked my interest,

until now. I confess that due to design and quality issues I've not

looked at their stuff for years, but I'd be happy to be pleasantly

surprised.



Price wise I've seen these Yari on sale via UK websites from 230 - 450

GB pounds. So, does anyone know of a good UK supplier, just in case?



Yours



Dean



--

Dean Wayland

Head Of The Fight School

http://www.thefightschool.demon.co.uk






















_________________________________________________________________
Hotmail: Trusted email with powerful SPAM protection.
http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/177141665/direct/01/

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hellos all, I haven't introduced myself yet (but I don't ave the time at the moment, I promise I will later), I currently run a small Bujinkan Dojo in Ontario Canada and on the topic of Yari and really just about any weapons, armor and tools of the Japanese flavor, I have a close friend here in Canada that makes all his own weapons and tools for his and other peoples practices. He currently does orders in 20 some odd country's and I can honestly say that they are top notch. You can find his website here: www.ninedirections.com tell him Luke recommended him. He will do just about any custome work.

--- In samuraihistory@yahoogroups.com, Dean Wayland wrote:
>
> Greetings All,
>
> I run a tiny Japanese historical re-enactment society here in the UK,
> and to date all of our weapons have been custom made, as the mass
> produced stuff has simply not been up to standard.
>
> This weekend I was chatting with a chap name Hector Cole, a well known
> blade smith here in the UK, who is about to make us a batch of authentic
> arrowheads (yanone), when the subject of Yari came up.
>
> My original plan was to contact Thom Richardson and Ian Bottomley (Royal
> Armouries) for advice, diagrams and photo's for Hector to work from, but
> I decided to do a Google search first.
>
> I found that Hanwei (Paul Chen) now offer two Yari, one with a longer
> blade, but plain fittings, and the other shorter, but with rattan
> bindings. Can anyone advise me as to the pro's, con's and quality of
> these yari? Are they worth considering or are they better avoided?
>
> Here's the US source:
> http://www.casiberia.com/product_details.asp?id=SH2312
>
> In the past nothing I've seen from these folks has peaked my interest,
> until now. I confess that due to design and quality issues I've not
> looked at their stuff for years, but I'd be happy to be pleasantly
> surprised.
>
> Price wise I've seen these Yari on sale via UK websites from 230 - 450
> GB pounds. So, does anyone know of a good UK supplier, just in case?
>
> Yours
>
> Dean
>
> --
> Dean Wayland
> Head Of The Fight School
> http://www.thefightschool.demon.co.uk
>

Hi,

>Hellos all, I haven't introduced myself yet (but I don't ave the time at the
>moment, I promise I will later), I currently run a small Bujinkan Dojo in
>Ontario Canada and on the topic of Yari and really just about any
>weapons, armor and tools of the Japanese flavor, I have a close friend here
>in Canada that makes all his own weapons and tools for his and other
>peoples practices. He currently does orders in 20 some odd country's and
>I can honestly say that they are top notch. You can find his website here:
>www.ninedirections.com tell him Luke recommended him. He will do just
>about any custome work.

I went and had a look at the site you suggested, but sorry to say, all I
could see were standard Hanwei products. Thanks for the thought though.

Yours

Dean

--
Dean Wayland
Head Of The Fight School
http://www.thefightschool.demon.co.uk

Hi Matthew,

>You might want to direct an email to these fine gentlemen and ladies:
>http://zenkokyudojo.org/zenkokyudojo.htmlTo: samuraihistory@
>yahoogroups.com
>I only know of them as the dojo is less than an hour from me and I visited
>them when I was contemplating joining (alas, just don't have the time right
>now...).Very nice and helpful people!

Thank you for the link, but according to the site, they're purely an
archery dojo, so I suspect my enquiry would be a little out of their
ball park. Thanks again for your time.

Yours

Dean

--
Dean Wayland
Head Of The Fight School
http://www.thefightschool.demon.co.uk

Dean,
You're absolutely right!...I read and responded to the topic half-awake and rushing out the door to work, and in my haste to reply did not yet check the link YOU provided.Since you opened with arrowheads and I am no expert in Japanese weaponry I assumed the"ri" in yari was modifying the "ya" meaning arrow and was related aspect or specific type of arrowhead, rather than simply spear... (yay romaji!)Anyway, my apologies for the tangental (and miss-written) link.
Matt

To: samuraihistory@yahoogroups.com
From: dean@...
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 16:53:47 +0000
Subject: Re: [samuraihistory] [Hanwei Yari




























Hi Matthew,

>You might want to direct an email to these fine gentlemen and ladies:

>http://zenkokyudojo.org/zenkokyudojo.htmlTo: samuraihistory@

>yahoogroups.com

>I only know of them as the dojo is less than an hour from me and I visited

>them when I was contemplating joining (alas, just don't have the time right

>now...).Very nice and helpful people!

Thank you for the link, but according to the site, they're purely an

archery dojo, so I suspect my enquiry would be a little out of their

ball park. Thanks again for your time.



Yours



Dean



--

Dean Wayland

Head Of The Fight School

http://www.thefightschool.demon.co.uk


















_________________________________________________________________
Find the right PC with Windows 7 and Windows Live.
http://www.microsoft.com/Windows/pc-scout/laptop-set-criteria.aspx?cbid=wl&filt=200,2400,10,19,1,3,1,7,50,650,2,12,0,1000&cat=1,2,3,4,5,6&brands=5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16&addf=4,5,9&ocid=PID24727::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WWL_WIN_evergreen2:112009

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi Matthew,

>You're absolutely right!...I read and responded to the topic half-awake and
>rushing out the door to work, and in my haste to reply did not yet check
>the link YOU provided.Since you opened with arrowheads and I am no
>expert in Japanese weaponry I assumed the"ri" in yari was modifying the
>"ya" meaning arrow and was related aspect or specific type of arrowhead,
>rather than simply spear... (yay romaji!)Anyway, my apologies for the
>tangental (and miss-written) link.
>Matt

No problem at all, we've all done it:-) And again thanks for responding.

Yours

Dean
__

>To: samuraihistory@yahoogroups.com
>From: dean@...
>Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 16:53:47 +0000
>Subject: Re: [samuraihistory] [Hanwei Yari
>
>Hi Matthew,
>
>>You might want to direct an email to these fine gentlemen and ladies:
>
>>http://zenkokyudojo.org/zenkokyudojo.htmlTo: samuraihistory@
>
>>yahoogroups.com
>
>>I only know of them as the dojo is less than an hour from me and I visited
>
>>them when I was contemplating joining (alas, just don't have the time
>right
>
>>now...).Very nice and helpful people!
>
>Thank you for the link, but according to the site, they're purely an
>
>archery dojo, so I suspect my enquiry would be a little out of their
>
>ball park. Thanks again for your time.
>
>Yours
>
>Dean

--
Dean Wayland
Head Of The Fight School
http://www.thefightschool.demon.co.uk