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These are two phrases that originate from the Zhuangzi (莊子) and are related to the Daoist concept of the spirit. A rough literal translation would be something along the lines of 萬物服 = all things submit 一心㝎 = a stable heart and soul

露木覺[所?]持 = owned by Tsuyuki Satoru[?] 昭和十乙亥歲十一月吉日 = on an auspicious day in November of Shōwa 10, year of the wood pig (1935 CE)

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

https://www.tsukamaki.net/PDF/gary_montgomery01.pdf An amusing story of early tsuba collecting - and why cleaning is not something to undertake without research.

Hi Marilyn, A lot to unpack here. Ohmura's guide is an awesome resource, and was one of my main sources when writing my Type 95 Variations Document, that can be found in the download section here on the Nihonto Message Board. There I address some of these more subtle material changes. I also make an attempt to consolidate the various identification systems (Variations / Patterns / Dawsons book types). It is A LOT to digest, which was the main goal of my document - to consolidate much of the information previously scattered across many sources... Still, quite a lot to take-in. I will start with the hilt and menuki. Your note of the Menuki is impressive; as it's a pretty subtle difference between swords. Swords made at Tokyo based manufacturers with TŌ (東) inspection stamps have a hilt that differs from those out of Nagoya with Na (名) inspections stamps; this difference between the aluminum cast hilts was established on June 24th 1939. I will attach an image below that reflects these differences. The menuki itself is there to improve ergonomic grip, and mimics the placement from traditional Japanese swords. Now your pattern/variation type with the steel tsuba with copper ferrule. I would confidently place your sword on Ohmura's list as the "middle type". Reason being, is that every single sword that I have observed and cataloged that has both the Sakura-Ichi stamp with Steel Tsuba also has a copper ferrule. Rather than using up spare parts or being a transitional pattern; it appears that this manufacturer never transitioned over to the steel ferrule like some others did. These are the kinds of subtle variations you find across contractors and arsenals. If you look at my Document, I address this "middle pattern" type as the "Variation#4" on pages 43-47, and my last images shows two examples, one with steel and the other with copper ferrule. Be cautious when using AI for information about Japanese swords. While it’s improving rapidly, it still frequently produces misleading or inaccurate details. It will pull information from almost anywhere to satisfy a prompt. Use it carefully and verify everything. I hope this helps, All the best, -Sam From my monograph in the download section: "The hilt differs between Tokyo and Nagoya made Type 95 swords. The menuki are positioned slightly differently, which results in a variation in the number and arrangement of the hilt diamond pattern. These differences are highlighted by the arrows in my images below. In the Tokyo example, there are four diamonds between the mekugi and the menuki, whereas the Nagoya example has three. The Nagoya example features an empty diamond below the menuki, which is not present on the Tokyo hilt. At the pommel end of the hilt, the knot style on the Nagoya example is also slightly different from that of the Tokyo example."

Steve: Just to expand on what Ray noted, notice the issues marked by the arrows: 1) the blade has been shortened for some reason. Note how the hamon does not taper off but is rather robust at the ha-machi. This indicates it used to be longer. 2) Also notice the notch is not perpendicular to the blade but angled. Probably happened when it was re-cut. 3) Note how the nakago is not straignt. Again, probably cut or ground down by someone. 4) Looks as if the kanji have been ground down and are not as strong as they used to be. John C.

Hello Everyone, Here is another sword that was found in type 98 mounts, and it appears that the blade was made in February 1668. Have I translated this Mei correctly? Does this Mei appear Gimei? i

Great democratisation of information, Prometheus

Like an iron tyre/tire on a wooden cart wheel... BaZZa.

Showed this to a Kinkō artisan today. He thinks the shinchū insert is later Edo work as the carving style is quite different, and that the iron mimi fukurin rim was heated (熱処理, netsu shori)and slipped over to hold the two facet sections together.

Looks like you’ve been under the radar for a while, ignored all the noise, and now back with a vengeance, really laying the hammer down I’ve been enjoying the site for some time, and I haven’t noticed any major issues. Minor points — like the photos initially overlapping with the descriptions — you’ve already corrected on your own. I think it’s a good moment to say that I hope you’ll continue contributing here for a long time

To add NihontoWatch app icon on Android: Open nihontowatch.com on your phone, click on the three-dot menu and select Add to home screen.

