Giant engraved sword is also a Japanese nameplate (plus most awesome home fixture ever)

08:11 cherishe 0 Comments

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If your home truly is your castle, you’ll want this at the entrance to your realm.

I’ve adapted to a lot of local customs during the time I’ve lived in Japan, but one which I’ve never done is put my name on a nameplate in front of my home. Called a hyosatsu in Japanese, you’ll see one in front of virtually every single-family house in the entire country, and also next to the front door of many apartment units.

Honestly, I’m not sure what the benefit is supposed to be, aside from giving passing expat pedestrians a chance to practice their kanji-reading skills. After all, the post office can deliver my mail just fine despite my lack of a nameplate, and as far as personal visits go, if you don’t know me well enough to call me up and ask for my address, I don’t think I want you knocking on my door just because you notice, “Oh, wow, this is where Casey lives!”

Still, nameplates are very much a part of home ownership in Japan. While some are just simple strips of plastic with the family name written on them, you can also get quite intricate with the design. On the daintier end of the spectrum, you can add floral motif decorations, or if you want something more traditionally masculine, you can go with steel and carbon fiber.

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But if you want something that not only says “This is my house,” but also “I might be a level-25 paladin,” you’ll want something like this:

Billed as “The Manly Nameplate: The Legendary Holy Sword,” this stunning creation is the work of Gifu Prefecture nameplate maker Mino Craft. While the company’s catalog is filled with nicely designed pieces (the two nameplates shown earlier are also produced by the company), we don’t think anything else has as much visual impact as the Holy Sword.

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Amazing as it looks, the Holy Sword still does everything homeowners’ expect a hyosatsu to, as the resident’s name is engraved, in both kanji and Latin alphabet letters, on the blade near the crossguard.

▼ While it’s a common enough Japanese family name, we can’t help thinking “Nomura” might have been chosen for this display piece as a nod to Final Fantasy character designer Tetsuya Nomura.

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▼ Although some seemed to be reminded of The Legend of Zelda’s Master Sword.

Most online commenters are in awe of the nameplate’s awesomeness, there have been a few nitpickers pointing to what they see as design flaws. One grumbled that the use of kanji made the inscription look too pedestrian and Japanese for a fantasy setting, while another was displeased that the orientation of the engraving would look odd to someone holding the sword in his hands. Still, we think we could overlook both of those points, especially since having the script positioned as it is allows people to read it without having to stand on their heads.

On the other hand, we do have to agree with the many people who said they’d be constantly tempted to try to pull the sword out of the ground. After all, how else are we supposed to fight Sephiroth/stake our claim as the once and future king?

Really, though, the biggest problem is that Mino Craft’s Holy Sword seems to be a promotional item, as we can’t find it anywhere in the company’s catalog of products for sale. Still, as a for-profit business, we imagine there’s a good chance that the company will custom make a Holy Sword for you, as long as you can negotiate a mutually agreeable price in yen, gold, or dragon teeth.

Follow Casey on Twitter for more ways to make your home look RPG-chic.

Related: Mino Craft
Source: Togech
Top image: Twitter/@tarousa_373 (edited by RocketNews24)
Insert images: Mino Craft (1, 2), Twitter/@tarousa_373 (edited by RocketNews24)

Origin: Giant engraved sword is also a Japanese nameplate (plus most awesome home fixture ever)
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