Leaderboard

Interesting photos of the official Japanese surrender of the weapons in Batavia on 15 May 1946. The allied representative is Major P.A.A. Haining of the Allied H.Q. The Japanese representative is Major-General Nishimura. .

Butterfly menuki in probably gold leaf.

Just for fun, this sweet little Namban just came home and I thought some of you might like it. It's just 61mms by 53mms and in a form that I've never seen but I'm sure Dale can come up with one. All the best.

Note, this is a couple of years old. She also did a day with a smith (Masataka Futsuno); link is at the end of this video. And her shtick seems to be kinda anime clothes (which perhaps isn't so surprising for a youtuber in Japan). Some of it is in English; most in subtitles. Interesting, though very much focused on the general public. Polisher seems like a very nice guy.

KYO SHOAMI TSUBA with bamboo and sparrow:

I have decided to do the patina again after I made the video because there are some ugly spots… But it looks cool in the video so here it is and I don’t think it will change much.

A recent acquisition (following along the greenery theme). -Zac

@Josharic & @Bruce Pennington as noted your swordsmith is from Gifu, Yoshinori” (嘉則), real name Matsuyama Umeharu (松山梅春). He was born Meiji 43 (1910) August 26 and from Nagasumi-cho in Seki-machi. He registered as a Seki swordsmith on Showa 17 (1942) April 9 (age 31). In the 6th Shinsaku Nihontō Denrankai exhibition in 1941 he was ranked as Fifth Seat (5/5). In 1942 there was a list (Banzuke) of around 400 swordsmiths; with around another 44 smiths he was an additional late entry, in the category of Shinshin （新進) ("new comer") (5/5). Some oshigata: 1. Seki Matsuyama Yoshinori saku (Japanese Gendai Swordsmiths). 2. 勇 現代刀業物 関住松山嘉則 軍刀展刀匠第1部新作刀第五席新進 二尺一寸四分五厘 切れ味のいい傑作刀 蔵出し 刀 日本刀(刀、太刀)｜売買されたオークション情報、yahooの商品情報をアーカイブ公開 - オークファン（aucfan.com） (nagasa 65.0 cm, sori 1.1 cm)

Another horse!

Jacques, I respect Zenon's opinion, but why did you not follow his advice? You are not really helpful when you put up the yardstick in unreachable height! Of course you are correct that looking at and handling good blades is the real thing, but what novice can start at this level? And to get a bit more personal: You have a very high level of competence, but how was your own start into this field? Maybe you inherited a collection or had a friendly mentor to guide you? Looking at myself, I did not have opportunities to see or learn from good blades when I started almost 50 years ago. There were just a few books in English available, and they were expensive (and not all were good as I know today). Looking at high-end blades was impossible, and still today, many wealthy collectors keep their treasures well protected and away from curious newbies. Today, I could join the local NBTHK assembly or the only sword-club available but I would have to drive quite far for it - once or twice a year! I think it is not so easy for beginners, and we should encourage them, hoping they will be patient enough for a long learning journey.

Pretty. Both the Uesugi family and the Date clan of Sendai and Uwajima, used bamboo and sparrow arrangements for their kamon, Jean.

Dale 一成 is a different Kanji than 一斎

@Brian Will be back later this fall on a more regular basis here 👍

And just to complete the reference matter, in case anyone is interested. First one is on the Masamune.

True. And also studying paintings is pointless, since the 3D texture of the paintwork is just as important as the design, and the way it is viewed in natural light is the only way to truly appreciate art. And studying ceramics is pointless unless you see them in real life and are able to view and feel the actual surface and textures. And looking at pictures of cars is pointless, you really need to drive them to understand the attraction. Hmm....collecting and studying custom knives is also a waste of time from pics. You need to feel it in hand and appreciate the sharpness and fit and finish. Actually...now that you mention it, collecting and studying anything is really pointless unless we have it in hand. I see now we are all wasting our time. I suggest everyone stop collecting and studying absolutely everything unless you have the chance to see every example in hand. Everyone, stop immediately. Thanks for showing us the light.

