After my first experience purchasing something from Nihonzashi, I had to write a review of them. I actually shocked no one else has yet, and I get to be the first. I will make the caveat that my review is in reference to my phone and online interactions with Nihonzashi as I have never been to their physical location.
I've known about Nihonzashi for about 9 years, when I first started practicing iaido, but never purchased anything from them. I do have a friend who ordered his first iaito from them, and when his tsuka ito started to unwrap he mentioned the ease at which they repaired it for half off since he bought it through them. So I knew they had a good reputation by word of mouth.
So next comes to my first phone call. I've been looking at their tetsubo for a long time, but never bit the bullet to buy it. I wasn't sure what size I should get. The pictures on their site didn't really give me enough guidance on the size. They have some schematics, but I really wanted to make sure I was buying something reasonable to wield (even though the likelihood that I would is zero).
I make the phone call and probably asked them more questions about it than I think any reasonable person would. I hope I didn't annoy them, but again I wanted to make sure I was going to be happy with my purchase since it is a custom item. They answered all of my questions though. During this call they did mention it could be about a month wait since it is a custom and it was right in the holiday season.
Next day I go for it and place the order. And that 1 month wait time? We can blow that out of the water, as it arrived just 8 calendar days later, 4 days before Christmas. Amazing!
This leads me to my next phone call though. I actually ordered another small item with the tetsubo, which was nowhere to be found in the box or on the invoice that came with the tetsubo. So I wasn't sure if it was backordered or anything like that. I called them up, they remembered who I was and immediately realized their error. Honest mistake with the holiday rush. They pulled it off the shelf while I was on the phone with them and said they'd ship it day after Christmas. But all my phone conversations with Nihonzashi have been super cordial and a pleasure.
They have definitely sold me on being their customer in the future with their pleasant demeanor and courtesy.
For reference to anyone else, I ordered the smallest tetsubo, 48" long at 1 7/8" inch wide with an 18" long 1 3/8ths inch wide straight handle with knob. It is not a single piece of wood, it is laminated wood, but it is beautiful to behold. I pictured it next to a Cold Steel polypropylene bokken for reference. Weight came in at 5.6 lbs. The point of balance is about 8 rivets up from the top of the handle. It's definitely well constructed. And beefy to say the least. 5 lbs doesn't seem like a lot, but with the balance being so far forward it makes it feel a lot heavier. It's much larger than a suburito and more analogous to a tanren bo. This is not something you should swing for the fences with like a baseball bat.
I am about 5'9" and 185 lbs. I can't imagine average size people wielding the biggest, which could weigh 11 lbs. read more