I know that in April 2008 a law was passed which banned the import of Japanese samurai swords, but I heard there were a few exceptions:
1. Religious reasons
2. Theatrical, museum, re-enactment and traditional dance purposes
3. "hand forged" or "traditionally made" swords
4. antique swords made before the 2nd world war
The sword I want to buy from eBay is HAND FORGED and made out of high-quality carbon steel. Does this give me an exception, and the USA-based seller can ship me the item without problems?
I was thinking of calling Customs and having a long talk with them about exemptions to this rule just to make sure there wouldn't be any problems, but I'd rather not go through that whole process and hopefully someone here can answer my question.
Get advice as these now count as offensive weapons, if you are not actively involved in any of the categories i.e. not in a theatrical group, or a member of a Japanese religion, you may have problems.
full hand carbon steel practical sharp forged japanese samurai tanto sword #TU06, 41" Hand Forged Japanese Samurai Sword KATANA Folded Steel Full Tang Blade SHARP, Sharp Hand forged Full Tang Blade Japanese Samurai Wakizashi sword Dragon Tsuba, Hand Forged Japanese Samurai Katana Sword Carbon steel Blade SharkSkin Saya, Hand forged Black Japanese Samurai Wakizashi sword Sharp Carbon Steel Blade, High Carbon Steel Full Tang Blade Hand Forged Japanese Samurai Sword Katana, Hand Forged Japanese Samurai Katana Sword Dragon Tsuba Sharp Blade, 42" Hand Forged Folded Damascus 4500 Layers Japanese Samurai Katana Sword New, REAL Japanese Wakizashi Samurai Sword FORGED w/VIDEO, Hand Forged Japanese Samurai Sword Tiger Lily Katana Iaito FULL CUSTOMIZATION, full hand practical carbon steel balde forged japanese samurai tanto sword #TU05, full hand tang carbon steel blade sharp forged Japanese samurai tanto sword#TU08, practical carbon steel forged japanese sword samurai wakizashi sharp ES-A201, full hand practical new carbon steel forged japanese samurai wakizashi sword W04, Hand forged Butterfly Tsuba Japanese Samurai Wakizashi swordCarbon Steel Blade, Hand forged Black Japanese Samurai Wakizashi sword Sharp Carbon Steel Blade, 42" Hand Forged Folded Damascus 4500 Layers Japanese Samurai Katana Sword New, Sharp Hand forged Full Tang Blade Japanese Samurai Wakizashi sword Dragon Tsuba, Hand Forged Japanese Samurai Katana Sword Carbon steel Blade SharkSkin Saya, Hand Forged Japanese Samurai Katana Sword Dragon Tsuba Sharp Blade, High Carbon Steel Full Tang Blade Hand Forged Japanese Samurai Sword Katana, Hand Forged Folded Steel Japanese Samurai Shirasaya Ninja Sword Sharp Edge, hand forged red japanese samurai katana flower tsuba sharpened blade fully tang , hand forged japanese samurai katana golden dragon tsuba sharpened blade sword, 42" Hand Forged Folded Damascus 4500 Layers Japanese Samurai Katana Sword New, 42" Hand Forged Folded Damascus 4500 Layers Japanese Samurai Katana Sword New, japanese samurai wakizashi sword forged CARBON STEEL razor sharp groove ES-A207 , full hand practical carbon steel blade forged japanese samurai wakizashi swordW3, fully hand practical carbon steel sharp forged japanese samurai tanto sword TU04, fully hand practical carbon steel sharp forged japanese samurai tanto sword TU04,