I forgot all about this tsuba I bought as part of a job lot from the Albert Newall (artist and antique dealer) collection a few years ago. I think that I have posted it before, but.. At first glance the tsuba appears to be from a European rapier, but the nakago ana shows its Japanese origin. The Japanese had a craze for Portuguese and Spanish armour in the late 16th C (Momoyama) and perhaps this tsuba dates from then. The iron on the inside has become delaminated, which again makes me believe that this tsuba was made from Japanese folded iron. The inside is coated with red lacquer and I think it would be interesting to have this carbon-14 dated. The tsuba is a thin steel wan-gata (tea bowl) shape and has a large inome (boar’s eye) cut into the top. Usually, Japanese tsuba have four inome and the large single one on this tsuba makes me believe it is a European heart shape; the Heart of Jesus being a powerful symbol of the catholic faith. The tsuba is also decorated with gold and silver highlighted engravings, including three phoenixes in gold (sorry about the photo which does not make them clear). The phoenix is a bird that rises from the ashes, i.e. is resurrected, and the Christian panoply of gods is made up of the trio Father, Son and Holy Ghost. So, is this a Christian tsuba? Best regards, John

Here's one from my collection... No animal tsuba yet though! Apologies for the amateur mobile phone photography!

Lesser Cuckoo

@Markus Don't forget to post these specials here on the forum too. We can't always rely on people stumbling across them and posting it here. As you can see, it bears fruit

The appearance of the nakago patina is very unusual, which you can see both where patina runs into the nakago mune and at the habaki-moto (compare with a normal and natural sabigiwa). My impression is that the piece has been repatinated. I'm not trying to put down something that you said was intended to be an inexpensive display piece, just sharing my thoughts as you posted here for feedback.

Good news, Tanobe sensei has agreed to write the sayagaki.

The color is the same on both sides, just a flaw in my pictures. So here enjoy my 360 grams of ignorance just want to share and hear some opinions. Definetly not a masterpiece, but a fun project that really improved some of my skills. So I can’t stop making Tsuba after I started this and will try to share some of my projects here.

Hello NMB members, I have this shishi lion and peonies motif tsuba that has 一斎 mei on the back. However I'm having quite a trouble finding about this mei & tsuba... to be honest, <soft-metal tsuba / shishi lion and peonies motif / signed 一斎 / but doesn't seem like 一斎東明's work> is all I've found. It would be grateful if I could get some teaching from other collectors.

Nothing is as good as a blade in hand, but that video is definitely useful to us newbies as a complement to books and other resources.

Gendai? see Post August 17, 2022

That is lovely work, and very nice patination. Could easily be mistaken for Japanese work.

Hello friends, I’m looking for a translation if you all might help. The blade has a Seki stamp I believe. Looking at references I thought maybe Yoshinori for the smith?

I like the London sale 2014 better than the ebay one.

Umm, in the books vs swords first debate, can I just say it's actually quite hard as a beginner on a budget to feel justified in buying a small library of expensive books and it is also equally (if not harder) to find places that would let you see quality in-polish nihonto, let alone handle them? Yes I understand the value of both now, and have access to the right knowledge through here and my local Token society, but starting out it's a big ask. To be honest I think one of the best free recommendations I'd give is reading through two or three years worth of the threads here and in the military swords section - I learnt a metric tonnes of things just by observing other people's beginner and advanced questions, and it cost me absolutely nothing

Hi Lewis, great job. Enough history and unearthed swords to write a book.. Thought after my old thread it`s work for a little 4 man team including 2 photo specialists to clean and oil and photograph and stay for some days .. I also had the feeling that „some“ treasures waiting for explorers. Best regards

Confirmed by another very respected expert. Shame, it really seems that dealers were offloading blades with gimei to unknowledgeable buyers. The expert inspected a "Sadamune" from the Petermandl collection that was also gimei. Regarding the Masamune he said it was highly suspicious that all the mekugi ana are of a similar size. The suspicion being that the holes were punched at the same time rather than at different points in its history. This had never occurred to me but makes sense if you wanted to deceive and give a blade more historical context than it really experienced. So rather than being a red letter day, its turned out to be a rose coloured one. At least the museum won't feel the pressure to invest large sums to polish the blades.

