Token Kai

I believe I should attend a sword collectors show in order to expand my knowledge of the art. The closest one to me (I live in Detroit) that I seem to be able to find is in Chicago. Is there one closer to Detroit by chance? or should I just make the trip to Chicago?

(BTW, does "Token Kai" refer to the show itself? or some organization?)

Token Kai refers to the show. The organization is the NBTHK (Nihon Bijutsu Token Hozon Kyokai)American Branch ... http://www.nbthk-ab.org/index.htm

As far as I know, there are three Japanese sword shows, one in San Francisco, one in Florida, and the one in Chicago. When you start thinking about how far it is, remember that it's a lot closer for you to go to a show than it is for me! There used to be one in Texas and one in New York, but the Texas one quit a number of years ago, and I haven't heard anything about the New York show in quite some time.

must I be part of the NBTHK in order to attend the Token Kai?

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must I be part of the NBTHK in order to attend the Token Kai?

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Not at all. It IS a good idea to read the NBTHK information on proper etiquette though as it drives vendors crazy, and can make them quite rude, to have someone breathing on and pawing at their $50,000 sword blade.
In addition to the web site for NBTHK, the best place to get more information about Japanese swords and the collecting community is Rich Stein's Japanese Sword Index ... http://www.geocities.com/alchemyst/nihonto.htm

He's got all kinds of information as well as links to more stuff. I get lost in his site for hours!

P.S. I remembered where I had seen an article on etiquette for beginners at token kai ... http://swordforum.com/fall99/etiquette.html