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SHINAE are superficial cracks in the steel after a bend on the stretched side of a blade, and of course they are not beneficial to the structural integrity of it. What we see in Jeff's blade was correctly described as ripples, and they are something quite different. They can develop when the preliminary work in a BOHI left out a stage or two of fine grinding lengthwise which is tedious work. The final polish with a MIGAKI-BO 'compresses' the surface to a very small extent, and using only a pointed MIGAKI-BO can produce these ripples. With differently dimensioned tools, these can be avoided as you can see on many good swords. But I will add that some sword construction methods also might provoke the occurrence of these ripples. I would not consider them negative in technical hindsight at all. Looking at this feature with a microscope/high magnification will clear that up easily.

This does not exclude you handling it - often! These things were meant to be touched and they often gain more beauty from hand contact. Probably the worst thing to do is just throw them in a drawer. One caveat being if you handle them with dirty/oily hands a wipe with a cotton cloth will stop the dreaded "fingerprint" etching. [After all it is no use having the fingerprint if the owner of it is unknown by the police! ]

Hi Jeff, They may be caused by a bent blade having been straightened and are called shinae. https://www.japaneseswordindex.com/kizu.htm

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

Just for a better understanding I am showing some of my MIGAKI BO. I think they are made from a highly hardenable carbon steel, probably something like ball-bearing or so.

To be honest Jeff, that's a bit technical for me. The logical bit of my brain would say that you would only get shinae on the side of the blade that has been compressed rather than stretched but that might be wrong as this is a flaw that isn't that common and that I've only ever seen in pictures. I don't recall seeing them on both sides of the blade but that isn't conclusive. I understand that, if minor, they can be ground out but it is a flaw so again, using what passes for my reasoning, they would be removed if possible - I've just seen Rohan's post which probably sums it up pretty well. Some more information on flaws in this thread and the third post has a picture from an old book which might interest you.

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

For all the research you do into this space I reckon we could wrangle up a honorary doctorate for you! 😉

Hi Jose, I have a similar piece, my first ever sword actually. It came with a Sam Browne style belt. Thought i'd share some photo's for your interest.

Here is my 98 with black lacquer saya and what remains of the leather saya cover.

I’ve had good experience with CloudFlare for hosting simple sites. You get their free tier of WAF as well which is good these days for stopping bots and AI from scraping your site nonstop and taking up bandwidth. Ive also had good experiences with CF for enterprise applications and big deployments for big companies but that’s typically beyond the scope of Nihonto

These days, with CNC milling machines becoming less and less expensive, it would be pretty easy to carve a horimono like that dragon entirely automatically, with just some minor post machine clean-up. The hardest part isn't the carving, it's creating the 3D model... and if you have an old one to 3D scan and replicate, there's just some clean-up and translation of the scan to do. CNC machines do for carving what AI does for video - pretty soon you just won't be able to tell the difference without a microscope. But the quality of nihonto has always been in the steel production and forging anyhow, and that, so far, is beyond a computer :-).

Interestingly, there are two works among the 8 scrolls that are by a father and son pair of Confucian literati scholars, suggesting a purposeful theme in the collecting interest of the previous owner Frank Preiser. Kameda Bōsai (亀田鵬斎; 1752–1826) was a Japanese literati painter (nanga in Japanese). He originally trained as a Confucian scholar, but spent the second half of his life as a literati and artist. The book "Mountains of the Heart" contains many of his most famous paintings. The inscription is in the form of a traditional quatrain of 7 characters per line: "Within the mountains apart from the mountain-top clouds, there is also the pine wind in which to take pleasure; If only I had a tea-whisk to send as a present to you, for elegant rhymes can mislead, as in what was said to the Liang dynasty Emperor" 山中除却嶺上雲, 別有松風可怡悅; 但謂巴鼻特賠君, 清韵讀向梁帝說 The poet T'ao Yuan-Ming (372-427) once wrote to the Liang Emperor Wu: "I have certainly had wide experience, but I am afraid I am not yet skilled..." T'ao then resigned his official post after serving only 83 days in office and spent the rest of his days in creative retirement. Here Bosai paints the pine tree piercing the cloud. The small figure of a scholar stands on the edge of a cliff in this polychrome work. Signature: (Painted and inscribed by old man Bosai) Seals: (Bosai, used 1820-1824), (Kanto dai-ichi futensei, The greatest fool in the Kanto area, used 1818-1823) Kameda Ryorai (亀田綾瀬, 1778-1853) studied under his father Kameda Bōsai, a distinguished Confucian scholar, painter, and calligrapher. The inscription in this large character single line work is an expression of the Confucian Doctrine of the Mean (Zhongyong), which espouses the natural order of things. The "Mean" represents a balanced, optimal approach to life, avoiding extremes through moral cultivation, sincerity, and finding the right path (Tao) in all situations. 鳶飛魚躍活潑潑地 "Kites fly and fish leap, those on the ground are lively"

