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This is a poem titled 遊江 (A cruise on the river) by Tang dynasty poet Pei Qingyu (裴慶餘): 滿額鵝黃金縷衣， 翠翹浮動玉釵垂。 從教水濺羅裙濕， 知是巫山行雨歸。 I won't attempt a translation myself, as translating poetry is really hard and my meagre skills would inevitably butcher the elegance of the original. I'll leave you with a couple of machine translations. Neither of them are very good, but they will give you a rough idea what it's about: DeepL: A golden-threaded gown adorns her full-faced beauty, Emerald hairpins sway as jade hairpins dangle. Let the water splash her silk skirt, She knows it's the rain returning from Mount Wu. Google Translate: Her forehead is adorned with a robe embroidered with goose-gold threads, Her jade hairpins dangle and flutter. Let the water splash and wet her silk skirt, I know she is returning from a rainy day at Wushan.

I do not know much about it, but I think that there is a misunderstanding. Miki Yamagishi (山岸美喜) is a descendant of Tokugawa Yoshinobu family, which is one of many branch families of Tokugawa. Ref. Tokugawa Yoshinobu family - Wikipedia The Head Family of the Tokugawa Clan will continue. Ref. 徳川宗家 - Wikipedia The current head of the family is Iehiro Tokugawa (徳川家廣). Ref. Iehiro Tokugawa - Wikipedia

This is my buddy Actually, over the past year I’ve browsed many online museums more than once - one way or another, you start to remember things. I’ve seen this somewhere before…

May be… https://art.thewalters.org/object/51.369/

Hi, Thank you for your feedback. Convenience is important. Now, you can tick all dealers from the North American continent. I genuinely appreciate the feedback, and more feedback would make me even happier. I want to hear it all. Best, Hoshi

There is another with the same theme in the Walters. https://art.thewalters.org/object/51.265/ Handy having done a two volume book on that museum with a few extra bits of information added, Henri Joly has him mentioned in "Legend in Japanese Art" 1908

Hi Gary, this is a set made in West Japan. I think this counts for all the pieces of the armor. the Kabuto has a slight akoda shape. Better pictures would be good, this can also be Sagami work. the menpo is rather the so called nara-style (from what I see) the dou, nuinobe, is also rather Nanto style. the lacing, nice detail here, is als rather West Japanese.

Middle hall, rear wall. Table 81. See you there!

I can understand where this confusion is coming from. It is based on the character No.4903 in Nelson's dictionary. It is translated as CHIN or shizu(maru); also used as "shizu" in given names. Doesn't mean much when it comes to given/artist names hundreds of years ago. reinhard

The reading Shigetomo is used by the 日本刀銘鑑; they do not offer 'Shizu' there for these Takada/Iga smiths.

Sharing the entry below from Sesko's compendium. I've always seen this read as Shizu__ for this group of swordsmiths. SHIZUTOMO (鎮知), Enpō (延宝, 1673-1681), Iga – “Hizen no Kami Fujiwara Shizutomo” (肥前守藤原鎮知), real name Takada Mo´emon (高田茂右衛門), he came originally from Bungo´s Takada (高田) but moved later to Nabari (名張) in Iga province, he signed his name also with the charaters (鎮智), gunome-chōji-midare, suguha

Sorry Ray, but it is "Shigetomo" not "Shizutomo". A line of smiths with this name and title was working in Iga province during 17th and early 18th century. upper picture: The paper was handed out by the NTHK and is stating the blade is "shoshin" (genuine) and is "o-suriage mumei" (fully shortened without a signature). They attribute the blade to the school (den) of Hizen-no-Kami Shigetomo. The paper was handed out in year 14 of Heisei era (2002 in Christian calendar). lower picture: The blade is described as o-suriage mumei. Followed by specifications of hada, hamon, boshi etc. It is said to be made in Iga province during Kan-ei era (1624-1643). For whatever this "expertise" is worth. reinhard

