Brian

Well then it must be definitive...I mean a Japanese seller has to know a lot more than guys studying and collecting Japanese swords for the same period of time, right? Was the dealer also an amateur astronomer too? And even if a tsuba or 2 have representations of stars (which is likely) then that must mean all shippo must be stars, right? All those tsubashi lying on their backs at night planning their next tsuba. Wonder why they forgot to include that in their pattern books?

Edit to add: The Subscriptions link is working again, I had the hosts unblock it, but now we need to see if it is being hammered by bots and slowing down the entire site by using resources. Let's monitor it, but the old subscription links are working and huge thanks to all that are supporting. You guys are amazing.

The rectangle is from a securing strap. One of the Gunto that used a leather one with snap on the saya. Modified maybe for the war. I see a water/rain dragon pair. Possibly waves and water/rain dragons.

I don't think it's people like Luca that make newcomers leave. In fact people like him are the reason people stay. I'm very glad to have more people like him and others like him here. It means we get a steady stream of facts and reality based opinions. Nuff said.

To assist Paul, I have added a poll at the top, where you can commit to a copy or indicate you would be interested. We don't need a "no thanks" vote, as this is to gauge interest. I have made member votes public so Paul can see who would be interested and compare with his existing list. Please add your vote if you are interested.

My huge thanks go out to those members who have responded with renewal memberships etc. I really appreciate it. Having a slight glitch extending the subscription dates, but will make sure those who extended don't expire and the membership is actioned for the later date. Thanks guys, couldn't do any of this without you.

Nice exchange rate. 10,000 yen is 1000 SA Rands. A nice easy conversion. Looks like I have to plan a Japan trip when I can.

Welcome, good to have you here. Your uncle was well known among the UK collectors and am sure there are some interesting stories about him.

Hi all, I have been working with the hosts to identify the slowness and forum downtime, and at the same time noticed that the subscriptions link above is down. After some investigation, there is a possibility that there has been some hammering of certain processes through the subscriptions system, possibly an attack or something else. It seems as though certain blocks on processes may have brought the load down significantly, and I would like feedback on the speed and loading issues over the next day or 2...but there is a possibility I need to reconfigure some stuff and it seems that the subscriptions link is down. This is of course a huge concern for fund raising, as we have been going down in contributions lately and without a method of adding subscriptions, forum bills will rapidly become a problem. As a temporary solution, I am going to post the details of the various subscriptions here, and if anyone wants to take a Gold membership, I ask that you do the payment via Paypal manually, with a note of your username and the subscription that you are choosing to take or renew. I will then manually add that subscription to your username, or extend your membership by that period. I apologize for this, but it is temporary until I figure it out. Payments can be done by going to https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/japaneseswords Put a note of your username and chosen membership. Or pm me that you have paid and your choice. I really appreciate the support, and of course as always they are not compulsory, but are hugely appreciated. The Gold Memberships are as follows: Gold Tier Membership : $6 month to month, $30 for 6 months, or $60 for 12 Months. Members who upgrade to Gold Membership enjoy the following benefits: Access to exclusive themes not available to regular members Up to 60 Posts per day instead of 25 Private message limit of 500 messages (Regular members 100) Ability to edit your own posts for 14 days instead of 6 hours Ability to create polls Can view who reacted to a post and what reaction they gave Allowed to use a commercial link in your signature Can use search function with only 10 second delay between searches instead of 20 secs Can upload 10 attachments per post 7.5 Meg per post upload limit instead of 3MB Can use an image in signature (800x100px) Can have 2 links in signature Can send messages to someone even if their inbox is full 2.5 Gig total attachment storage instead of 1.5 Gigs More reactions allowed Support the forum NMB Dealers Staus: You have your own sub forum/section Dealer status comes with the following benefits: Own section of the forum that you can use as your own mini-store or display area for commerce. Ability to moderate all content in your section (along with current NMB moderators) This means you can add, delete and edit all posts indefinitely. You can lock topics, remove replies and edit descriptions or pricing. You have control over your section and what is posted there. You can control replies to your posts. Delete them or hide them. Lock the topic if you are only showing items. Post new item when they arrive, delete at any point or edit the price or description. Your own forum means you have maximum visibility to your customers and can treat your section like a mini webstore. $10 a month is easily affordable even to the smallest seller. 12 Month plan renews automatically if paid via Paypal. ONLY to be used for commercial listings. This is not a discussion area and debates or discussion should be limited to questions about items for sale or commerce. The $120 annual fee covers your store listing in the Dealer Section and the above benefits. Contributions on successful sale are (like regular listings) completely voluntary but always appreciated.. PLUS all the benefits of Gold Membership ($60 value) Payments to https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/japaneseswords Thank you all, as always.