And another...

First blade I have seen from him: YOSHINORI (嘉則), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Yoshinori” (嘉則), real name Matsuyama Umeharu (松山梅春), ryōkō no jōi (Akihide), Fifth Seat at the 6th Shinsaku Nihontō Denrankai (新作日本刀展覧会, 1941)

https://www.the-sale...71-b410-a41f0107f62c

Placed an order for 7 books. There is a difference between seeing and seeing & understanding. Good reference sources are key for the latter, as well as attending meetings to discuss specific blades and fittings. Hope my HD has enough memory

Further memo's and orders regarding swords. 7th Division HQ memo regarding swords: The below relate to Makassar Force (MAKFORCE) HQ, based in the Celebes. Kendari force orders: Summary of equipment: Results: Appendix F, noting approx. 3950 swords:

Dear Cornelius. I think Yoon has suggested that the signature may bee Nobumitsu rather than Nobuiye. All the best.

Turtles and catfish tsuba

Yes truly an exceptional and unique experience, probably once in a lifetime opportunity to see a 150 year old collection that really hasn't seen the light of day. Bit of an Indiana Jones moment But I think Kirill hit it on the head. There were a lot of low/mid range quality pieces that might have been upsold either through sayagaki attribution or gimei. I'll post the attributions and they should add a little more seasoning to the broth.

Roger that. Yeah, he had a lot of items for sale. Honestly, I bought this as a display piece for our fireplace mantle...more or less to have something "worry free" - But I will enjoy it for what it is. There will be other Nihonto in our future for sure, but I can't justify keeping a more expensive item out in the open. Edit: And now that I have researched this a little bit more, I see what you are talking about. LOL. It's all good, and this wasn't that pricey of a purchase, but caveat emptor. For my fireplace mantle, not unhappy with what it is.

Well you could well be right. Even so I had an absolute blast and got to see the entire collection of 60 blades of which 40 I removed from their shirasaya and inspected. The overall condition I have to say was a little upsetting. The blades have been languishing in a storage room since Anton Petermandl donated them to the museum in the late 19th century. The curator was more than gracious and allowed me to remove the tsuka and inspect the nakago of the 40 blades. I spent 3 hours in the room with the swords that were stored in 4 pull out drawers and could have enjoyed 3 days. When people say old polish that would have described these blades, probably rarely out of their saya in over 100 years. There were 2 Heian era blades and a total of 4 or 5 blades that had signatures. Then we can judge if Albrecht von Roretz had been taken for a ride. The Masamune is in desperate need for a polish. So much Ware and uchiko like scratch patterns it was almost impossible to see the finer detail hiding underneath. At first blush it looked like a good blade, whether it is up to the standard of the top Soshu master is yet to be determined. The motohaba was approx 2.9cm. I will post the photos I took of the sayagaki for the 30 or so blades that had attributions and the Mei on the Nakago. Maybe those more knowledgeable will be able to say who wrote the sayagaki. My first cursory inspection suggested there were maybe 5 blades that could benefit and justify the post of a proper polish. One Bizen blade and what might be a Go seemed especially worthy. Here's a teaser. I was a little perturbed a Masamune would have a copper habaki though.

Scott: Not to disparage your purchase, however that particular seller often, but not always, sells blades with some sort of problem. Not that they aren't real, just that there will be some sort of defect, blemish, or other issue. Just keep that in mind for future purchases. I personally have no problem with buying from him, just know what you are getting and look for the issue. His pictures are generally good enough to look the blade over carefully. Just my two cents. John C.

I enjoyed the video, and thank you for sharing! Whether we like it or not, on an internet forum, we are forced to share videos and photos; and there's nothing wrong with that. I think that's why a lot of us are here. Maybe someday, someone will invent a method to teleport blades through a computer - so we can finally solve the issues of viewing a sword on a screen . Until then, Cheers, -Sam

Fish and Kingfisher….