A amazing work by Kusakari Kiyosada, a metal artist from Sendai renowned for finishing shakudo surfaces in a uniform stone-texture ground (ishime-ji), outlining the design with gold wire, and executing delicate linear decoration in flat gold inlay (hira-zogan). Kiyosada trained with the Omori family in Edo and went on to create a new aesthetic distinct from earlier Sendai inlay traditions, characterized by a beautifully composed, planar pictorial space. After returning to his home province, he served the Date family and trained many disciples. The last example is probably daisho

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

Greetings folks, Been a while since I last posted. I received a shin gunto with an unsigned blade (I'm sure machine made) and with a black lacquered says. One can see the wear at the bottom of the scabbard and it is missing a fuchi gane at a throat. Is this normal? Could this be some sort of marine piece? Any help on this piece would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Yamaoka Tesshu (山岡 鉄舟) was born in Edo June 10, 1836 and died July 19, 1888. As a master swordsman, lay Zen master, and prolific calligrapher/painter, he embodied the integrated practice of Ken Zen Sho. The inscription is the poignant last verse of a quatrain by Xiong Rudeng (熊儒登), a Tang Dynasty official and poet who served in Western Sichuan, called "Presented to Vice Minister Dou at a Banquet at Quchi." The inscription is the poignant last verse of a quatrain by Xiong Rudeng (熊儒登), a scholar-official and poet, called "Presented to Vice Minister Dou at a Banquet at Quchi." He lived around the time of Emperor Xianzong of Tang's Yuanhe era (806-820). After passing the imperial examination, he became a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations). He served as an official in the Western Sichuan provincial government and was a close friend of Bai Juyi and Liu Yuxi, frequently exchanging poems. He was a prolific writer, producing many poems, but only one collection has survived to this day. Many of these poems are exchanges of poems, containing numerous beautiful lines. Some of these lines are sincere and moving, and were widely recited in his time. It is easy to understand why this poem would have appealed to Yamaoka's Zen sensibility: 水自山阿繞坐來, 珊瑚台上木綿開。 欲知舉目無情罰, 一片花流酒一杯。 Water flows around the mountainside, and cotton blossoms bloom on the coral terrace. If you wish to know the merciless punishment before your eyes, see a single flower drift down to a cup of wine.

The flat head shape (possibly suggesting a depression containing water) made me think of a Kappa, but the face, hands and feet are not typical. Maybe the Kappa king??? Dunno. One for @Bugyotsuji perhaps.

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!!🙂)

I was struggling with the Japanese description of a mounting . Mr Moriyama , who is a huge asset to the Board , assisted by giving me the translation ,being Yosegane ,together with a link to the Mokumekin Museum . The museum describes Yosegane as"like marquetry Yosegane combines metals of different colors to create patterns ". Members might be interested to see an example of what I now know to be Yosegane. This sword , regretably not mine , is one of the finest that I have ever handled. I hope you enjoy looking at it . Ian Brooks

Generally shinae themselves aren't considered a structural integrity problem and are unlikely to develop into a bigger problem on their own - but they do indicate that the blade was abused or faced some serious stress in battle, and thus are a warning sign that internal structural weaknesses may have developed as a result. Think of it as seeing a giant dent in a car's side door; the dent itself likely has no bearing on the roadworthiness of the vehicle, but having received a perpendicular hit like that, you'd want to check that the suspension's not shot.

This is probably a really dumb question, but curiosity hasn’t killed me yet lol … if a shinae developed during forging, and the pattern of the minuscule creasing all ran mostly perpendicular to the cutting edge and curvature of the blade, what structural instability would that cause during a strike? i.e. how does that flaw progress into failure of the blade?

For a new blade, generally if it's not small enough to be ground out, the smith wouldn't sign the blade and forward it for polishing (especially given that they're only allowed to produce a limited number of blades each month). For older blades being touched up, it depends on how deep the flaw goes - usually the integrity of the blade is prioritized above a flawless topology, especially if you don't know exactly how much surface metal would need to be ground down to erase the flaw(s).

