new iaito: Tozando or Nine circles?

[O. Uyttenhove]

Hi,

After several years of practice with a cheaper one, I am in the market for a new iaito.
I searched the web, asked my sempai and my teacher and I've come up with two possibilities: the custom iaito from Tozando or the one from Nine circles. They both have benefits and disadvantages.
The Tozando iaito I can customize with a sendan style saya but they don't have the fuchi/kashira I like.
The one from 9circles has the fuchi kashira but don't have the sendan saya.
In the end, the most important thing for me in an iaito is the quality of the blade (balance) and the quality of the tsuka-ito and the fittings. As far as I've read the quality of the tsuka-ito and the fittings are equally good with both suppliers. My doubt mainly concerns the balance of the blade and the practical use of a sendan saya..
Two of my sempai have an iaito from tozando, one other has one from 9circles. While the first two are happy about their iaito, they prefer the iaito from 9circles because of a much better balance.
Does every blade from the same supplier has the same balance? Is there anyone who has had good or bad experiences with Tozando or Nine circles, or with the sendan saya?
can anyone help me make my decision?

Thank you and sorry for the mistakes in English.

Best regards,
Olivier Uyttenhove

[DesUK]

Hi,

After several years of practice with a cheaper one, I am in the market for a new iaito.
I searched the web, asked my sempai and my teacher and I've come up with two possibilities: the custom iaito from Tozando or the one from Nine circles. They both have benefits and disadvantages.
The Tozando iaito I can customize with a sendan style saya but they don't have the fuchi/kashira I like.
The one from 9circles has the fuchi kashira but don't have the sendan saya.
In the end, the most important thing for me in an iaito is the quality of the blade (balance) and the quality of the tsuka-ito and the fittings. As far as I've read the quality of the tsuka-ito and the fittings are equally good with both suppliers. My doubt mainly concerns the balance of the blade and the practical use of a sendan saya..
Two of my sempai have an iaito from tozando, one other has one from 9circles. While the first two are happy about their iaito, they prefer the iaito from 9circles because of a much better balance.
Does every blade from the same supplier has the same balance? Is there anyone who has had good or bad experiences with Tozando or Nine circles, or with the sendan saya?
can anyone help me make my decision?

Thank you and sorry for the mistakes in English.

Best regards,
Olivier Uyttenhove

Iam in the process of getting a new Iaito myself as I have been using one that has been some what smaller for my height. I'll more than likely get one from Nine Cirlces as I was told by a friend of mine when purchasing a sword from Tozando to the UK, he had it crushed by the British authorities because of the legal implications involving swords at the time (long story!) but I have been told that Tozando also do good swords. See what others say on the forum. I take it you have been to both websites and compared the various types of Iaitos on offer?

[Maro]

If it was crushed, it would have been due to not enough information being provided to customs. If your friend was a member of a training group, they should reimburse him.

Iaito are not illegal in the UK.

Tozando will also swap out most things like tsuba etc on request.

[planet X]

From my experience, suppliers have iaito of varying weight. I would not expect all of the swords from a single supplier to weigh the same.

Nicholas Wilson

[O. Uyttenhove]

Nicolas,

It's not the weight i'm worried about but the balance...

Olivier Uyttenhove

[nico storm]

Iam in the process of getting a new Iaito myself as I have been using one that has been some what smaller for my height. I'll more than likely get one from Nine Cirlces as I was told by a friend of mine when purchasing a sword from Tozando to the UK, he had it crushed by the British authorities because of the legal implications involving swords at the time (long story!) but I have been told that Tozando also do good swords. See what others say on the forum. I take it you have been to both websites and compared the various types of Iaitos on offer?

This incident also occurred bang on the ban being introduced before we really had much information about how to the ban would work for martial artists. It was an unfortunate incident, but as Maro stated, this should not happen as long as you can supply the correct documents proving you are an active member of a recognised MA organisation.

[pgsmith]

Does every blade from the same supplier has the same balance?

Tozando is a reseller, and does not actually make any of their swords themselves, very much like Nine Circles. As I understand it, the various series tend to come from different makers, and all of the blades in a series will generally tend to balance pretty closely to the same.