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The Toyama Sword Research Society brings together young people and women from all over the country. In recent years, the Toyama Sword Research Association, a sword enthusiast group based in Toyama Prefecture, has seen an increase in its membership among young people and women. Due to the influence of online games such as "Touken Ranbu ONLINE," the number of young people becoming interested in swords is increasing, and the company has made great efforts to make the game more approachable for beginners and to spread the word on social media. This initiative, which is rare nationwide in the world of swords, where middle-aged and elderly men have been the main fan base, has paid off, and the sword is becoming a popular choice for "sword beginners" from a wide range of regions, not just within the prefecture. The Toyama Sword Research Society was formed in 2017 by Yasunori Sawada (57) (Nanto City, civil servant), an enthusiast and former director of the Sword Museum (Tokyo). He holds sword appreciation events about five times a year and visits art museums both within and outside the prefecture. The study group, which began with around 20 members, has now grown to 220, 70% of whom are women. By age group, the most common age group is those in their 30s, followed by those in their 20s and 40s. 40% of people live in the three Hokuriku prefectures, with many in the Kanto, Kansai, and Chukyo regions. Some members are from Hokkaido and Kagoshima prefectures. In order to encourage young people and women to join, the study group has put in place a number of measures to make it easy for beginners to participate. This new sword study group has proven itself to be very successful and is quickly showing the way forward for Japanese Sword Societies in local communities.

Hello! I had wanted to add a Kaga tsuba to my collection for a long time, and recently Okan finally convinced me with his wonderful example that was shown here not so long ago. Recently I came across this tsuba. It depicts the classic theme of drying fishing nets, and in my opinion the Kaga inlay is perfectly suited to the delicate nets. Overall, the composition is quite refined. The tsuba itself is made of rich and expensive shakudo, although this is somewhat hidden beneath the dark patina, it is especially noticeable when viewed at an angle. The plate is perfectly polished and shimmers beautifully in the light. I would also note the beautiful sekigane - it was probably mounted on two different swords.

Yesterday's meeting and update indicated that 78 people have contributed JPY2,430,000 so far, just shy of the 2.5 million yen they are initially aiming for by the end of this month. A plan for the polishing of the Odachi was also handed out, to take place over the first three cold months of 2027 when rust will not be too much a problem. I had a chance to see their Muromachi period blades display, including upstairs a 1499 Katsumitsu/Sadamitsu joint-work naginata that Jussi might recognize. Photos: A B C

This is the kind of thing that makes me wish I lived in Japan... A famous sword appreciation event co-sponsored by the Toyama Sword Research Association and the branch e-Sword Research Association will be held on the 30th May. At the sword fittings exhibition, you will be able to see the sword fittings that came with the mountings of Satsuki Amee and Atsuto Shiro. This time, the sword lineup is also luxurious, including Bizen Saburo Kunimune, Shindo Go, Masamune, Norishige, Go, Hidari, Kunitsugu Rai, Naotane Daikei, Dewa Daijo Kunimichi, and Kashu Kiyomitsu, and it's already packed to capacity. Getting to hold and examine this calibre of sword is the stuff of legend. No wonder it is already fully subscribed. Sounds like the kind of meetup that Honma writes about in his memoirs. The next one is in July - for those interested and able to get to Toyama.

Seals for the calligraphy are: top left: 臨済正宗　(Rinzai Seishu) bottom right, upper seal: 黄檗主人 (Ōbaku shujin) bottom right, lower seal 大雅法印 (Taiga-hō-no-in)

@Conway some Asano Kanezane info in NMB Downloads:

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The chiseled characters on the tang are imperfect because of wear and tear. But I think that the second kanji looks like 継 (tsugu). The name may be 義継 – Yoshitsugu. FYI: yoshtsug.jpg (91×250)

Very true, and that only comes after doing the hard yards researching the literature and more importantly experiencing high end swords in hand. Elias, since you are in Germany you should seriously consider attending an NBTHK-EB meeting either in Solingen or Manching. There are many members in Germany who have some magnificent Juyo and up swords, and are only too happy to share their knowledge and collections.

It must be a typo. 純正眞鐵入鍛 I do not know its correct reading either. Junsei magane nyutan (?) - Forged from genuin iron.

I think you're right. I was using a Mac with Safari. On the PC with Firefox its legible. Must be a Safari specific issue.

I thought this might be a good place to ask this. I have noticed watching two different shows with Japanese named actors that they don’t say all the syllables. One was named Mitsubishi, but they pronounced it “Mits’ke”. The other is Yusuf, but they pronounce it as “Yus’ke.” Are these contractions?

Aiden , your Naval sword ,as has been pointed out, is junk however your Army sword is definately genuine and could be quite a good one . The presence of the owners name in the silver plaque and the lacquered scabbard are indications of the blade possibly being a good one . You really need to get the handle off in case it is rusting underneath and it is this rust that is preventing you getting the handle off . I would remove the peg completely ,pad the tsuba with cloth or leather then start tapping the tsuba with a block of wood . If you don't feel comfortable doing this seek out a collector who has done it before and get them to help .

Hello Hector, probably a reseller scheme like all of those yahoo auction resellers on ebay. Once you purchase the item on eBay, they will themselves buy it from the real dealer and reap in the difference. Very common with Japanese ebay stores. If you see a listing that you like, you can often reverse image search to find the original listing. I did not know they expanded to actual physical stores so thanks for sharing.

