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Today I had a chance to see it again, luckily at a time when there were fewer visitors, so I tried some different shots. A B

蓋同銘中無出其右者 (Kedashi domeichu sono migini derumono nashi.) – Perhaps, among the works with the same mei, it is second to none. As for “盡忠則命” on the box, I think that we do not have to be too bound by the word on the box. I guess that the order of the kanji was Kanzan’s own understanding only because he did not know the original four-character idiom 忠則盡命. The attached article was written on the premise that the word was 忠則盡命. Ref. 忠則藎命図鐔　銘　三信家

Just bear in mind those download links are to illegal downloads that break copyright. Tempted to remove it...not because I'm a stickler for law, but because I'm wary of the forum liability in sharing stuff like that. Hmmm....I need to think about this for a bit

It might not be real - BUT I WANT IT! Dalek tsuba- WHO could resist!

I have a kozuka signed Sukekane on the blade. One of our NBTHK members questioned it with the sensei, who took one glance and said 'genuine'. Another kozuka has a rubbish-looking wildly inscribed (Kunisada?) Mei on it, but after polishing the hada and hamon on the other side are totally beautiful. I still have no idea who chiseled the Mei or why. So, as expressed above, the exceptions do sometimes seem to prove the rule!

I downloaded my copy via the link below. According to Bruce, it was a JSSUS article. Attention Mantetsu Owners: A Survey

Interesting blade. Maybe late nambokucho period. But die pictures should be better. I wonder why all that interest is in the fittings. Its a nice old blade.

Suishinshi Masahide had a message - Edo period and everything associated with it was bad, it was better before and way better in late Kamakura. That was not unusual thinking towards Bakumatsu, whether the subject was economy, governance or sex life. How realistic is it when applied to swords is difficult to say. Overall Japanese ones are much harder than European and conversely are very prone to chipping. Great cutters with exceptionally short lifetime. You can chop a dozen iron nails with a saber and all you are going to get is the edge being shinier in places. But saber is not going to do nearly the same damage as Japanese sword. If what you want is a cut from above against say human target, I would go with shinto. More consistent steel content and grain size distribution. More weight for the same size is not going to hurt you but makes the technique more forgiving. Will shinto be more prone to fatal damage under such conditions - this is not my experience and I have an issue finding any concrete evidence confirming it is so. Early soshu is just as hard at the edge as Sukehiro. But early Soshu was battle proven... Its a big statement with not a lot of known quantities. Battle proven (very) often means we have X money, Y people and therefore we are going to make the weapons to fit the bill, nevermind all other considerations. Or it can mean we have one guy who survived a famous encounter 20 years ago and we continue making weapons according to his vision, until 20 years later people start believing in something else... And if you are an actual weapon designer, being guided by soldiers is not going to yield a fantastic weapon. There are many reasons, including soldiers not realizing the tradeoffs between performance, reliability, cost and manufacturability, while navigating those is the key to being great weapon designer. A LOT of them will have memories of the fighting itself distorted to the point of being completely unrealistic. Or driven by a single event which drove them nuts. So you are looking for a feedback of someone experienced, intelligent, calm minded, objective with knowledge of how the technology works. How many such people exist, especially since everyone who really fights rather than participates runs the risk of being killed which if not 50% then at least 10% Back to swords, frankly speaking they all have nearly the same effectiveness, +/- 15%. Its not the kind of technology or environment where you kill 100 people and then elaborate on how it felt with say Bizen versus Soshu. In this case, "fashion" becomes important. Somebody with influence likes o-kissaki - everyone tries to copy and be cool. Then another guy says - its all hubris, traditional sugata is better, and in 10 years - nothing changed on the battlefield but we are back to shapes from 100 years ago.

Appears to be a "Sam Browne" clip type from the missing bottom attachment. It's difficult to say with these as original Japanese types have been found with the clip.

After checking it out, there doesn't appear to be a full download, and you can only preview a very limited number of pages. So I expect that one is ok and legit. I know there are full pdf's of the book floating around, I'd be more concerned about sharing those. This one should be fine

Could it be simply the way he cuts (I am assuming you are talking about the 3:00 mark). From slow motion videos, sometimes it looks like the blade bends downwards, but it's because the blade is more or less thrown before the hands. On the other hand, I have seen a bokuto bend upon strong impact (basically it straightens at the moment of impact before springing back into shape).