Dear Jake. I happen to have the catalogue for that sale and can confirm that lot 669 was described thus: 'Three Fuchi - Kashira Edo period (19th century) all with iroe takazogan, the First (sic) of shakudo nanako, with sages among pine trees, signed Soheishi Niudo Soten sei, the Second is possibly associated, of shibuichi, the fuchi with Taikobo fishing, the kashira with Shoki (?) riding on his hat over water, signed Tsunenao with kao, the Third is associated, the fuchi of shibuichi, the kashira of shakudo nanako with the race over the Uji river.' The lot sold for £1,200. Lot 675. THree shibuichi fuchi kashira Edo period (19th century) the First bearing an ishime ground and inladi in gold, silver and shakudo takazogan with large peonies and foliage, signed Omori Teruhide, the Second carved and inlaid on the fuchi with a sarumawashi and on the kashira with a boy dancer, signed Tsunenao with kao, the Third bearing a basketwork ground and inlaid with a mass of flowers and foliage in iroe takazogan (3) This lot also sold for £1,200 As was common practice only one of each lot was illustrated, for lot 669 it was the Soten example and for lot 675 it was the peonies. They were part of the sale which was described as, ' The following twenty one lots were collected by a German professor of language in Japan between 1895 = 1920.' Hope that helps a little. All the best.

Hello, It must be an Awa Shoami tsuba from the Edo period

Appears to be a mumei Shinto katana attributed to Hizen (no) Kami Shizutomo -肥前守鎮知.

Many thanks all. My Great Grandfather lived in Edo (Tokyo) at the Ministry of Public Works, he was Surveyor-in-Chief to the Emperor of Japan. He and his wife learned Japanese and had a great respect for the culture. Both were great friends with many influential Japanese officials but in particular Hirobumi Ito, Yoso Yamao, (both members of the Chosu 5 who spoke good English ) also Sano Tsunetami and General Saigo Tsugumi the brother of Saigo Takemori, 'The Last Samurai'. Saigo Tsugumi is in the picture above in military uniform.

