Joseph W. Bott, Author (1931 - 2013)

Having had a lifelong interest in weapons Joe bought his first Japanese sword in Wiesbaden, Germany in 1952 while in the Army. He was immediately struck by the beauty of its mountings and characteristics, which were evident in the steel structure of its blade. These clearly distinguished it from other sword blades which Joe was familiar with. After some close examination, Joe decided to investigate further, this experience led to a life time study of The Sword of Japan.

Joe was a founding member of the Japanese Sword Society of Southern California (Nanka Token Kai) and was a member of several other sword societies over the years. During this time, he met and became friends with John Yumoto, Albert Yamanaka, Yasu Kizu and Bob Haynes in California and somewhat later, Bumpei Usui in New York. These men gave form and substance to a field which until that time had remained a total mystery to most of the collectors he knew and especially to himself as well.

During his 60 years of collecting, Joe has held and studied well over a thousand swords, helped organize sword exhibitions, invested several entire vacations cataloging the Japanese swords in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (before anyone else), attended many shows and in his early years studied under Mr. Yasu Kizu. He encountered and assisted many collectors and realized by not having access to sword societies and advanced collectors, these collectors were losing interest and learning incorrect facts. He wrote this book to give newer collectors an inexpensive guide on what is important for sword collecting and what resources exist. A significant amount of information was added so newer collectors do not need to buy a half dozen books to get started. More experienced collectors will like having the time period charts, kanji tables and terminology definitions available in one source.

Robert F. McCoy Jr.,  Project Manager, Co-Author

Bob started collecting Japanese swords in 1990 while practicing Aikido in Northern Colorado and like many new collectors, was given his first sword by a family member. Living in an area with no Japanese sword clubs during an era just prior to the Internet, information on Japanese swords was hard to come by. This book, The Sword of Japan, would have saved him significant time by providing a jump start and a way to discover what resources existed. He joined the Northern California Japanese Sword Club (NCJSC) in the late 1990's and after moving to Northern California started attending monthly meetings. In 2006 he became the NCJSC newsletter editor, photographer and publisher.

After moving to California, Bob was introduced to Joe Bott while visiting another sword collector in Los Angeles. This meeting led to years of sword study sessions, during these visits it became clear that one of Joe's dreams was to publish a book that provided guidance for new collectors and gave him the opportunity to share his 60 years of sword collecting experience. The subsequent years were spent assisting Joe in realizing this dream. Several times per year over a three year period, Bob traveled to Los Angeles for a week at a time, working 16 hour days to complete the book. The book was published in Late July, 2013 and first introduced to the public at the annual Japanese Sword show hosted by the Northern California Japanese Sword Club (www.ncjsc.org) during the first weekend of August. Seventy copies of the book were sold in the first day and a half.

As project manager, and co-author, the work included photography, graphics, publishing, marketing, webpage and editorial work. Bob continues development and growth of this book, which will always be offered at cost to support Joe's wish to make the book widely available.