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庚午秋 畫於 静修齋 Painted in the autumn 1930 at Studio of Quiet Cultivation 林肇基 Lin Zhao Ji(Painter) Lin Zhaoji Former Deputy Director, Cultural and Educational Affairs Office of the Military Control Commission of PRC. Lin Zhaoji was a native of Gutian County. He was born in 1899 (the 25th year of the Guangxu reign of the Qing dynasty) in Shanyang Village, Gutian. After the establishment of the Military Control Commission in June 1949, he served as Deputy Director of its Cultural and Educational Affairs Office. He passed away from illness in Beijing in 1962 at the age of 63.

Hello HB, There are a few mistakes in your interpretation of the text: In your upper pic you identified (shodai) Shintogo Kunimitsu correctly. The Kanji 行 just means "leading to" and is not related to a name here. (shodai) Shintogo Kunimitsu was followed by Masamune, (nidai) Kunimitsu, Kunihiro and Kunishige (not Kuniyasu). In the lower pic the name is Norimune not Norishige, but the name is outside of the Sagami section anyway. Please note the text is structured despite of its chaotic appearance. The section about Sagami begins with "Sagami no Kuni" followed by the names of Sadakuni and Kunihiro. Next column is about (Kamakura Ichimonji) Sukezane followed by (shodai) Kunimitsu and four followers. Since this spreading of the column left some space, the author used it to fill in "Mutsu no Kuni" and Gassan smiths. For better understanding I copied the left section of sheet 2 again. I'm afraid you will find no absolution for your Tanto with the Kunimitsu mei here. Even if the text is as old as it is said, there is no guarantee the author was profoundly informed. He may just noted hearsay like many others. Anyway, the text is some fun to research. reinhard

I've got the printed book, but the link to the PDF is much appreciated. One of those exhibitions and publications that will become rarer and rarer, I'm afraid. Thanks!

Top picture 寒山拾得　　Kanzan-Jittoku 鉄　 Tetsu 目貫　 Menuki 壱組 Hito-kumi 濱野政随作 Hamano Shōzui-saku

Back in 2009 the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York held an extraordinary and important exhibition called the Art of the Samurai: Japanese Arms and Armor, 1156-1868 [Held from October 21, 2009 to January 10, 2010]. The reason it was so extraordinary is because; One, this exhibition took over ten years to put together - in large part due to the incredible efforts of the organiser and curator Morihiro Ogawa. And secondly, the Japanese Agency of Cultural Affairs allowed over 200 works of Traditional Japanese Swords and Armor including 34 National Treasures, 64 Important Cultural Properties and 6 Important Art Objects from over sixty collections to leave Japan for the first time to form part of this one time exhibition. As an exhibition it was unparalleled to have so many important works from so many museums, shrines, temples and private collections in one place, even compared to anything ever done in Japan. As part of the exhibition, as is common practice, the MET released a catalogue of the exhibition by the currator of the exhibition, Morihiro Ogawa. The catalogue is over 368 pages and 16 years on from the exhibition is still available for sale, in its second print. You can still pick one up a first edition second hand, but a new copy retails for around $60 in paperback and over $200 in hard cover. Recently, I found a link to a free PDF copy of this catalogue on the MET's website: https://www.metmuseum.org/met-publications/art-of-the-samurai-Japanese-arms-and-armor-1156-1868 As a collective English book on the history of the Samurai and their omote dogu or "external equipment", explained through Japanese National Treasures and Important Cultural Objects I think it may be a first and is certainly second to none. With the bright photos and explanations for each piece I think it is a fabulous thing to have for reference (and enjoyment.) This in my opinion is one of the more important exhibitions and books in recent times on the subject. Grab a copy whilst the link still works.

Hi Grey, The second picture is the theme: Kanzan and Jitoku - 寒山拾得

Hi all, Since I had some time for photos today, I thought I’d share this one as well. A mitokoromono by Sokujo, the 8th-generation mainline Goto. According to the origami, the nanako ground was made by Teijo, the 9th generation. Enjoy!

I actually printed it all off on a good quality printer and put it into a binder. I'm of that generation which prefers a hard copy of everything. Great reference - thank you!

Herr are some Photos of the Kabuto, as requested Best regards Gerry

Found this video by one of the curators of the new Samurai Exhibition opening this week at the British Museum and was quite excited to watch it. He starts off explaining that the British Museum has one of the largest collections of Samurai artefacts outside of Japan. Unfortunately if you visit it you would not know as the permanent collection on display is rather poor. But hopefully the Exhibition will right this wrong... Unfortunately it appears it will not. The curator goes on to explain sword history but shows only one sword but does not even mention the smith and then focuses on the Koshirae of the various periods. Kind of like the Louvre explaining French history by their choice Louis Vuitton hand bags - cause they are pretty, rather than showing the Imperial collection. I guess it is interesting for a newbie but I was left very disappointed. I fear if this is the level we are engaging for the Samurai Exhibition, then unfortunately this Exhibition will leave the enthusiast and even the general public with a lot to be desired. Nice if you like unusual pretty things but otherwise very frustrating as they continue to hide the good stuff in their warehouse. I hope to be proven wrong.