Hello everyone, TLDR: Interested in Japanese swords and fittings? I made this to help the field. Open nihontowatch.com on your phone browser, and add to home screen (Share → Add to Home Screen). Thank me later. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have been thinking for quite some time about the future of our field. I have been blessed with incredible mentors and opportunities, most notably the late Darcy Brockbank, who was so generous in sharing his knowledge. Since his tragic passing, I have felt a responsibility to carry that work forward. What I am about to present, I built as an homage to his memory. Our field has problems. We operate in a field of extraordinary depth without being equipped with the knowledge and tools to understand what we're looking at when we browse the market. Refreshing dozens of dealer websites every week, most in Japanese, copy-pasting listings into translation apps, pinching to zoom on sites built twenty years ago — market awareness is just painful and you miss things constantly. You spend an hour and walk away unsure you have seen everything. And this is just the market experience. The deeper problem is access to knowledge. There are no catalogues raisonnés for artists. Yuhindo would have grown into it — it was planned. But alas, Yuhindo is no more. No way to know, with any confidence, whether a price is reasonable without decades of experience or tens of thousands of dollars invested in published references. No way to know why something costs what it does. Communication with Japanese dealers remains daunting for most. No easy way to know who is a reputable dealer. The barrier to entry is simply too high, and this friction keeps our field artificially small. Fine art has Artnet. Watches have Chrono24. Antiquarian books have AbeBooks — markets with comparable depth and comparable opacity, served by platforms that bring transparency and accessibility. These fields have benefited immensely: they have enabled new entrants in droves to collect in confidence. Our field needs more knowledge and transparency to build interest and trust.Japanese swords and fittings. Eight hundred years of collecting history at the highest levels. The category that contains the most national treasures in Japan. The indefatigable search for perfection of an entire civilization. And yet, we have nothing. This had to change. As I write this, there are 3,021 Nihonto and 1,607 Tosogu items for sale across 44 dealers, Japanese and international, in a single searchable interface. Every listing is structured with attribution, certification, measurements, and artist intelligence data. NihontoWatch is on track to follow 100% of the online market for genuine items with NBTHK papers. Refreshed 12 times a day. Everything is translated and structured, as it trickles in live. But what is this worth, if it's so hard to know what you're looking at? Especially for newcomers, it is so hard to tell what you're looking at. This is where the magic is. I am nostalgic of reading through Yuhindo's artist descriptions. It made me deeply appreciate the field. It got me in. NihontoWatch scales this experience and creates something approaching a living catalogue raisonné for every Tosogu and Nihonto artist. It matches every listing against a database combining the complete Juyo, Tokubetsu Juyo, Juyo bunkazai, Kokuho, and Gyobutsu designation data — over 23,000 items at the highest level, with rich text in classical Japanese. This data is then processed, synthesized, and presented into NihontoWatch's artist directory in a way that is respectful of the NBTHK's copyright. With this, you'll be able to discover a maker's historical reputation through quantitative analysis of exhaustive provenance records, in ways never seen before. Over time, all of these artist pages will come alive, forming an ever-expanding knowledge base. - How rare is it? - How many Tokuju? - How many designated works ranked Juyo and above? - Why is this important? - Where does it rank relative to other works? - What is for sale right now? - What was for sale recently? All the answers are in. These are questions that come up constantly in our community, and until now, answering them required years of collecting published references worth tens of thousands of dollars, and patiently indexing them with post-its or one-by-one in a spreadsheet. Only professional dealers or major collectors could afford to do this. This is a BETA, so there are errors. The more obscure the artist, the higher the error rate, and there are still basic errors I need to fix with some famous artists. A lot of algorithmic tinkering and curation ahead. It will keep getting better with your feedback. See the results for yourselves: - Soshu Masamune: https://nihontowatch.com/artists/masamune-MAS590 - Ichimonji school: https://nihontowatch.com/artists/NS-Ichimonji - Yasuchika (tosogu): https://nihontowatch.com/artists/yasuchika-TSU001 - Goto school: https://nihontowatch.com/artists/NS-Goto Click one and explore the designations, the provenance abalysis, the measurement distributions. This is just a first shot — over time this data will grow. Here is one where I have published an item I studied for my Substack article on Mitsutada: - Osafune Mitsutada: https://nihontowatch.com/artists/mitsutada-MIT281 Imagine Yuhindo, but with a page for every artist and every piece ever captured on camera. Saw a national treasure at an exhibition in Japan? Share your photos on NihontoWatch's artist catalogue. In the future, owners of particular works will be able to publish them to the artist's catalogue. Think of it as a growing, community-curated knowledge base for every artist in the field. And so much more Browse and filter: Designation, dealer, item type, school, province — all filterable, all instant. Prices display in JPY, USD, or EUR. Every filter combination is a shareable URL. The sold archive tracks thousands of items for pricing research. And it works for every budget, for collectors at every level. - All Tokubetsu Juyo Nihonto on the market - All Tsuba with Hozon or Tokubetsu Hozon, maximum price $2,000 Setsumei translations: On some items, you can press the floating book icon on any Juyo item to toggle between photos and the Juyo setsumei translated text. For most Juyo and above items, the NBTHK evaluation text from the dealer's page is identified by computer vision and translated into English. It will fail if the dealer has not posted the Juyo Zufu extract, but in the majority of cases they do, and the result is remarkably accurate. Do use responsibly — the quality is great, but not perfect. Always purchase professional translation from Markus Sesko when contemplating the purchase of a Juyo-designated piece. Search alerts: Never miss an item again. Define keywords and filters and save them. NihontoWatch will run your search every 15 minutes, and when something new appears, immediately send you an alert email. In practice, missing a listing that fits your interests becomes almost impossible. Tip: I recommend avoiding overly specific queries. "Juyo tsuba" or "Kamakura signed tachi" are safer than specific artists such as "Yozozaemon Sukesada," which would be more fickle. Broad queries give you the best market coverage. Inquiry emails: Press "Inquire" on any listing to draft a professional inquiry in Japanese. Handles etiquette and formality, and can help you request the 10% consumption tax exemption available to overseas buyers. Did you even know you could get 10% off? How many new entrants lost 10% on this, at least at the beginning? I for one did. I've seen countless high spenders neglect to request it while shopping across Japanese galleries. Glossary: The technical language of Nihonto and Tosogu is deep and specialized — needlessly so for non-Japanese speakers. Anytime a technical term comes up, you can click and see what it means. Over 1,200 terms, searchable, automatically linked from the setsumei translations. Who remembers always keeping an index open to keep track of terms when studying Juyo items? https://nihontowatch.com/glossary How best to use NihontoWatch While it works wonders on desktop, NihontoWatch works most beautifully on your phone. I use it every day — it feels like I have the market in my pocket. Open nihontowatch.com on your phone, hit Share → Add to Home Screen. And voila, you have an app. It becomes something you check with your morning coffee, the way one might check the news. A word of caution The data has errors — always verify independently. This is a tool to explore the market, not a substitute for critical thinking. If it looks too good to be true, it likely is, and this system can't easily correct online misrepresentations. Old listings where dealers have not marked items as "SOLD" will still appear as available. Listing errors will slip through, but data quality improves continuously as the system learns over time. Get involved - Missing a listing or dealer you like? PM me or post here. - Bug? PM me or post here with steps to reproduce. - Dream feature request? Reply in this thread. I will keep this thread active and share major updates when time permits. Everything is free right now, and will remain so until ready for official release. This is no trivial task, and it is expensive to operate — it will need to be covered in some way down the line. It will be tempting to keep it for yourself. But if we want our field to grow, we must share knowledge and expand market access and transparency. The single most impactful thing you can do right now is help others discover and use the tool. Share it with your study group. Share it with your collecting circle. Share it with a friend who has been curious about Nihonto and Tosogu but found the barrier to entry too high. That barrier just got a lot lower. Farewell, Darcy. This is for the teacher in you. Hoshi