Hi, thank you! I must have missed it somehow

I have seen blades that had hagire have a helicopter-like forward spin when the hagire failed and the blade broke. It's why one must inspect their swords. The idea that a sword can have hagire and be "safe" for any kind of kenjutsu is a concerning label.

Hi John, as Florian states above, not having distinctive layers can be seen as positive, documenting a completely fire-welded TSUBA blank. Seeing three layers in the NAKAGO-ANA is probably more of a "relaxed" way of fire-welding, as in the context of protective qualities, it would not make much of a difference, so it is accepted as "typical" for many AKASAKA TSUBA.

Some more info at Omura http://ohmura-study.net/925.html "Sergeant Kako of a Guntō repair group is an excellent swordsmith. Since the operative of the forging factory in a unit did not have arms, there was a request which makes a sword as an object for self-defense. The old spring which is the useless article of a car was forged roughly, and it was considered as the form of a sword. Since full-scale hardening was not completed, it made the sword from the same manufacturing process as "Zōhei-tō" which puts a temper into the whole and is returned moderately."

Agreed with the previous opinions. There are many Akasaka-Tsuba without distinctive traces of layers. At least it means they are well forged. Visible or even open layers are often result of corrosion because the inner core is made of low quality iron. I would advise You to get a look on other Akasaka pieces to gain more experience how to recognize layers even if they are not clearly visible.

My wife helped me translate Jitsuden's calligraphy: 繙經參月心 (fān jīng cān yuè xīn) Translating/reading the scriptures, contemplating the moon-like mind (literal meaning) or Turning the pages of the sutras, I contemplate the mind that is like the moon (poetic meaning) It's difficult to discern whether this is also a rejection of a reliance on "words and scriptures" like the work known to be by Sokuhi in which the monk is reading the sutra in the moonlight. Or could it be that Jitsuden is suggesting that study of scripture can be a tool for achieving direct insight and awakening, much like koan study is used in Rinzai Zen practice for this purpose. If the latter, it would be a departure from traditional Zen belief and understanding. Would Sukohi have contributed the painting if this were the case? Perhaps this work is a deeper exploration of the role of study in facilitating the direct experience of kensho or satori. 繙經 (fān jīng) — Engaging with sacred texts, but not merely intellectual study; "turning over" implies intimate, repeated handling, suggesting devotion or deep familiarity. 參月心 (cān yuè xīn) — In Chan/Zen Buddhism, "contemplating the moon" often refers to looking beyond words to direct insight. The famous metaphor says: the finger pointing at the moon is not the moon itself — teachings (sutras) are the finger; the enlightened mind is the moon. Here, cān yuè xīn suggests using scripture to investigate one's own original, luminous, and still nature — "mind-as-moon."

Hi John, Here you will find a care and handling brochure; you would be doing yourself and the sword a favor if you read it. https://nbthk-ab2.org/sword-characteristics/ We need better pictures before we can tell you much. Start with a dark, uncluttered background. Give us a shot of the whole bare blade with the tip at the top and another of the tang with signature, again with the tip of the sword up (your 1st picture of the tang is upside down). Grey

Thank you again, Steve, for your efforts in interpreting this hakogaki. It is possible that we will never know for certain. Perhaps Satō-sensei was not aware at the time of the meaning of the kanji on the tsuba, and simply recorded them one by one, following a clockwise arrangement as in scheme A in the image below. The correct reading follows scheme B, which is by no means a common way to read an ancient Japanese text, as far as know. This interpretation was possibly suggested by Itō Mitsuru in his 2025 book "Nobuie". On the other hand, an NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon paper for the same tsuba describes it as 龍に忠則命尽文字図鐔, thus suggesting scheme C (尽 is listed as a variant of 盡). Therefore, I suppose I must accept a certain degree of uncertainty in my transcription.

This appears to read Yukimitsu. Best regards, Ray

I had no idea katanas flexed like a whip on downward strikes like that. If you slow it down it really bends and snaps back right before contact.

