cheness iaito

[Tempura]

hey

I'm planning to buy an inexpensive iaito to practice my iaido.
im looking into at a steel iaito, because i want to learn how to maintain real shinken.

the cheapest steel iaito i can find is probably the cheness type 8 27'' iaito.

im wondering if anyone has any experience with this iaito.
do their tsuka cores tend to break, any faults in the blade, are the fittings the only things that tend to fall off.

thanks

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

I would talk to your instructor and get his/her recomendation. I have found that many non japanese iaito simply do not live up to expectations. Usually they scrimp in one place or another but particularly in the fittings. My favorite iaito is from Japan and is so precisely made, fitted, etc. that other iaitos particularly non japanese made when compared feel so very, very cheap. You can get a decent nihongo iaito for around $700 on up if you shop around. Good luck.

 

[Sukerkin]

Opinions on Cheness kit seem to be rather divided.

I can tell you that the chap that started it up was a genuine enough martial artist and, like Paul Chen did at first, had it in mind to produce cheap swords that were good enough quality for practise of the seord arts.

There have been a number of reported quality 'issues' relatively recently tho', as volume of sales has increased. There have not been any troubles getting replacements, or so it seems; given that you are in Australia tho' it might be advisible to find a more local or supplier (or one with a very good track record on quality).

 

[Tempura]

in australia, the cheapest Japaneses iaito i've seen is possibly the Jidai Nyumon Koshirae, it goes for around $300. for $100 cheaper there are the cheness's. Local sword shops only have the Hanwei Nami, Gorin and Tsuru. and these iaito's are overpriced.

the Nyumon is used alot by everyone at our dojo. so would it be better to just spend a 100 dollars more for this?

also whats the maintenance like on an aluminum alloy blade?

 

[Sukerkin]

I was going to suggest getting a Tozando iaito but them I re-read the OP and remembered you were after an inexpensive one . They still might be worth a look for you, as their range is quite wide and their quality very good.

As to maintainence on an alloy blade, it's very easy. Just clean it off with choji before every use and it should be fine.

If you don't use a lot of oil and always move (the cloth) from tsuba to kissaki then you wont get any oil under the seppa or habaki and so wont have to disassemble the tsuka.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Tozando makes nice iaito. However, I would probably go with what is being used in your dojo. $300 is a drop in the bucket and it is probably a better quality iaito than the cheness one.

As Sukerkin says and alloy blade is easily maintained.

This probably is the way to go for you at this point in your training.

 

[jks9199]

One comment...

You almost certainly won't regret spending a little more and getting decent quality instead of going cheap and getting something that'll end up inadequate, causing you to spend more down the road. I'm not saying that you need to buy a thousand dollar plus, top notch, custom made iaito to start training with from day one, but a couple of hundred now, versus a hundred now, and another hundred again in a few months, then a couple hundred down the road -- you might as well spend the couple hundred in the firs place.

 

[futabachan]

the cheapest steel iaito i can find is probably the cheness type 8 27'' iaito.

im wondering if anyone has any experience with this iaito.

I have the 29" "delux" iaito. When I showed it to sensei, he characterized it as a "good strong sword" with a "nice zori" -- and too heavy for a beginning student. It's packed away until I develop better te no uchi; it's plain but the fittings are all nice and tight, and it'll be a reasonable choice in a few more ranks when I'm preparing to switch to a shinken.

If you get a Cheness, get the "delux" line, and not the bottom-of-the-line ones. The "delux" iaitos, among other things, correct the tsuka core problems that were reported with the basic line. Other than the weight (1080 g or so), my only real complaints are with the saya and the cheap alloy fuchigana and tsuka gashira.

More importantly, have you spoken to your sensei about the correct length for you? That's probably the single most important factor in selecting an iaito, other than avoiding wall hangers and stainless steel. You'd probably be best off with an Al-Zn alloy mogito (Tozando sells some rather nice ones) of the correct length.

Which style are you studying?

 

[pgsmith]

Seeing as how the original poster started this thread a year ago, and his account is now listed as closed, I sorta doubt he's gonna answer you.

Cheers,