It's been discussed here often. There are PLENTY of sellers who are listing items that are for sale elsewhere, for much higher prices. If they sell it, they attempt to buy it from the original seller, and make a profit. If they cannot get it, they cancel the sale. Not illegal, but highly frowned upon. But we have seen many sellers of tsuba etc on eBay listing stuff that is for sale on Yahoo Jpn etc. Not uncommon at all.

Glad to find out about this! As I live in Japan, I might try to subscribe to a future event. Best, Hector

When the sword was initially procured and priced, the FX rate ¥/$ was close to 100. So, you were looking at c.$25k back then. Currently the FX rate is closer to 160, which means the $25k would be nearly ¥4m. Furthermore, the Japanese dealers in the last couple of years overcompensated for the yen depreciation somewhat. While previously they used to think purely in yen, as their inflation has been next to 0% for decades, lately they started mentally converting to $ and pricing accordingly, as the sword market internationalised in the last 10-15 years beyond recognition. I remember decent TJ perhaps 8-10 years ago was in the ¥14-15m range, then that became ¥17-18m, now you are looking at ¥20m+. A famous dealer complained to me a few weeks ago about former customers also demanding extremely high prices from him for the swords he had sold to them years ago (but that is a different story for another day…). So, the maths for this sword: You add to the aforesaid ¥4m (the historic price) then the ¥0.75m-¥1m koshirae, the cost of the polish, the fact that the seller probably wants some return to his investment and you get to ¥5m. The sword is rather nice, albeit not my cup of tea. But indeed in the last 15 years the floodgates of information and access have opened, so one naturally has a lot of choice. Just go to Chris’s Nihontowatch website and see what AI has enabled in the last few months. He has put a tonne of valuable (and monetarily rather expensive) information in there - for now for the benefit of people. But such access and info should really be premium….. One important thing: buy what you like and resonates with you emotionally and do not get swayed by people’s likes and dislikes in Sa or Nanbokucho shapes, or more/less nie etc. And measure and weigh carefully options, opinions, facts.

In my opinion the interesting point about this sword is that it is a unokubi-zukuri katana.

While historical sales are not good indicator of current prices due to several factors of which we have discussed previously at NMB too. You can see Aoi Art had this same sword for sale without koshirae in 2021 for 2,500,000 yen https://web.archive.org/web/20210802211856/https://www.aoijapan.com/katana-mumeiunsigned-attributed-as-sa-yoshisada/ So you can see koshirae has not been historically with the sword. Also new habaki and shirasaya have been made for the sword. To me the workmanship of the blade seems very good but I am not after that in swords. Size and shape of the sword are the factors that would put me off from this purchase. If I would be in position to purchase a Sa school blade some day I would want it to be of the imposing Nanbokuchō shape in which there are plenty of Sa school attributed blades.

@Conway Thank you very much for posting those images. As I mentioned earlier, the two that I owned and the third that I had in my possession were all very different. One I wish that I had been able to obtain, and one that I really wish that I had kept! The last mentioned blade was full of tobi-yaki. Thank you again.

Hi, I will write only the characters. （I also do not know the correct reading of the first sentence.） 「純正直鐡入鍛 　濃刕住浅野兼眞作之」 （To me, it looks like the character “入,” but on the auction site below, it is identified as “人”. 　Looking at the photo of the registration paper on the same website, it says “入”.） ↓ 刀　(銘：濃州住浅野兼真作・純正眞鉄人鍛) auction site（yahoo!Japan）There are still some photos near the bottom of the website. 刕＝州　濃刕＝濃州＝美濃Mino 住＝live 浅野Asano兼眞Kanezane 作之=make this 眞＝an old-style “真” ↓There was also a brief biography on this website. sword dealer Giheiya 「Mei 濃州住浅野兼真 　Real name 浅野真一 　Date of birth 明治45年3月15日（March 15, Meiji 45 [1912]） 　Address 関市仲町住 Title 陸軍受命刀匠」 ↓以安来鋼浅野兼真作之刻印 Asano Kanezane sword dealer Meirin sangyo

Gets later and later every year. Soon it's gonna be a Xmas show. I liked the end of Oct, beginning Nov. Great weather. Hmmm

刀剱造法其理明而不畏古之冶工雖然亦不侮是唯以鍛錬去 鈍滓全鐵氣而不泥刄文陰陽相和鉾刄清利難折難撓無所疑 According to the site below, the meaning is: The principles of swordsmithing are well understood, and although I do not believe it is impossible to surpass the old masters, I cannot say that I am better than them. The most important thing in swordmaking is to continue forging (folding) the steel until all the impurities are removed, preserving the essence of the iron, and to not become preoccupied with the shape of the hamon. The blade will become pure and sharp when the yin and yang are in harmony, and it will doubtless become difficult to break, and resistant to bending. https://www.touken-world.jp/search/38586/

Well, the seller did not remove the listing (even though I physically own the item) - they simply reduced the price. And I got a response from eBay - they have found in the seller' favour. 😂

It’s on eBay. Where else would Steve find a sword? The sword is being sold by a member who is active on NMB.

Brian, One can only wonder why it didn't sell. The gentleman clapper is rendered in a similar vein to The Scream that could be off-putting for some. For myself, it is a magnificent piece clearly unappreciated in SA. I see others have offered to house it for you - let me add my offer to look after it and send you pictures. HAHA - I'm reminded here of a particular gnome statue that was a fond possession of a nerdy engineer in my working days. One day it vanished, stolen from his office. Strangely, the whole workgroup suddenly started getting email messages with pictures of this gnomey personage holidaying all around the world. This went on for months until the gnome suddenly came home... Congratulations Brian, it is good to see you getting a real win. It's a great lift to one's spirit, desu ne?? BaZZa.