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

Here is a picture of mine. Small metal band without any decoration.

Hello Jose! I noticed you're in Kentucky. Its a bit of a drive, but if you ever want to attend an Indiana Token Kai (sword club) meeting, we meet in a very central part of the state which is right off of I-69. Message me and I'll get you more details if you like. We meed the third Saturday of each month. As for your blade, the black lacquer paint, while not common, is something you see from time to time. Originally, this blade would have likely had a leather combat cover to protect the wooden saya better and to help keep the hanger in place. ~Chris

This is the story of my "great find," which in this case is a masterpiece. Mu'an Xintao (木庵性瑫, 1611-1684), known in Japan as Mokuan Shōtō, underwent Zen training in China at Wanfusi with three of the greatest Ch'an masters of the early 17th century: Miyun Yanwu (1566-1642), Feiyin Tongrong (1593-1661), and finally Obaku monk Yinyuan Longqi (Ingen Ryuki, 1592-1673), who bestowed on him dharma transmission in 1650. He followed Yinyuan and an entourage of a dozen other monks from southern China to Nagasaki to help with the founding of Manpukuji, which Mu'an took over as its second abbott when Yinyuan retired in 1664. Over a period of 17 years he oversaw the expansion of Manpukuji and the founding of numerous other Obaku temples throughout Japan, including Zuishoji, the principle Obaku temple in Edo. Like Yinyuan, Mu'an was one of the most talented and prolific calligraphers of the Obaku lineage, whose work was much in demand by followers. Together with Yinyuan Longqi (Ingen Ryuki) and Jifei Ruyi (Sokuhi Nyoitsu), he is known as one of the "Three Brushes of Ōbaku" or Obaku no Sanpitsu. His work is characterized by precise brush control, sophisticated character composition, and a grasp of the styles found in the works of late Ming literati calligraphers. This powerful example of Mokuan's large character vertical brushwork, which displays the conventions of bold, cursive Ming styles with an insistent upward tilt, was purchased for $200 (Andrew Jones Auctions, Los Angeles) as part of a set of 8 scrolls, along with one by Nakahara Nantenbo. Both have been carefully and beautifully mounted at great expense. Both come in boxes that are labeled with the artist's name, yet in auction no details were provided. No one else noticed; no one else bid. Clearly these were under appreciated since Mokuan works of this quality routinely sell for over $3,000. The provenance is documented by a handwritten translation from the shop Oriental Art Sekisen where it was purchased by a prior owner. I'm still researching the other 6 works. These works appear to have come to auction from a single collector, as his name appears on tags in each box. Signature: Obaku Mokuan sho (黃檗木庵書, Inscribed by Obaku Mokuan). Seals: Hogai gakushi (方外学士, prefatory seal); Shakushi Kaito (釋氏戒瑫); Mokuan shi (木盦氏). The inscription is of the formal Chinese name of the bodhisattva of infinite compassion, the one who hears and sees all suffering. Kanzeon bosatsu (觀世音菩薩, Chinese Guānshìyīn púsà), originally a male depiction, is known as Kannon in Japan. Chapter 25 of the Lotus Sutra explains how Kannon will rescue those who seek his help in times of peril, specifically addressing the dangerous encounters at sea. In this representation, Kannon is most closely associated with Dogen Zenji (1200-1253), the Zen master who introduced the Soto sect to Japan. The story goes that upon returning from his studies in China, Dogen encountered tumultuous waves and strong winds at sea. He chanted the Lotus Sutra, and then he saw Kannon riding on a lotus petal, calming the waves to ensure his safe return to Japan. For Obaku monks who undertook perilous sea journeys from China to Japan, this image served multiple roles. It functioned as a metaphorical guide in their spiritual quest for enlightenment while also symbolizing the protective grace of Kannon during their maritime expeditions. The tragic fate of Yelan Xingui (a top pupil of Yinyuan Longqi), who perished at sea en route to Japan, underscores the real danger these monks faced, making the image a testament to their courage, faith, and vulnerability. This is another Mokuan of the same inscription (although small in scale if you compare to the size of the seals) offered on Jauce for $850, which is far less refined and has a more frenetic energy to it.