Maybe it's kismet. Just today I had a sword go missing - sort of. Got a delivery notice from USPS that the sword was delivered to the porch. Nope wasn't there. I immediately got on the phone to the post office for my area and had them track it. Postman probably wasn't more than a block away. Within 5 minutes he shows up with the sword. "Sorry. I was thinking it was the other street." Moral of the story is taking the quickest action possible got the 1,000 dollar sword back. And while it's not always possible to be that quick, constant tracking and plenty of phone calls can in some cases yield results. John C.

Hi @Lewis B As much as I love Hokke work, I was never able to get a clear understanding of their origin. There are reliable sources that say Sukekuni early nanbokucho, Kaneyuki, and Ichijo early muromachi. The 1st Ichijo was also supposedly either the son of Masie or a student of Sukekuni but I dont think that timeline would add up The NBTHK on this one says Hokke Ichijo specifically so I would think around 1394 at the earliest. Aoi also didnt mention what was written on the saya but it doesnt looklike a sayagaki by anyone notable Either way this is definitely a nice piece that has a lot of the things I like. Very stout and rustic with textured jigane

Could be Nanbokucho. Founder was Kaneyuki and he started in Ōan (応安, 1368-1375).

Thanks for the info everyone!! I wish I could have taken more pictures but yeah, I was at a flea market and didn't think to take any more. I'll keep an eye out for a copy of this, thanks. I did manage to find an online version but I'd much rather a physical copy. Link to online version in case its useful to anyone https://archive.org/details/connoisseursbook0000naga

The percentage of ones fully forged, folded and with decent hamon are a very small percentage of the total seen, and when you see them, they are usually in shirasaya or apart from average kozuka. Yes, of course they exist, but look at the way yours is signed compared to the usual "chicken scratch" type mei we see on most. Now show me one like yours in full polish in that condition that is original to an average kozuka and mounted that way from the Edo period? Again, they exist, but best to always consider them gimei until proven otherwise. Once you see a hamon with nie and hataraki, you can start looking closer at the mei.

This is a Wakizashi from a rarely seen smith of the Osaka Shinto school, "Terumasa". He signed "Mutsu-no-kami Tachibana Terumasa" and was the adopted son of the first-generation Kobayashi Ise-no-kami KUNITERU in Osaka. His actual name being: Kobayashi Goro-Uemon. He became the head of family succeeding KUNITERU around Genroku (1688) era and his name changed to the title of Izumi-no-kami. He then moved from Osaka to Matsuyama city, Iyo province (Modern day Ehime pref. on Shikoku) to serve for Uwajima feudal domain. This Wakizashi was made in his younger years while he resided in Settsu, Osaka during Jyokyo era (1684-87). The whole Hamon consists of "Touranba-Midare" that was founded by Tsuda-Echizen-No-Kami Sukehiro and flourished not only among Terumasa or Oumi-no-kami Sukenao which were both in the same school, but also spread out to the other schools in Osaka such as Ikkan-shi Tadatsuna and Echigo-No-Kami Kanesada. Also this innovative "Touranba-Midare" had a strong influence to the future generations such as Suishinshi Masahide, Chounsai Tsunatoshi and Kato Tsunatoshi. Shape: Shinogi-zukuri, Iori-mune with nice thick Kasane. This magnificent wakizashi shows the typical shape and style of the time which flourished during Joukyo to Houei (1684-1710) era. Activity: Fine Itame with some indication of partial Mokume when examined closely. beautiful "Nie" combined with "Ji-Nie" and precise lines of "Chikei". Hamon: Hamon is Touranba-Midare starts with uphill Osaka-style Yakidashi, flamboyant O-midare which is made of large/tall Gunome and box-shape to generates the billows of "Touranba-midare". Thick sparkling Nie granules accumulate on boundary between Hamon and Hada. The interior of temper is filled with mist-like crystalline areas and thick Nie runs into the cutting edge. You will also spot lines and patches of Nie which make up "Sunagashi" which stand out nicely including what looks like Niju or Yo up near the Kissake. Boshi: Temper of Boshi forms straight of "Suguha" and medium circle turns back deeply. Nakago: The Nakago is UBU with original single Mekugi Ana. Horizontal Kesho file marks. The large, deep and freely chiselled inscription on Shinogi-ji ridge starts with the title of Mutsu-no-kami 陸奥守, name of clan Tachibana 橘 and smith name TERUMASA 輝政. Certificate: NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon. Overall an extremely nice healthy example of his work in the classic Osaka Shinto style with beautiful steel, silky smooth finish and some very interesting an unusual activity to be shown, especially in the Hamon. This wakizashi is sold in Shirasaya and in good polish with Tokubetsu Hozon Papers.