Just read a fascinating article in the Times... The current head of the Tokugawa family, Miki Yamagishi, has advised that when she dies so will the family line and the title of Duke/Dutchess Tokugawa will cease to be... She has made a decision to pass on the Dutchy and will give the Tokugawa archive to the Tokyo National Museum and so end the family line. So bring to an end to the story of the incredible family that led feudal Japan for 250 years. It is fascinating read. A book is apparently coming out shortly about it. Will be worth a read. https://www.thetimes.com/article/277d6e47-15aa-4585-bce7-c0d0ab37db98

Oh, ok - that makes a lot of sense, it sounds like the Shogun side of the Tokugawa family will continue but the Tokugawa Yoshinobu (last Shogun) line will end? Thank you.

Hi Jeff, correct, it is there. The photos are mostly bad, but they show a NIOI-based HAMON.

Looks typical of amateur sharpening or cutting of abrasive items.

The ol’ “let’s see what this’ll chop” syndrome lol. I guess what caught me on it was if I were a dude who knew nothing about swords or physics and wanted to chop something for fun, I’d hit it with the meat of the blade, not the monouchi. Or I’d give it repeated strikes, or my buddies would want a swing too, but not have enough control to land em all within a 6-7” section of the blade. I don’t know what scratches on a polished blade look like after cutting something either so figured I’d see if someone knew or had an example.

@Exclus1ve Victor How on Earth did you find that?…..or did you know who he is?

Photos. I’ll get better at capturing hamon in time lol. I haven’t learned enough to know what I’m talking about with hamon yet, but it looks at least true to me …

This is a 4-line poem that I cannot entirely translate. Even a partial translation will likely allow me to cross-reference with a well-known writing. Thanks. Ryū Kōbi , also known as Tatsu Sōro or Tatsu Kimiyoshi, was a pupil of Ogyū Sorai (1666–1728), a poet and one of the most influential Confucian scholars of the Edo period. Born in Fushimi, Kyoto Prefecture, as Tokinori Takeda, he had many names through his life depending on his position at the time. Most famously called Ryû Sôro, his artist name was Ryū Kōbi. He also went by his azena (formal name) Kungyoku. His common name was Hikojiro, which later changed to Emon. Sôro was his “go” or pen name. A disciple of Meika Uno, Ryū Kōbi founded Shisha, a poetry club in Karasmaru – Koji St. In 1750, he was invited to work as Shinkosha (one who explains achievements to nobility and royalty) to Naosada II, the Lord of Hikone domain. In 1756, he was appointed as Hanju (Confucian scholar who works for a domain) for 18 years before he resigned and returned to Kyoto. His publications include: “Soro shishi (Collection of Anthologies of Soro)”, “Kinran shishu”, “Materials for Poetry of Tang Dynasty”, “Book of Japanese Poetry”, “Summary of Rongo Analects” and “Mosh sha (Book of poetry of ancient China)”.1 1Stephen Addiss, "77 Dances : Japanese Calligraphy by Poets, Monks, and Scholars, 1568-1868"

It looks like a real and active hamon to me, and looks like a hand polish as the polisher marks are there under habaki. It’s definitely a hand made blade though. The light n focus angles I had to use to try to get the shinogi-ji texture might have muddled the hamon a bit. Looks edo to me, and is an Okimasa gimei. Large and meaty, with a 29 1/4” nagasa and 1 3/8” width. I mainly grabbed it because the size was pretty cool and it had a full set of nice Kikuchi Tsunekatsu fittings with interesting properties. Really pretty mottled lacquer saya as well. WW2 trophy and pretty clean / well-kept, so I thought it would be a nice piece to learn more on (my others aren’t that great and not in good enough polish to really see the things I want to learn about). I’ll take some pics when home later tonight. Thank you for the guidance.