Here is the Nakahara Nantenbo that was part of this set of 8 hanging scrolls. Nakahara Nantenbo (1839-1925), whose Buddhist name was Toju Zenchu (Complete Devotion), was in the last 17 years of his life the Exalted Master of the main temple of Moyoshin-ji of the Rinzai sect. A contemporary of the great lay Zen master, swordsman, calligrapher/artist, and statesman Yamaoka Tesshu, whom he met while teaching at the training hall at Sokei-ji in Tokyo and had daily private meetings with, he was a tireless reformer of Zen monastic training and activity, emphasizing strict practice and koan study. This brushwork was done when Nantenbo was 80 years old. A similar one offered by Gallery Friedrich Muller is listed for $1,700. The kanji inscription is the first verse from a famous Chinese couplet often used as a blessing for good fortune: 福如东海长流水, 寿比南山不老松 Fú rú dōnghǎi cháng liúshuǐ, shòu bǐ nánshān bù lǎosōng May good fortune be as boundless and enduring as the flowing waters of the East China Sea, and longevity stand firm like the ageless pines of South Mountain

I received this when I was a kid and over 30 years after it was acquired. It was never kept by anyone in my family as a collector piece or a piece of history I’m sure that cleaning it was not the worst thing that could have happened to it. I’m sure that it was probably cleaned at some other point because I did not clean off heavy crud or patina. So I get it now it will never be cleaned again.

A bit of cash needed for this as well! just over $3,000 USD https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/asian-art-furniture/metalwork/antique-Japanese-meiji-period-tsuba-decorated-box-dish-fujii-yoshitoyo/id-f_45586682/ Or if you shop around https://jacksonsantique.co.uk/product/Japanese-komai-style-box-dish-fujii-yoshitoyo/ £1,400.00 which is $1886.92 USD - - It pays to look around!!

Anyone have an extra 12k-15k to drop on a tsuba art print? 😆 https://www.bonhams.com/auction/31839/lot/2/philip-taaffe-b-1955-tsuba-figure-1995-96/

At the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno Park. 4/14-6/7 https://tsumugu.yomiuri.co.jp/kagamaedake2026/

And maybe just a little more on the cleaning issue. Part of making a tsuba for the artist is how they patinate it - it's a bit of an art in its own right - and the patina is part of the total piece. Yet at the same time tsuba can deteriorate over time from corrosion, crud, etc. If a tsuba has serious issues, it takes a real expert to remove (or at least reduce) the problems while preserving/matching the original patina as much as possible. Do you have any pictures of the tsuba before polishing? That might help to understand the era and school of the maker, as well as help guide what restoration might look like. As Geraint says, over time a patina will come back.

Hi Colin not sure where in the UK you are , but you may want to consider becoming a member of the UK Token Society , they have regional meetings all over the UK . PS. and at most meetings there are some nice swords etc. for sale by the members .

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 Colin, welcome to the NMB forum! Your WAKIZASHI (not Wakazashi) seems to be signed HIDA no KAMI FUJIWARA UJIFUSA. https://www.nihontocraft.com/Hida_no_Kami_Ujifusa.htm I will add that a signature alone is not always enough to assign a blade to a swordsmith. The features of a blade have to be confirmed by the characteristics of the swordsmith's certified works. If you showed us the whole blade (tip-uwards, plain dark background, dark room, light from the side, naked blade/no HABAKI), the sword experts here may give you a more competent comment on it.

Dear Mark. One of the things that cleaning it up will do is remove the patina from an alloy known as shakudo. This is a distinctive Japanese alloy of copper with a small percentage of gold which, when treated correctly, acquires a deep lustrous black colour which is still evident on the eyes and the inlayed sections at the back of the wing. Some of these retain their colour while some are now looking like copper where the patina has been removed. All being well, and further cleaning eschewed, these inlays will recover their patina over a considerable time. I appreciate that you are not interested in the monetary value but the best way of approaching this item is as a work of art and yourself as its temporary custodian. That art will communicate down the years if cared for. Enjoy this and keep up the research. In terms of age I note that no one has hazarded an assessment yet, it is an unusual tsuba. My guess would be late 18th to 19th century, just to get the ball rolling, but I look forward to others informed opinions. All the best.

Dear all, I would be most grateful if someone could help translate the mei on this tsuba and the calligraphy on the box lid. Regards, Tom

Here are two collections of butterfly kamon. You can see how much variety there was, allegedly up to 150 families using versions of butterfly Kamon. A B

Mark, welcome to NMB. Your tsuba design is a kamon (Family crest) - agehacho kamon [Taira Clan]

I thought it may be helpful if a central reference point were provided. The attached page is from the Sword and Same' book by Joly and Hogitaro. I can find a no more comprehensive standard reference. I hope this is of some help. :D

Dutch is not a language, it is a throat disease!