You're gonna have to be more specific on that.

Going to take a bit of time, even if I move servers there are hundreds of thousands of attachments. But I'm not giving up and one way or another I am going to resolve this.

If this continues, I'm going to consider moving hosts. Sorry guys, this is unacceptable.

Spoke to the hosts who ran some server processes, seems to be better for me now. Let's monitor.

Notifications are going out. If you aren't receiving them, it's not a sofware or forum problem, it's your email client or isp marking them as spam. Especially gmail etc. Nowadays spam filters make it very difficult to get emails through that are even remotely generic. Best to check with your isp or see if you can whitelist admin@nihontomessageboard.com

Has it stabilized, and what has the performance been the past week or 2? No problems this side, so has to be international lines.

Try not use tif. Use Jpg, so they display directly.

We can calm down on the tachi thing. Although technically WW2 swords were worn as tachi, I think the militaria market would be confused if everything started talking about their WW2 Gunto tachi, or the wartime tachi that their father brought home. It's ok in this case to call it a katana. Most are signed katana mei. You wouldn't call the remounted old wakizashi that someone put into gunto fittings a katana. Even though this may be signed tachi mei, I think we get the point, but it's not something we need to drum into everyone's heads so they change their way of thinking.

That's just about all the "discussion" I will allow on this sale post. A warning to all, and I am not kidding. Stop the debates in other people's sale listings, or take a break. I have more important things to do that babysit people who are argumentative.

And a reminder that pure clove oil (choji) is NOT good for blades. Camelia is the right stuff or any light mineral oil like sewing machine oil. A few drops of clove oil are added to the mineral oils in Japan, but that just gives it that characteristic smell. Do not use pure clove oil.

Not terrible condition, both genuine, and a nice wari kogai. I think you did well.

I'll ask everyone to calm down please, and have a little respect for each other. Many of us here are unaware of other members backgrounds or experience. Both Colin and Ron have significant experience in their fields, and I have learned a ton from both of you. I respect both opinions and experiences. Ron has some amazing tales of his early years, and some incredible stories of what it was like in the arms field way back. Colin has significant experience in the UK art scene and Japanese art there. You both have a lot to offer. Sometimes it's good to go back on someone's profile and read what they posted years back, it allows you some insight into the person and how they respond and why. Please guys, allow for different personalities. Sometimes what we perceive as rude or arrogant or argumentative is just part of someone's persona, and doesn't need to be taken personally. Ron...Colin has some amazing experience and stories from the UK scene. He has a lot to teach. Likewise Colin...Ron has a very different outlook on things from his days as a major weapons dealer in Canada, and has some incredibly interesting stories. Let's allow for different opinions and more importantly personalities, and maybe not take things too personally.

If the blade is only very slightly magnetic, that tells you everything you need to know. I am not aware of any genuine sword that isn't made from steel and is properly magnetic. A display/wallhanger is the only option. Even "Island" swords would have been made from steel. Unless it's stainless, and clearly this one isn't, based on the rust and patina imho.

We here on the NMB are ALL proud of Andrew. He's one of us, and we are lucky to have him occasionally pop in. One of the guys I consistently hear nothing but good things about. On behalf of the forum, we all wish him a huge congrats and well deserved.

@Peter Bleed is your guy for the Kunikane lineage if he's around.

I honestly believe they are always assembly numbers. Someone would be working on the fittings, the blade goes off to polishing, somehow someone needs to be able to put all the right parts back together. They aren't interchangeable. So you mark the blade with a number. Maybe the parts are in a bin with the same number or stamped too. Either way, this is to put the blade together with the saya or other parts imho.