The word ne or nezumi covers both of the English words rat and mouse. Generally the rodents found in Japanese houses were divided into three, Dobu-nezumi, Kuma-nezumi and Hatsuka-nezumi. See illustrations: https://www.google.com/search?q=ネズミの種類日本&client=safari&sca_esv=0112f005af7dfb38&sca_upv=1&hl=en-gb&biw=390&bih=663&ei=Z57TZoa8Of6Rxc8PlM7foAU&oq=ネズミの種類日本&gs_lp=EhNtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1zZXJwIhjjg43jgrrjg5_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_GiAQ&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp#vhid=8ZbxWpjkmVsAcM&vssid=l

Hello everyone. For a few weeks I've been collecting detailed vocab (kanji) as a way to improve my reading skills, sort out a few longstanding points of confusion/ambiguity, explore topics I may have previously glossed over, etc. I've found some very nice sites in the process—this Japanese page has been great, for example—and found a few gaps in my academic knowledge that I am working on filling. On the one hand it's "just vocab," but on the other hand, really making sure I know what each kanji means and how it relates to others has been surprisingly illuminating. One such gap has been the deeper religious significance of many horimono. I could previously identify the motifs in a simple way ("that's Fudō Myōō, that's a suken, that's sō-no-ryū with a flaming pearl" etc.) but it is only recently that I learned of a few deeper connections bridging the many ken motifs. The following will undoubtedly be painfully old news to many of you, and perhaps woefully incomplete besides; but for the newbies and intermediates among us, I hope it may be useful information as it was for me. I rush to add that this is just an edited summary and amalgamation of many other peoples' work, especially this page. I will append as many of the sources I used that I can recall (with the most relevant at the top). ----------- 剣 Ken We all know (I presume) that ken are, in general, buddhist ritual objects in the form of a double-edged straight sword, often represented in various stylistic ways in blade horimono. Of particular interest is the distinctive "vajra" hilt. But what is a vajra exactly? 金剛 Kongō (vajra) Vajra (kongō in Japanese) is a sanskrit homophone for both lightning and diamond, symbolizing unstoppable force and immovable spirit. The physical vajra is ostensibly a weapon, but like the ken is really a ritual object, meant to overcome evil via the indestructible truth. It is symmetric with a varying number of prongs at a given end. One (dokko), three (sanko), and five (goko) are typical; three is most common. It often has demons' eyes running down the center, and lotus blossom patterns to either side. 独鈷 Dokko (Tokko) (single-blade vajra) This motif also represents a spoke in the Buddhist wheel of law. This is not directly related to the following items, but as it is a motif sometimes seen in horimono/menuki, it is worth mentioning. 三鈷 Sanko (trident vajra) The sanko represents the three jewels (sanbō 三宝) of Buddha, Dharma (law), and Sangha (community). This is the common form used as the hilt for certain kinds of ken. 宝剣 Hō-ken (treasure sword), 三鈷剣 Sanko-ken, or 金剛剣 Kongō-ken (vajra sword) So now we have come full circle and have a little bit better understanding of what the hilt of a ken is, and why this form of ken is called hōken or sankoken. But what is the significance of turning the vajra into a sword? 不道明王 Fudō Myōō (literally "immovable wisdom king") Acala-vidyaraja in the original Sanskrit. A worthy accounting of Fudō's meaning and importance to Shingon Buddhism would be impossible here, but we can address some basic points. The highest of the Wisdom Kings, a category of deity following Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas, he is a manifestation of the Buddha Mahāvairocana. He is wrathful in the pursuit and eradication of evil from men's hearts. Wreathed in flames, he burns away earthly ties. He has blue skin, and sometimes even crooked fangs. In his left hand he holds a kenjaku 羂索 (five-colored lariat) used to bring wanderers back into the true path, or to bind harmful emotions. In his right hand, he holds the kongō-ken 金剛剣. If the kenjaku should fail to restrain men's violent passions, Fudō can cut their earthly ties using this sword. Thus the hōken is a means by which Fudō cuts through delusions and overcomes evil. For this reason, this sword is also called the chiken 知剣 — sword of wisdom. 素剣 Suken A stylized representation of a ken blade. As far as I know it has no further significance other than that inherited from the above points. However, as in the second image, sometimes it has a base with a tsume 爪 (claw)—specifically that of a dragon. Which brings me to… 剣巻龍 Kenmaki-ryū (dragon wrapped around ken) or 倶梨伽羅剣 Kurikara-ken (dragon king sword) Another common horimono theme is the dragon wrapped around a ken. Sometimes it is wreathed in flames (sound familiar?). This is not simply an arbitrary mashup of images: There is a legend that Fudō was challenged by another deity. They both manifested as flaming swords (ken) and found they were evenly matched. However, Fudō then transformed into a dragon, wound around the other sword, and ate it from the top. Thus, the dragon-king Kurikara 倶利迦羅 is actually another representation of Fudō Myōō. On a related note, Kurikara is golden in color; thus, depicting him in actual gold is not just for materialism's sake. ------- I invite everyone's corrections and comments as I was only peripherally aware of these themes before doing this research, and am still quite a novice when it comes to the deeper religious dimensions of horimono. There are many other interesting connected themes in other horimono, but I wanted to focus on this variety tonight. I hope it has been of interest! Regards, —Gabriel -------- Sources include, but were certainly not limited to: http://world.choshuya.co.jp/engrave/index.htm (most images) http://new.uniquejapan.com/glossary/ (the image of the ken) http://nihonto.ca (the image of the suken) bujishugyo.wordpress.com (connection between Fudō and Kurikara; Fudō image) http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/o ... senju.html http://www.aisf.or.jp/~jaanus/deta/k/kongousho.htm http://www7b.biglobe.ne.jp/%7Eosaru/index.htm Connoisseur's (Nakayama) Harry "Afu" Watson's glossary (Nihon Tōkō Jiten etc.) http://www.thejapanesesword.com/terminology Wikipedia (yes, I know…)