My guess is that the readings of the individual kanji themselves won't change (jinchū sokumei), but I don't know why the order is rearranged from the order of the original Chinese phrase. Jinchū is a valid word (loyalty, fidelity, faithfulness), but "sokumei" isn't a word as far as I know. Maybe its an intentional pun, or play on words. Sokumei could be the kanji used for someone's name, so perhaps a retainer or disciple had a tsuba made using this phrase, but rearranged the kanji to mean "loyalty to Sokumei". ? Anyway, maybe that 3rd line in Kanzan's hakogaki gives a clue, but I still can't figure it out. I also note there is a phrase 無出其右 (mushukkiyu) meaning "unrivled", but I don't think it's used in Japanese, and while its temptingly close to what Kanzan has written on the box, those last two kanji just seem too far away.

A bit more on the Bizen side of possible

Hi John, I'm sorry I can't help there, however, but it has been the received wisdom since I've been interested in the subject. The vast majority seem to not be high quality items and confirm that rule whereas the one you've shown is clearly the exception - it has a hamon, and is well finished on the side with the signature and the mei is well carved and is clearly something that the smith was rightly proud to sign. In my post I was careful to qualify what I said by use of words like "generally" and "probably" because, as with most things nihonto and I've made the error more than once before, the instant something is stated as an immutable rule, something appears that proves the opposite and there are undoubtedly good kogatana out there.

Quick follow-up. Further requests from overseas have nudged them into finally expanding their web page to include bank details in order to accommodate donations from abroad. Quote: (On second thoughts anyone interested please find the details from the QR code in post#2 above.)

蓋同銘中・無出典在者 Not sure of the red, but my guess is that the meaning is "The meaning of the phrase on the tsuba (also noted on the lid) is unknown" (not listed in any published resources). Edit: Hmm, rethinking this, at least the 2nd part. The phrase 忠則盡命 is known (devoting your life to your lord). A reference to a Chinese classic, Thousand Character Essay (孝當竭力，忠則盡命).

Perhaps kirikomi might be an indirect measure of a blades ability to withstand structural failure. Hardly scientific but provides a degree of competency by the makers. They were fully aware of what manufacture methods leads to an effective and resilient sword under the harshest of battle conditions. Afterall it was in their interests for their patrons to return home alive. The Ishida Masamune has signs of a couple of massive impacts to the mune yet survived. So I'm not sure I fully agree with Kevin's statement "shinto/shinshinto/gendai sword would just about break any elegant chu/hoso suguha koto sword". Perhaps a late koto blade when quality of manufacture generally took a dive due to the increasing need to supply the Sengoku period conflicts.

Ive seen that before, as well as the obata kabutowari with what I think was a yoshihara if I remember correct. It's pretty difficult to do, especially if you like nihonto 😂

I have a teapot made of clay I believe that most likely came from Okinawa in the late 90’s early 2000’s. I am looking to find some information on it or what it might be worth today. There is a small gold painted id marker on the bottom. Google can’t find it online. Can anyone help me out?

Hello, It looks like “Rinsai” (林斎) to me. This is a brand logo of a company that used to be in Saga Prefecture (the company has since closed). 三洋陶器株式会社「龍峰窯」 San yō Ceramics Co., Ltd.’s ‘Ryūhō Kiln’. I’m not sure if it has any connection to Okinawa. It seems they produced a variety of items. I tried to find pieces with a similar texture from among them. a teapot a platter I hope someone more knowledgeable will show up.