Just to clarify the pronunciation of each kanji 源　Minamoto 清　Kiyo 麿　marō

I think I have written a small bit about various designations on the forum before. I think I have understood this properly but I hope out Japanese members can correct any errors I have written. I think we all are aware of Kokuhō (National Treasures) 国宝. Then another well known designation is Jūyō Bunkazai (Important Cultural Property) 重要文化財. After this it starts to get complicated. Jūyō Bunkazai is a National designation (国). Now there are 47 prefectures in Japan, and prefectures can also designate and item to a Bunkazai status. However that is a Prefecture Bunkazai, prefecture level designation (県). To make it even more complicated Japan has 800+ cities and yes it is easy to guess cities can elevate items to a Bunkazai status. However that level is the lowest of the City Bunkazai, and city level designation (市). I did go through all the prefecture websites and searched for all of the swords that have achieved Prefecture Bunkazai status. It was tedious job going through lots of websites, PDF files etc. with just rows and rows of various things listed. I think I am pretty decent in finding the Prefecture level items and identify swords amongst the thousands of listed items. As there is so much to search for I might have missed few items but this would be the rough general count. Now out of these 695 swords I found 293 that I feature in my database. What is slightly irritating is that there is a huge difference in the amount of information about the item that is featured. At most minimum level it can just be 刀 伝当麻 Katana - den Taima, no picture, no additional text (just an hypothetical example). While others have lots of additional information, sometimes even a good sized picture (mostly the pictures are extremely minimal) is featured and links to other data sites etc. I do item matching as that is the search and research thing I enjoy so much, so I have been able to identify bunch of them. I believe some of them have achieved the Prefecture Bunkazai status so long ago and perhaps current owners of the Jūyō swords might not even know they are also Prefecture Bunkazai. I can share maybe in the end really well documented sword I was able to uncover. It started when I was going through Kanagawa Prefecture Bunkazai list. There was an entry for mumei Chōgi, some prefectures have these clickable links that open a page for the item. For some single row like this is the all info you will get about the item The link opened to Cultural Heritage Database but unfortunately there is no picture of the item either. However the owner of the item is Nitro Plus and the item is in Tokyo. I did not know the company Nitro Plus but with googling I found out that it is the company behind Tōken Ranbu. And with more googling I was able to find a picture of their 2019 exhibition that features the Chōgi. Unfortunately this was only picture I found but I found out NBTHK tweet that said that Nitro Plus Tokubetsu Jūyō Chōgi will be featured in TJ29 2026 exhibition as an extra showpiece, now as I have almost all the Tokubetsu Jūyō items and this was most likely TJ. It was just a matter of matching the correct sword and this one was Tokubetsu Jūyō 8. This particular sword was sold by Iida Koendo in 2019, and most likely Nitro Plus acquired it from there. https://iidakoendo.com/6300/ I was so happy to find out that Iida had also the Prefecture Bunkazai document pictured in the ad. I will attach it here as I think it is extremely rare to see these. Now it is possible to track down at least this much of the modern history of this particular sword. 1956 Kanagawa Prefecture Bunkazai - 1973 Jūyō 21 Nagasaki Prefecture - 1983 Tokubetsu Jūyō 8 ??? Prefecture - 2019 Iida Koendo - 2019-2026 Nitro Plus There is still so much more to uncover in these but unfortunately the information on them is very limited. There are for example Jūyō Bijutsuhin that have been also designated as Prefecture Bunkazai etc. Some super cool items (mostly for me the ōdachi) that I have not been able a single picture while trying to search them from Japanese sites.

