Samurai Swords - A Collector's Guide: A Comprehensive Introduction to History, Collecting and Preservation by Clive Sinclaire

Samurai Swords - A Collector's Guide: A Comprehensive Introduction to History, Collecting and Preservation by Clive Sinclaire-This is a hardcover, 192 page book published by Tuttle publishing in 2016.This book opens with a fascinating chapter that explains how the elite Samurai class dominated Japan for more than a thousand years. And how technological and ideological advances overtook the Samurai in the 1860s, heralding a more up-to-date political and military system of governance. These changes greatly affected Samurai sword design and manufacture. Subsequent chapters present topics of greatest relevance to today's sword collector: namely, the modern Japanese sword; different types of swords and their construction and testing; collecting and studying Japanese swords (and the tremendously important etiquette involved); and techniques of preserving and polishing swords. This book is beautifully illustrated with paintings, photographs, drawings, and maps. In addition, there is an in-depth glossary and useful tables explaining Japanese calligraphic symbols relating to swords. The book is in like new condition.