Bura, the Royal Kami.

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DarthTaco123

DarthTaco123

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I recently watched a YouTube video where the poster claimed that Bura being a royal Kami is just a marketing ploy by Himalayan Imports. Of course this guy is also a bit of a tora blades fan as well. Personally I'm inclined to believe that Bura is/was the royal kami but what's your guys' take on it?

The YouTuber demands proof before he'd consider it being something beyond a marketing ploy.
 
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I'm quite certain that HI isn't big on Marketing ploys as it were.

Some folks will just question anything at all. Heck the other day some dweeb tried to tell me the earth was round!

Where do these people come from.
 
The accusations are petty because Hi doesn't use the "royal kami" tag as a marketing ploy, but as an expression of respect and affection. The quality of Bura's blades speak for themselves, and Bura obviously has the respect of the other kamis. Even after his first stroke Bura produced some magnificent blades (and beautifully engraved handles), and he trained some of the best of the current kamis, such as Yuvraj.

Bill Martino once pointed out in a post that the title of "royal kami" was something like "royal barber" or "royal tailor." It simply meant that he made knives for the Nepal royal family (when there still was a royal family). He might not have been the only one making their knives, but obviously they could have had any kami they wanted, so this was an honor and a recommendation.

The guy who runs Tora blades seems to have animosity toward HI, for whatever reasons, and the rivalry (if you can call it that) has rubbed off on some of the Tora fans. The person "demanding proof" should rather take a close look at a sampling of Bura blades, instead of focusing on the title or credentials.
 
davidf99 said:
The accusations are petty because Hi doesn't use the "royal kami" tag as a marketing ploy, but as an expression of respect and affection. The quality of Bura's blades speak for themselves, and Bura obviously has the respect of the other kamis. Even after his first stroke Bura produced some magnificent blades (and beautifully engraved handles), and he trained some of the best of the current kamis, such as Yuvraj.

Bill Martino once pointed out in a post that the title of "royal kami" was something like "royal barber" or "royal tailor." It simply meant that he made knives for the Nepal royal family (when there still was a royal family). He might not have been the only one making their knives, but obviously they could have had any kami they wanted, so this was an honor and a recommendation.

The guy who runs Tora blades seems to have animosity toward HI, for whatever reasons, and the rivalry (if you can call it that) has rubbed off on some of the Tora fans. The person "demanding proof" should rather take a close look at a sampling of Bura blades, instead of focusing on the title or credentials.
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Exactly! :thumbup::D
 
My take is that Uncle Bill's integrity and honesty are evident, so there is no cause for doubting his word. Perhaps some people are projecting their own nature, and their own marketing ploy mentality, onto Uncle Bill? I don't know what's up with that.

Demands for unrefutable written proof, such as a list of royal appointments like they do in England, are probably unrealistic in a country like Nepal. I'd bet it was all done by word of mouth, with local oral history about the king's men coming to get a khukuri made for him.


Written by Bill Martino, 12/20/2000:

The Royal everything. Random thought for today.

If anybody does anything for the king of Nepal this person becomes a "royal" something or other.

For example, the dentist who used to work on my teeth in Nepal also worked on the teeth of the royal family and was called the Royal Dentist.

The king kept a couple of cows on his palace grounds so he and family would have fresh milk daily. The fellow who tended the cows was called the Royal Cowboy.

The barber who went to the palace to cut the king's hair was called the Royal Barber.

In Swayambu the Newari fellow who owned the house where Yangdu and I rented an apartment worked at the palace running the king's computer, the first computer in Nepal. He was called the Royal Programmer.

And so it goes -- royal mechanic, gardener, maid, driver, butler, cook, janitor, bartender, dish washer, and so on ad infinitum.

What has this to do with khukuris? Well, Bura is the Royal Kami and he makes a few khukuris for us.

from http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/157250-The-Royal-everything-Random-thought-for-today


Written by Bill Martino, 6/19/2001:

I don't know for sure how anything Royal works in Nepal -- especially now and under the present circumstances. But, my guess is the king himself does little or no searching for a royal anything. Members of the Royal Staff would do that and my guess is that the lower eschelon Royals that do this or that never even meet the king. The Royal Gardener, Royal Cowboy, Royal Carpenter, etc. just do their jobs. And, I don't know about the pay but I doubt if it is much better than anywhere else.