Always a pleasure to share, and it seems silly not to tap the wealth of knowledge available on NMB! As promised, here's the current set of captions and the 'mokuroku' index (attached). A couple of notes: 1. The item captions are made to be read while looking at the items, and in some cases rely on the illustrative sketches given on the printed Japanese captions - attached is one example. 2. I have just noticed that the explanatory pages that I had uploaded on jigane, hamon, etc. and which are mentioned in the caption explanations have disappeared from the site. I will fix that asap. 3. Also just noticed a couple of sloppy mistakes in the text. Ditto will fix. 4. I did used to put the Japanese mei in the indexes as well as the English, but it was getting too long and the Japanese one can be found here anyway, so mostly keep them separate now. Just a couple of replies: Thanks for the comment! So while there is no denying that Japan has more issues than most with unnecessary bureaucracy, this case is a bit more tricky. Halogen bulbs give off a lot more UV and IR radiation than LED bulbs. Not enough to trouble people of course, but enough to cause serious damage to any organic materials (e.g. cloth/wood/pigment/lacquer) over time. While of course it has precious little effect on blades, any armours or koshirae, as well as documents like origami on display are very sensitive to this. Naturally, experienced/specialist curators would know this and would be able to make the necessary adjustments. However, many museums, especially the smaller ones, don't have specialists in all materials, and may even only have one inexperienced generalist. If the main aim for museums is to preserve cultural artefacts, it makes sense to some extent to just have a blanket rule for all lighting, to therefore limit the risks caused by individual staff ineptitude. Of course not ideal, but I suppose it's a case of being stuck between a rock and a hard place! But thoroughly get the frustration! Thanks for the suggestion! So this is something we do have to some extent. We have a spot for people to hold a (blunt) sword to gauge weight, and, as you say, in many cases, the craftsmen let people touch some of their materials/ tools. That being said, there's a lot that can still be done, but we've got a major project in the works that should roughly triple the amount of interactive experiences at the museum going forward. Quite honestly, the craft seems to be what draws a lot of visitors in, so it's definitely something we should be focusing on! Thanks guys! 2024-2-目録英語.pdf