Jeff, now it is clear that the phenomena are not cracks or SHINAE. I have a question to another feature: Is there a real HAMON? Even in your magnified photos I don't see traces of NIOI or NIE. What kind of blade is this? Can we see the NAKAGO please (oriented vertically tip-upwards without HABAKI). So in case this was a machine-made blade, we could suspect the SHINOGI-JI was mirror-polished with a machine which would explain the above pictured phenomena.

Hi Jake , it is right here in Victoria

I’d like to share some visual material here on the forum about the wearing of Japanese military swords (guntō). Special Navy Landing Forces staff staffmember Esaka Wataru, KIA at Tarawa 1943

Thanks for the information, chaps. I will be at Birmingham in June, where do you stall there, Colin? (I know the layout well). Cheers, Tony

Nice one, Dale! Real depictions of Kiku and Kiri flowers.

Anthony, the KOGATANA is difficult to read. There seems to be more than only rust on the blade - looks like grime or paint. You can try to cleant the blade with acetone or paint solvent without any danger of damaging the steel. In case you will make new photos, please use a dark background and light from the side. And a remark on the characters: It is almost never a signature but a name of a famous swordsmith as an hommage.

Hi! I am looking for the following tosogu for a Daisho koshirae project; 1. Kojiri in shakudo Omori style waves 2. Kurigata in shakudo Omori style waves 3. metal part for the kozuka pocket in shakudo. Omori style waves. 4. Koi menuki in shakudo Please look at the picture to see what to match Regards Anthony de Vos

Anthony, OK…..your kozuka is a “shiremono” which is the term used (in the context of Kozuka) to describe a mass produced cheaply made item designed to look like far a more expensive mixed metal inlaid piece. Basically the whole top plate is pressed from a thin piece of copper alloy to create the high relief effect and then multi-patinated and gold plated (as opposed to true mixed metal inlay) to look like shakudo, silver etc. This is then joined to a solid base plate and finished to look like a normal kozuka. Often a thicker than normal base plate is used to create the impression of “weight in the hand”. Some even get signed but that is usually an attempt to mislead. The one you have is a well known variant and I even saw one at last weeks Arms Fair. Sometimes two pressed plates with the same subject matter are joined together and used as cutlery handles and put into sets for export to the west. However sometimes real kozuka, often of considerable quality and value got used in cutlery sets and they are can be very exciting. It is important to be able to tell the difference because….about 30 years ago at a big antiques fair I came across a set of 24 cased knives and forks with silver blades ….all were superb quality genuine kozuka. I asked “how much” he shouted to his partner “how much do you want for those Chinese knives and forks” …the answer was £65. The antique gods smiled on me that day. If you decide to stick with this interest being able to discern quality is vital…..the same applies to tsuba and all other fittings. I apologise if I disappoint you, but these things fool a great many people. Happy hunting. PS….why not come to the Birmingham Arms Fair in June, happy to show you some better pieces (you don’t have to buy anything!!🙂)

Nice! https://www.jauce.com/auction/u1220501390

This is one outfit out of china that makes customs including horimono. Looks like their shop will make pretty much any pattern / style you can ask for. www.coolkatana.com

Lieutenant Colonel with Shin-guntō, check menuki and tsuba.

Yak hair, often used to trim a variety of armour components…..mostly Kabuto and Menpo. (Just the opinion of a total beginner!)

I am glad you were able to get it, Sam! The field grade and general officer back straps are identical. The only difference is the grip material. I think Dawson just simplified the back strap in his diagram. It's possible your sword never had any markings on the ricasso or they may have rubbed off. Sometimes they were very faintly applied. For example, the marking on the E & F Hörster below is lightly engraved and almost gone compared to this Clemen & Jung. Conway

I forgot all about baseball … “this sword chopped a baseball clean in half at Iwo Jima” … that’s my story n I’m sticking to it lmao