I like Shureido weapons as well. I have bought enough “stuff” from them to send Nakasone’s kid to Harvard and Oxford. (Nakasone owns Shureido).
I have two stories which I will relate that are similar in nature but come from to different arts.
When I was in Taiwan I studied brush painting. I wanted to buy a new brush and asked the owner of the brush shop which one was the best one for me. He said “they are all just fine for you”. I thought what kind wise cracker is this guy…..I asked again. He said look and picked up a junky brush that was about $1 and started to paint an excellent piece of work (for me anyway), then picked up a brush that cost $500 and painted the same thing just as well. He said “it’s not the brush but the artist”. Iliked his honesty because he could have sold me the $500 brush and my work would have sucked just as much as if I had bought the $1 brush.
Years ago I was in the dojo and my teacher said almost the same thing. “a true warrior should be able to pick up any weapon and use it well” (a weapon that he knows)
For these two reasons I have never been in to “custom made weapons”.
Believe me when I hit someone with a weapon it’s gonna hurt and I doubt they will care if it was “custom made” or not.
If I am not mistaken Musashi said something to the effect that weapons should be sturdy and for serious use and not “decorative”.
[CENTER]Robert Rousselot
[B][I]Yeah, I’m humble…..I’m just not obsequious--- me [/I][/B]
[B][I]Human behavior flows from three main sources; desire, emotion, and knowledge --- Plato[/I][/B][/CENTER]