Hey everyone, I feel like its finally time to share a project that I've been working on for a while now. Not because it is finished but because my first child was just born a few days ago and development on this project will likely slow down for a bit as I navigate the new phase of life that is fatherhood! Anyways, I've been building a website https://nihonto-db.com for some time now and wanted to present it here. At the core, it is an interactive and searchable version of @Jussi Ekholm's Koto sword index he's so graciously shared with the NMB. I can't begin to state how incredibly powerful Jussi's research has been and without his tireless efforts and collaboration, this wouldn't have been possible. So at the core, the "Sword Database" portion is a simple searchable database that allows you to search from over 16,000 swords. There are filters and advanced filters available to allow you to search, filter, and compare works by many smiths with as narrow or broad of a search breath as you wish. Additionally, I've created a few other tools that I find useful. Namely an interactive Province Map of Japan showing the old swordmaking provinces which allows you to click on each province and see associated schools, swordsmiths, and other details of the schools and smiths of that province. Clicking on any province will pull up all of the swords in the database for that school and scrolling down you can view additional stats such as Kokuho, JuBun, JuBi, counts, counts of documented swords by type (Yari, naginata, katana, tachi, tanto, etc.) and other stats for each sword making region. There is also a Japanese/English toggle available which will show the circuits and provinces in Japanese rather than English which can be helpful when researching Japanese resources and sites. Thirdly, there is Gokaden Timeline which is built upon a Google Sheet collaboration that some of the members here helped with a few weeks ago. It is as the name suggests, a simple plotting tool that allows you to plot and view the various swordmaking schools broken down by their tradition, and the timeframe in which those schools spanned. Currently this is limited to mostly mainline and some obscure Koto schools. Shinto and Shinshinto aren't appropriately represented at this point and will be a future addition. Finally, there is an articles section where I have been posting various articles, photos, and zufu translations for the main Gokaden schools. Currently Soshu mainline and Yamashiro mainline are finished and Yamato and Bizen are in the works. The current selection of articles come from the Nihonto Taikan lectures from Honma Junji, Hiroi Yuichi, Numata Kenji, and other Japanese sword scholars and contain detailed genealogies, kantei points for grandmaster smiths, and the evolution of traditions, schools, and lineages of swordsmiths of the koto era. Each article goes into great detail and I've provided images when available of all of the swords (or an appropriate substitute) mentioned by the authors as well as translations of the various zufu used (when available). They are quite lengthy articles which provide a great deep dive into the prolific schools for each of the gokaden. I have many more plans for this site to hopefully become another helpful resource in the world of nihonto study and also be a place where swords can be researched in detail with photos, descriptions, and other additional information. I also would like to expand this into including many more shinto and shinshinto blades but as I'm a 1 man operation and now have a 1 week old baby, slow and steady is the key! There is a registration and sign-up option available, currently free users (there are no paid for options at this time) will also gain access to the Digital Library, an online encyclopedia of Japanese swords including some selected zufu, images of famous shrine swords, and translations when available. The current free digital library has ~2500 images of just over 500 swords. Feel free to make a free account and sign up with Google, Facebook, or register an email and password and take a look! I hope this site serves as a resource for all and if anybody has any comments or things the community would like to see, feel free to let me know and I will do my best to work on them as time allows. Thanks again to the NMB community and everyone here who has given their knowledge, time, and previous resources to make this all possible.

Too many incoming rounds! Duck!!! Fantastic stuff guys, the NMB Detective Agency. Here’s the answer… shinchū set somehow within the iron mimi. 7.75 x 7.0 x 0.55 cm

I don't know that I can help you find the Honjo Masamune (any more than I am able to help myself do so), however a couple of quick items. I actually just posted a video on the Honjo Masamune a few weeks back, with some informtion which may be helpful in general in learing about the sword: I see now that the koshirae for the Honjo Masamune appears to have remained in Japan, perhaps rediscovered but likely never left Japan, and was displayed at an exhibition: https://tsumugu.yomiuri.co.jp/feature/桃山展「本庄正宗」の刀装初公開/

Just got a new armor. It's unsigned . There are plates with Bonji on the sleeves. Would appreciate your thoughts. Thanks to Nick Ricupero for selling this to me.