When I lived in Swayambu my landlord was the Royal Computer Programmer and he almost never saw the king and his pay was not much better than he'd receive working at Nepal Bank or some such place.

from http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/157956-Next-Royal-Kami


Out of curiosity, I did an online search for
"royal dentist" nepal
and found the Royal Dental Center in Texas:

"My father was the first dentist in Nepal and was the Royal Dentist for three generations of the Royal Family. I was the 26th dentist in Nepal and have over 35 years of experience!"

Sounds more like an interesting historical fact related to his family background, instead of a "ploy". Even though I don't know this dentist, I still don't cynically assume that he's making this up.
 
We'll say he's a sweet man from a tropical place. It's too bad I had to see that video but overall his content isn't bad.
 
It just seems like a petty marketing ploy to try and devalue the qualities of your competition-- like I have heard the "other guy" claim 3 entirely different things when confronted about why HI is the only khukuri company that has kami marks and allows the makers such exposure .

My point being that only HI turns out the quality product in the traditional way , all others use mass production to some level or another, otherwise it would be as easy as it is for HI to put marks on the blade letting us know who did what.

these are the 3 things he has claimed when asked about why the other company cannot manage to get kami marks

1. HI sued the other guy for copy right infringement and won in court so nobody else in the USA can use Kami marks on any khukuri
2. HI kami marks are not traditional and the other guy wanted to be faithful to traditions so they do not allow low caste kami to mark blades
3. HI kami marks are a marketing ploy and they actually do things just like " the other guy"

fact is that HI is the only company that makes handmade khuks in a mostly traditional way, enough that you can see the personal touch of the kami in every blade he makes.

I know most people like to be kind and what not but really do not like him or the other company because they market by attacking the history and heritage of a company that was here first and still does it better. they claim bura does not have the credit of being the royal kami, I say look at his work, nothing proves it better than that.

and the other guy is nothing but a spokesperson for that other company, his entire aim when on these forums was to sell blades from the other guy, and went about it in a most disrespectful and vile way.
 
Well the sweet man deleted my comment string even though he was the one with the wrong and misleading information.
 
yeah I am banned from his channels ,why I was banned is where I got his various explanations on why HI is the only company that manages to let us know who makes our knives and give them the respect they are due as makers.

nobody else can do the kami marks because nobody else lets the kami make the blade from start to finish like HI does, in the traditional way; if I owned enough other company blades I am willing to bet my best HI blades that I could see no difference in the various individual blades, because they were in large part factory produced, with stock and worked on by a multitude from start to finish to save time and money.
 
At least we have youtubers like Nutnfancy giving us all a good name! Of course they're are the other guys' trolls on that video as well. People fail to research before they open their mouths it seems!
 
eh trolls can't fade superior product and best customer service that god ever put on this green earth. I am bias though, that is entirely true because I do not own any other company at all, but I know HI is the only one with kami marks and tasteful devangari trademarks.
 
I've used the "other guy's" blades, and those either had poor HT's and warped like crazy, chipped, or I wasn't able to get a response from their customer service. Here the blades are near perfect every time, the HT is flawless, and auntie does her best to get ahold of you ASAP.
 
Wow! I didn't know this sort of animosity existed in the blade world. I stumbled upon HI years ago after wanting a khukuri for many years and called and auntie returned my call and spent the time to explain some things to me. After doing a lot of reading and purchasing my first blade which I eventually handed down to my son after purchasing several more.....I have grown to love these knives and the unique original designs and quality. It's more of a spiritual thing for me now. I will always support HI . So boooooo to the neigh Sayers . Blessings to Auntie , the kamis and their families.
 
Well. Whoever they are, they didn't even show up as a possible shop when I did my initial khukuri search.
 
DarthTaco123 said:
At least we have youtubers like Nutnfancy giving us all a good name! Of course they're are the other guys' trolls on that video as well. People fail to research before they open their mouths it seems!
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HA! Nutnfancy's HI review is what sealed the deal for me to get a khuk from Himalayan Imports. I held a M-43 someone had before & thought, "WOW. This is nice.", but never committed to a buy, b/c I was still on the fence about there lasting quality. Then came the Nutn review. & here I am. With an HI khuk.
 
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