Samurai Swords - A Collector's Guide: A Comprehensive Introduction to History, C

Title: Samurai Swords - A Collector's Guide: A Comprehensive Introduction to History, Collecting and Preservation - Of the Japanese SwordAuthor: Sinclaire, ClivePublisher: Tuttle PublishingBinding: HardcoverPages: 192Dimensions: 12.00h x 9.30w x 1.00dProduct Weight: 3.1 lbs.Language: EnglishISBN: 9784805314579Japanese swords, particularly those wielded by famous samurai warriors, hold a continuing fascination for collectors of fine arts and historical military weapons. This book is designed to enhance one's appreciation for the wide variety of Japanese swords (as well as their related polearms), their manufacture and their preservation. A fascinating opening chapter explains how the elite Samurai class dominated Japan for more than a thousand years, how technological and ideological advances overtook the Samurai in the 1860s, heralding a more up-to-date political and military system of governance, and how such changes affected Samurai sword design and manufacture. Subsequent c