A LOT

Yaga and friends, I wish you the best in your search. My strongest advice is to study swords seriously and, above all, to learn how to recognize the steel of the blade you are seeking. In the case of the Honjō, many of the characteristics people commonly expect are incorrect. The steel will be of the highest quality and will reflect the earliest working pattern of the smith. This point is critical and often misunderstood. It is also important to understand that this is not a treasure hunt. While the sword is unquestionably a treasure, it is highly unlikely that anyone would ever be permitted a monetary reward for its return. For many years, the sword community has unknowingly repeated an incorrect narrative. The most significant error concerns to whom the sword would be returned in Japan if it were found. There is also a reason why the authorities have never publicly sought its recovery. How can Japan formally request the return of an object when it appears that the sword was presented to GHQ from the Imperial Household itself? Please allow me to explain. Many videos and published sources state that following the Meiji Restoration, the Honjō Masamune remained in the Tokugawa collection until the end of the war, and that it belonged to Tokugawa Iemasa, who ultimately surrendered it. With all due respect to the Tokugawa family, this account is not accurate. Token to Rekishi (1968), the Biography of Emperor Meiji, and several other sources explain that the Honjō Masamune was presented by the Tokugawa family to Emperor Meiji. From that point forward, the Honjō became part of a special group of twelve or thirteen military swords (guntō) personally selected by Emperor Meiji—swords with which he symbolically ruled Japan. Some accounts describe occasions on which Emperor Meiji wore the Honjō Masamune. One story relates that he had a chip removed from the blade and commissioned koshirae so that the sword could be worn. Another describes it as his favorite blade. Another tells how Meiji Emperor’s favorite blade was a Yukimitsu that appeared to be made later and was presented as a Masamune. At the end of the war, the Imperial Household was informed by GHQ that it was hoarding weapons and was instructed that it could retain only about fifty swords at first. As a result, the Household first separated those swords that had not been part of the Imperial collection for more than one hundred years. The military swords associated with Emperor Meiji were addressed first. This group of Gunto were placed in a special vault within the Tokyo Imperial Household Museum to be held for a later time. The Honjō Masamune, along with two other swords, were taken to a police station to be handed over to GHQ. Most accounts end at this point, with no further explanation of what occurred afterward. I believe that Col.D has unfairly borne the blame for something perceived as improper, when in fact, if one considers the evidence symbolically, the events appear honorable and consistent with long-established practices of succession. To be clear, I do not support the theft of an Imperial sword. However, in this instance, the act was a deliberate choice by the Imperial Household—an expression of surrender conducted through an established and culturally accepted practice in Japan. This becomes evident when we consider both ownership and symbolism, particularly regarding the three specific swords surrendered at the end of the war. The key is symbolism. Three swords were passed in succession beginning with Tokugawa Iemitsu and then to each succeeding Tokugawa shōgun. These same three swords were transferred to Emperor Meiji during the Meiji Restoration. At the end of World War II, those swords—the Honjō Masamune, Osafune Nagamitsu, and Rai Kunimitsu—were handed by the Imperial Household to Tokugawa Iemasa, who then delivered them to the police station for transfer to GHQ. The symbolism is clear: the three swords together represented legitimate succession by the reigning authority. Just as swords have historically transferred honorably from one ruling power to another, this act should be understood and respected, not condemned. It is my opinion that no active public search is being conducted to recover these three swords precisely because of their symbolic transfer at the end of the war. I believe the authorities feel unable to request their return and are instead waiting for another Compton—someone who will voluntarily return them.

You are almost correct. However, Kanbon 7th year is 1667.

@Scogg Sam: Possibly for your next update, a variation 9 (?) with what looks like the jinsen mark and the extraodinary inspection mark. But it falls just outside your listed serial number range. Could be useful if updating the range (300,107 to 301,799 on page 58). https://www.ebay.com/itm/306773941651? John C.

It is unfortunate the nakago was so abused. 予州波止浜住橘宗広作 - Yoshū Hashihama-jū Tachibana Munehiro saku, and dated January, 1945. He was a very good smith.

James, the HAMON-like spots on the back of the blade are called MUNEYAKI. They are only found on traditionally made blades. In case you search for MINO KANEMOTO school, maybe something comes up. If the blade would be worth a tarditional polish is up to you and your wallet. You will be looking at $ 2.500.-- or more, but I believe it will be a pleasure to look at then, and it will teach you a lot more than now with a nice HADA on the surface.

Hi Colin, take your time to make good photos in case you want help, so we can see details. The aboce additional photos do not show much. There seems to be a HAMON, but no details like NIE, NIOI or HADA are visible. Again, for good contrast images, use a plain dark background and a dark room (which will avoid reflections), preferably with a single spotlight, and show the whole blade tip-uwards, without TSUBA, SEPPA, or HABAKI. Your sword looks like an authentic civilian Japanese blade, mounted in a military SAYA (= leather covered scabbard). HABAKI looks nice, TSUBA cannot be seen properly. Is there something (a date?) chiselled on the URA (other side) of the NAKAGO? The photo does not allow to see it clearly. Private swords (not always "family heirlooms") are seen being adapted for combat use in WWII with a military SAYA and, sometimes, other military mounting parts. The original WWII blades were mostly in the 630 mm range, but other dimensions occured as well. WAKIZASHI sizes are less common.

"An auspicious day in xx" is sometimes also translated as "a lucky day in xx" or "a good day in xx" - that should give a better idea of what the inscription is trying to get across

Hello, Great feedback. I added a special UI mode for accessibility. It's called "Classic" Click the right most icon: In the dropdown, select "Classic" And from there, it should be light mode with large fonts. I hope this helps. Currency conversion is already implemented, and takes the live FOREX from the Frankfurt exchange. In the filter panel, on desktop and mobile, select: Keep the feedback flowing, it helps tremendously. Enjoy everyone, Hoshi

As a noob to nihonto collecting and study I feel I've entered in what could be described as a golden era. There are so many English language resources (thanks in no small part to Markus Sesko @Markus) and individuals like @Hoshi, @nulldevice and @Jussi Ekholm, just to name four. Special mention to @Brano for his incredible photography of some spectacular grandmaster swords. One might argure that doing the hard yards is part of the initiation into Nihonto, but having access to this reference material at our fingertips will certainly enourage others to dip their toe in the pool. Once that spark ignites a lifelong passion will follow. We can count ourselves as the lucky ones.

