SHIBUI    SWORDS

The Japanese concept of Shibui is a fascination of ultimate beauty. Honorable wear in normal care and use imparts an aura that is the ultimate in desirability. To experience a well preserved work of art (Sword/ Tsuba) that has seen honest wear and use (for which it was intended) and to be able to place it within a recognizable frame of reference is to me the ultimate in collecting.

Welcome to SHIBUI SWORDS, my name is Elliott Long. I became involved with Antique Japanese Swords (Nihon-To) in 2004. During this continual study period, my appreciation for other fields of Japanese Art expanded as you will soon realize. There is an essence and a quality about 'Intellectualism' that renews and inspires. In any field of study, it is knowledge that serves to transmit among a single generation of students, as well as from one generation to the next, the values, insights, culture and aesthetics which surround that field. In a field as explicit and highly detailed as Nihon no Bijutsu, education is the means by which the art form under attention is preserved and protected. Knowledge is essential and the obligation of every student of Japanese Art. Education need not, for every student, be developed in published form, though such endeavors are more within every student's means than most would suspect. Education of care, open communication, curiosity, unselfish use of knowledge, and mutual support and respect, is required of everyone who would aspire to be a real student. Japanese Arts are not only functional but represent an art form made by people in the pursuit of perfection who did not accept limitations. This kind of desire to produce the best possible object is something I respect and admire. Every piece of art has something to teach; it is like a library, no matter how many books you read there is no substitute for art which displays what the books can only reference. Yet, on the other hand you may not understand a 'work of art' without reference material or the teaching of someone with knowledge of that piece. It makes learning the basics even more important in order to stay clear of the self-proclaimed "experts" who have an answer to everything and true knowledge of nothing.

How to Order or Receive More Information

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ShibuiSword Bijutsu Gallery

Nihonto UPDATED (10/10/2011)

Shibui Swords Tsuba UPDATED (12/25/2011)

Robert E. Haynes Tsuba UPDATED (12/23/2011)

Koshirae

Robert E. Haynes

These Web Pages (Sponsered by Shibui Swords) Authorized by Robert E. Haynes.

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ShibuiSword 'Handmade' Accessories

Visit www.cathappycreations.com to see all Handmade Fabric Items. See Koshirae & Tsuba bags HERE

Wood Stands for Swords Tsuba and Matchlocks

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Shibui Swords Toshokan
UPDATED Library Sections & Additions (07/29/2011)

Shibui Swords Primer of Japanese Art History
 

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SAMURAI

Religions of the Samurai

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CHANOYU
is a meditative ritual involving a group of participants and a gathering of objects, the ultimate purpose of which is to reveal the profound sacredness at the foundation of the everyday acts of our lives: of eating, drinking, moving and interacting with people and objects. It is a lesson in the art of living fully and deeply, experiencing and gratefully appreciating the everyday miracles of existence.

See Japanese Ceramics Gallery for Chawan (Tea Bowls)

Japanese Ceramics & Art Objects

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Shibui Swords Bijutsu Gakko and Study Guide

Articles, papers, essay's and descriptions of Nihon-to, Tsuba, and other subjects are included in the Study Guide along with other educational web-sites.

Study, as I have, the great Unifier's of Japan.

History of Japan, prior to 1900

Pre 1900 Kamakura Japan

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"It is said that true beauty is to be found when a person completes in his or her own mind that which is incomplete". "When one considers that action is an expression of spirit, then the way to bring one's actions to a peak of perfection is to refine the heart that lies within".

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How to Order or Receive More Information

DISCLAIMER

E-mail to Shibui Swords

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Member of:

JSS/US.
NCJSC.
Obukan Kendo Club.

It is with both pride and humility, my fond hope that this web-site may prove as stimulating to the viewer as it's production was to me, especially when I studied the multiform landscape of an ancient culture and the often tragic but brave attempts of its subjects to cope with the demands of a harsh reality. Confronted as we are today with social and political turbulence, living under the moment-to-moment threat of catastrophe, all studies of man's experience in the art of violent confrontation have acquired a particular relevancy. Almost everyone seems to agree that we must attempt to determine whether man will be forever trapped by his apparently constitutional inclination to employ any method, however lethal, to ensure his dominance over his fellow man, or whether he may be capable of ritualizing and then ultimately, transforming that pattern. In this endeavor, thoughtful studies of man's past, with all its pitfalls and bloody errors, may prove to be a necessary and valuable factor in the final equation.

SHOGUN WEBDESIGN