I must say I am very single minded person when it comes to museums. I do focus only on weapons and little bit on armor and skip majority of amazing items in general. I do think the British Museum might have many European swords that would be to my liking even more than their Japanese items. In overall I do think the exhibition will be nice and if you live in UK or visit London during that time I might recommend visiting. I believe you can see the items in the exhibition grouped in here: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/AUTH242520 for some reason it keeps loading and loading for me so I have had to search the swords 1 by 1 from their database. It is very unfortunate how few swords of their collection have pictures online (I would assume they would be the best items) and some do have only the koshirae pictured. I cannot understand why in this modern day and age museums around the world do not document their items to their online databases. That blows my mind as they do have personnel in departments and you can take decent pictures with any 10 year old phone. The factual errors and the information about items is not told on Youtube video are some things that I do dislike a lot. It may not be on the curator but rather on the format itself as it is very fast paced. As I do think it is easy to get the feeling from the video that for example the naginata is presented as Kamakura period item while it actually is from early-mid Edo period depending on the generation of Shigetaka. Likewise it is totally absurd that this koshirae and sword is being presented as Kamakura work: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_1958-0730-56-a_1 Even the museum page clearly states that the blade is suriage Kanesada and for the Koshirae individual makers are identified and the koshirae as whole has been classified as Meiji period work. I do believe there are nice items in the exhibition like this Taikei Naotane wakizashi for example: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_1952-1028-19-a-d This daishō with Yoshioka Ichimonji and Yasumitsu blades: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_1952-1028-16-a-d , https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_1952-1028-17-a-e This might be the Sukesada that Piers mentioned, unfortunately no blade pictures: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_1958-0730-3-a-d

Tired Blade....don't buy ! Save your money for something better. Learn how a healthy blade can look. Look for a blade in good condition und with papers ........Hozon paper minimum !

Forged in 2008 by Sukemitsu (Anthony DiCristofano). Beautifully forged, demonstrating the amount of skill and control required to create such a hamon on a small kogatana blade. Blade length: 5.25" (13.34. cm) Overall length: 8.06" (20.48 cm) Asking $1000 CAD. Prefer EFT, but will accept PayPal + fee. Free Shipping in Canada, all other countries please inquire.

Yes i think is a bullet hole

Just want to chime in here as I have owned several pieces by Mr DiChristofano over the years. His work is by far my favorite of all western makers. Not only is he a hugely talented smith who has worked with mukansa level smiths, he is a hell of a nice guy as well.

You're a star Trystan! Many thanks!

Well, I’m pretty inexperienced with kantei, so I could be way off here. I’m thinking Yamato-den, perhaps Naminohira. It looks like there are some areas of ayasugi hada and I see shirake utsuri.

For future reference, the giveaways from those photos are the misplaced and irregular shinogi and the shape of the kissaki. We would also expect the nakago to be somewhat unfinished. John C.

More likely a Fukure.

Well, as you know, they all copied the work of their predecessors, so most of the pieces show similarities with both earlier and later generations. But of course, some are inferior in quality, while others just speak to you. Ones at Eirakudo are very nice as well. @Dereks Menuki and all other mon(shishis) are solid gold.

Massimo Rossi polished my Yoshindo Yoshihara katant and he did an astonishing work! Regards Luca

In fact, Martin Horňák is also a traditional togishi who trained in Japan

秋山飛瀑 – Autumn mountains and waterfall This term is not a proper noun for a specific waterfall, but a general name of a painting motif. 庚午秋畫 – Painted in the autumn of the year of Kanoe-Uma (1990, 1930, 1870, 1810, or older?) 於静修齋林肇基 This might express the place and name of the painter. I am not sure.

The Meiji 25th Year Cavalry Sword was made by Tōkyō Hōhei Kōshō 東京砲兵工廠 [Tōkyō Artillery Arsenal]. I strongly recommend everyone reading this thread to take a look at this book. (Mod Scogg says I can use bold, italics, and underlining at the same time for dramatic effect!) Military Industries of Japan

Good thing there are two magpies in the scene and not one "One for sorrow, Two for joy, Three for a girl, Four for a boy, Five for silver, Six for gold, Seven for a secret never to be told".

I've seen officers signing their names in pencil, on a couple of Type 98 swords I used to own. Ive not seen any signs of this on Kyu-Gunto though. Ill do my best to photograph more of the koshirae over the weekend, with a focus on the individual fittings. I quite enjoy the unique 'East-meets-West' aesthetic of 'Russo-Japanese' wartime mounts.

Very nice indeed, it appears to be an Utsushi of Yokoyama Daijo Sukesada.

If you’re lucky, they just might sell it back to you at half price

We must distinguish between the oldest physical manuscript copy and the oldest content. The oldest manuscript copy of the Ki'ami Bon Mei Zukushi is from the early Muromachi period.

Perhaps it's mekugi-ana utsuri?

Indeed, I see this in Walmart Superstore during Black Friday sales!

Brilliant thanks for posting, I did put up the original question around the generation of the smith because I was considering purchasing the bade back in 2024… it looked great, but I decided against.. due to wife aversion issues( my wife is pathological adverse to me spending money on swords).