Shin Gunto - Masakazu Kawabe 1095

We pride ourselves on our top-notch customer service. We’re in direct contact with you regarding your order from start to finish. We also send pictures of the finished sword for your approval (and excitement!) before shipping. Other companies may accept orders and rush to fulfill them as soon as possible, whereas all of our swords are hand-forged and made to order by master smiths using the time-honored traditional Japanese & Chinese techniques. These swords are not fashioned on an assembly line; each is crafted with the care & respect the heritage deserves.

We refer to Japanese Quality to emphasize the difference from swords that are Made in China and of low quality & mass produced. All of our swords are fully handmade-to-order in the traditional way they have been forged for many generations. Many Longquan swordsmiths received their knowledge directly from Japanese forges; there is a rich history of information sharing between the two cultures. In these modern times, a Japanese Katana and a Longquan Katana are functionally the same.

Forever guarantee: We stand behind the quality of our swords. After your sword is created at the forge, we will send you pictures and will only ship after your approval. If at any time you have issues with the craftsmanship of your sword, please reach out to us and we will do our best to make things right.

Unless indicated otherwise, every sword is hand-forged and made-to-order for a high-quality & unique product created for you. This intricate process takes 3-4 weeks to complete. We’ll send pictures of your sword by email for confirmation (please whitelist sales@swordsofnorthshire.com to make sure you get our email). Tanto and wakizashi swords usually take around 4 weeks. Highly customized swords such as blades of a custom length or custom painted scabbards will typically take 4-5 weeks. For most orders, we estimate 4-6 weeks from the time the order is submitted to when you receive it. If you need a sword by a specific date or within a shorter time frame, contact us and we can see about prioritizing your order.

We ship to anywhere in the United States for free! For all other countries, we offer a flat shipping rate of $19.

Customers are responsible for customs taxes & duties.

Yes, you can customize every sword on our website. Even if you’re not happy with the existing options available to you, you can request just about any change you could think of. We can change most fittings, wrappings, and blade coloring (black, red, or blue) for free. These kinds of requests can be made in the order comments section during checkout. If what you need done is more complex and might cost extra, please contact us with your request. If you make a request in the comments section when ordering your sword and it happens to cost extra we’ll kindly follow-up and explain the cost difference and send an invoice for the cost if you’re happy with it.

Yes we've recreated many customer's favorite swords, please send details and pictures to sales@swordsofnorthshire.com and we’ll let you know about the possibilities and quote.