There were several Mitsunaga with these characters 光長. The only very faint connection I can find so far, and it could well be a simple coincidence, is a Kyoto metalwork artisan during Anei (late 1700s) who lived in a small street called (藤の辻子). That uses the same kanji as Tsuji on the left.　 On the other hand we always need to keep open the possibility of gimei.

光長 Mitsunaga

Im sure im not the first to have the searchable database idea and certainly won’t be the last. I think many collectors want to get their hands on more data when the resources for non Japanese speakers are very limited. I did realize I forgot to add that you can search nearly anything in the search bar. “Tanobe”, “Denrai”, “Meito” and double quoted strings are literal searches so you can search (Shizu, “Juyo 27”) to get filtered results if you have a particular sword you’re looking for. Kanji also works if it matches the Mei. Truth be told there are other pages still private that are the main bread and butter of the site and where I believe the true value will live for serious nihonto students that im hoping to release very soon.

Indeed, Dennis did approach me a few weeks back, and I wanted to integrate it into a page here. My own fault for delaying. But as mentioned, the info is useful and the more sources the better. May still push to have a downloadable exe here, for offline use and on laptops etc. I wonder which guy is going to be the one to do this as an app for cellphones...I expect more than one guy will be working on something.

Hi Mark, a very nice guard! The overall design is not uncommon but so far as I know all other examples are in iron so yours is even more unusual. https://varshavskycollection.com/collection/bizen-shoami-sukashi-tsuba-with-a-butterfly-design-early-edo-period/ https://www.flyingtigerantiques.com/ca-1600-large-Japanese-katana-tsuba-of-the-ikeda-clan-mon-form.html https://www.liveauctioneers.com/price-result/bizen-shoami-sukashi-tsuba-with-butterfly-design-a-cut-off/?srsltid=AfmBOoqXf04EdDxx-K4vRdHHHFGXVgEhwJa_3yaSjEVbIdiUzrIZBmu4 Very likely these examples have had the rim removed. MFA Boston https://www.espace4.com/en/collections/marugata-iron-tsuba-butterfly/ https://world-seiyudo.com/product/tu-030522/ Welcome to NMB

Type 97 Kaigunto – Naval Officers Sword Mei: Yabushita YoshiMitsu Saku Seki Stamp Circa 1942 66.7 cm Nagasa & Good Original Polish Togari/Gunome Hamon & Muji Hada Sharkskin Saya and Clasp Hands Sarute Overall Good Original Condition Price $2500 AUD……..approx. $1800 US Plus all associated Fees

前田泰宏 - Maeda Yasuhiro Owner's name?

FS: Wakizashi Samurai Sword Nihonto Consigned from an old collection Wakizashi signed Nobuyoshi with chrysanthemum flower stamp on tang and name. The fittings are high class with devil mask signed fuchi kashira and nice antique tsuba. Blade 1650’s era. USD 2,800 including worldwide shipping and PayPal fee

MUMEI WAKIZASHI MEI: MUMEI DATE: NONE NAGASA: 47.301cm (18.625") OVERALL: 59.69cm (23.5") MIHABA: 3.02cm (1.1875") KASANE: 0.63cm (0.25") SORI: 1.27cm (0.5") NAKAGO: UBU MEKUGI ANA: ONE YASURIME: KIRI MUNE: IORI HADA: KO-ITAME HAMON: NOTARE BOSHI: KO-MARU HORIMONO OMOTE: NONE HORIMONO URA: NONE HABAKI: 1 PIECE SILVER SHIRASAYA This wakizashi has a very elegant shape overall with considerable sori for the nagasa length. The chu-kissaki adds to its overall elegance. The nakago may be slightly machi-okuri as evidenced by the hamon extending beyond the ha-machi further than I would expect. Yet, the nakago retains one mekugi ana and the nakago jiri is Kiri. There are a couple of small ware which are barely noticeable. Polish is excellent. The hada is itame with masame in the shinogi-ji. The hamon is a gentle notare in nioi with lots of beautifu hataraki such as chikei, sunagashi, nie kozure, etc. There is hakikake in the boshi. Price: $2750 plus S/H Marked down for Christmas: $1200 plus s/h and any additional fees (Paypal, wire, etc)

Comes with this oshigata 😁

Let's hope Hoshi suffers a happier fate!