Recently we have made some changes that have been implemented by Bugei Trading Company, Morgan Valley Forge, and Legacy Arts to our unique relationship, in an effort to continue the progress and success of all our work. These changes have been long and hard thought in order to continue to bring the very best work possible to our customers with the ever-present state of mind for constant improvement not only to the swords themselves, but how they come to be created and available.

In the past, Bugei Trading Company has provided a somewhat “one stop shopping” environment for custom made swords. At the onset of this program at Bugei many years ago, this was ideal for folks when availability for such things was for the most part non-existent, and commissioning a custom sword was next to impossible. Bugei made a service of taking all the footwork out of assembling a sword from scratch and making it easy for a client to purchase a custom sword without all the problems of dealing with several people, even if they could be found at all. This proved to be a popular and successful in a time when custom swords were almost unknown outside of Japan.

Today, the clientele is more educated, involved, and sophisticated when it comes to swords and the craftsman involved. It is only natural that the clientele seek to work with those craftsmen that are known in the sword community on a more direct basis, and true this is fairly standard in just about every genre of custom items. It is therefore time for us to respond to those needs of the customer, those of ourselves as craftsmen, and Bugei as a one stop-shopping environment.

Bugei, Morgan Valley Forge, and Legacy Arts have given much thought to this in an effort to be able to better streamline the process. Most customers want to speak with the craftsmen on a one on one basis. Many Customers also have requested the ability to obtain only certain work from one craftsman, i.e. a bare blade L6 or 1086 from Howard Clark, instead of having to purchase it directly from Bugei in a completed state. Others may want complex mountings that can only realistically be arranged directly with Legacy. These reasons and more, make the old way somewhat obsolete and cumbersome. So as the saying goes “the only constant in the universe, is change”. So we evolved to a new method of providing our services to everyone, that should both simplify the process a bit, and bring the preferred method of service and the extent of them, to those who desire them.

Bugei will continue to offer the work of M.V.F. and Legacy, but this will be on a finished and immediately available basis. Bugei shall be in the position of having finished works occasionally on hand for immediate placement that are works by the craftsmen that were born of those craftsmen’s design as well. These will indeed still be custom works as they will be individually made and not “cookie cutter” designs by any means. Outside of this, should a customer desire to “commission” a work of specific design, they will now have the ability to go directly to M.V.F. and Legacy to commission those works from either. This leaves the customer to make decisions on the direction they desire to take regarding their sword and whom they would like to be involved. In addition, Keith Larman of Summerchild Polishing will be taking a more active participation in the creation of swords for Bugei, and continue to assist Legacy in providing scheduled mounting and polishing services. Keith is a welcomed member of the team and will be another asset to the entire goal, as well as yet another confident source of excellent polishing and mounting services for Bugei Trading and commission works.

No doubt there will be some concerns from those whom have a position scheduled with Bugei for a custom work already. There won’t be any changes in this procedure, and those already scheduled will run their normal course as originally arranged. Those that are referred to Legacy or M.V.F. will be placed in a scheduled position in order of priority beyond those commitments already made on Bugei’s schedule. As an example, given the work that is currently scheduled in the queue for Bugei, should someone contact Legacy to commission a job, the first available position will be June of 2006, which respects and accommodates all currently scheduled work. If someone whom is requesting specific work contacts Bugei, they will be referred directly to the respective craftsman for those services.

The relationship that has flourished between Bugei, Morgan Valley Forge, and Legacy Arts will continue on in the future. The growth of the team through the addition of individuals like Jesse Pelayo of Legacy Arts, and Keith Larman of Summerchild is a welcomed response to add talented people for the demand for quality works. We share and enjoy the patronage of a community of customers that has provided us all with the ability to continue to improve and expand our crafts and services to ever better levels, in a field of occupation we thrive in and enjoy. We always look for the best ways to serve those customers and provide them with the very finest swords and services. The future holds great promise for our customers and our crafts and we thank all of our customers past, present, and future for their confidence and support.