Samurai Swords

By Clive Sinclaire
Read: May 2010
Ratings: Pleasurable

My senior thesis was a story rooted in Japanese mythology surrounding  sword smithing. I spent years working on this thing, and have done a lot of research. Of course, I wasn’t able to lay my hands on anything really useful in the months leading up to my due date. When browsing B&N’s clearance shelves I spotted this, and had to keep myself from screaming “FINALLY!”

To my great pleasure, the book includes a fairly sizable reprint of the goddess my story focuses on. More importantly, it goes into the lives and traditions of the people who made the swords. I learned a good deal and ideas were sparked.

The book’s downfall is in its format and its editing. I get the distinct impression that the book is comprised of essays Sinclaire has written for other purposes, now brought together in one volume. Facts and phrases are repeated across sections, indicating that little editing was done for cover-to-cover readability. There are also careless typos lying around. I’m left to wonder how involved the editor was at all, as a good number of the photos are of very poor quality and noticeably blurry. These are usually of modern settings and people, not the swords.

But I can forgive this. Because many of the swords themselves are exquisite. I could gaze at those photos for hours.

I feel that I now have a working guide to go forward with.