Brian

Excellent info. Thanks Ed. That makes sense to me too. Brian

It's not the board this time..I think Darcy's 2 links are down. Can't load nihonto.ca at all..so maybe just down for maintenance? As soon as the site is up, the pics will load. I have allowed most html tags now, so you should be able to use them with very few exceptions. Sorry your kantei is ending up being a test post. Brian

Made some changes. Wanted/Sales/Trade is now under the same heading. The Community News is now also for the UK sword ban issue, and the Auction/Sales heading is also for eBay discussion. I also suggest we use the general discussion for armour, tanegashima, prints, netsuke etc. Not going to be too strict in general discussion..use it for whatever you feel like discussing (use your discression of course) Brian

Thanks Keith...fixed the link. Dunno how I missed that Good to have you here. Stephen...I'm doing some research on this AOL thing. It is a known problem with image verification, but not sure why it is happening with attached images. Try refreshing the page and see if that loads the image? Email me and keep me posted if this happens often. Brian

As many of you know, the UK is proposing a ban on the import and sale of "Samurai Swords" This is the topic to give updates and information on this misguided attempt to legislate these works of art. I am copying a bit of the info from the old board, and updates or further info is welcome. "for all collectors, particularly in the UK, and Europe but this is also important for us all everywhere in the world. The British Government is going to try and ban the selling and import of Japanese swords in the UK and make them basically illegal. This Word doc was sent to NMB member Paul Bowman. Please read this official notice from the Home Office in the UK. Please write to Mr. Jonathan Batt, Public Order section and express your concerns over this ridiculous proposal. I have attached a PDF of the official notice and can put any member in touch with the relevant parties ( collectors in the UK ) if they need more information." http://www.nihontokanjipages.com/personal/home_office.pdf --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "There has been a lot of activity in July. Clive Sinclair together with members of the British kendo association met ministers in the Home Office and had a good response to their points. Soon after a Conservative MP deciding that the government weren't moving quickly enough and introduced a private members bill to ban "Samurai Swords" A number of us are in contact with this gentleman and he has recognised that there are differences between the items used by thugs on the street and true Samurai swords. Northumberland Police have responded to my query regarding the disposal of possibly valuable antiques following the knife amnesty. their response was basically people knew when they handed them in they would be destroyed so its not the polices job to decided if something was worth saving. I am pursueing this mindless response and am currently in contact with the Chief Constable. Yesterday the Northern Token Society recieved the following from the Home Office: “Thank you for your letter of 21 May regarding a possible ban on samurai swords. I can assure you that the Government does recognise that there is a difference between genuine samurai swords and cheap imitations and that such a difference would need to be reflected in any legislation. This point was made to my Ministerial colleague Vernon Coaker at a meeting with the British Kendo Association and the T-Ken Society of Great Britain. There is scope within the legislation to make exemptions or defences for certain activities and we will certainly consider making these exemptions for collectors of genuine samurai swords. I should add that there is already an exemption in the legislation for weapons over 100 years old. I will ensure that you are given the opportunity to comment on our proposals. If in the meantime you would like to meet with officials dealing with this issue, Catherine Webster, Head of the Offensive Weapons Section would be happy to meet you.” The reality is I believe that the Government will introduce some sort of ban. They have already confirmed that antiques would be exempt. The challenge now is to ensure that we offer accurate definitions for further exemptions for Shinsaku-To, Gendai-To and Showa-To. A number of people are working on this and we hope to have an acceptable range of exemptions by the time any bill comes in to force (likely to be early next year. I think there has been solid progress. There is no point in continuing to argue the stupidity or otherwise of such a ban. I am sure it will happen. However based on progress to date and if we continue in this way I believe it will have minimum impact on serious collectors and marshal arts groups. Paul Bowman" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "All, we have added a petition to help try and end this ban. Please sign this, and leave any comment you care. we will be forwarding this on to the appropriate authorities as soon as we have decent numbers. Also, if you are unaware, the UK government is nor considering changing the policy to include all swords, not just Japanese, so if you collect other types of swords or have friends that do, please pass this on to them. Cheers Richard Turner Note: look out for the check boxes at the bottom, they come up auto checked and I cannot turn this off. Just in case you do not want the junk mail that may ensue." http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/SwordBan/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Those of you who make it to the show..make sure you take some pics to post here. I think many of us won't experience a decent show like this for quite a while, and it is great to see what goes on there. Pics identifying some of the members here at the show will also be great so we get an idea of who we are talking to all day here. Kudos to Stephen for putting a face to the name in his avatar. Great idea :D Brian

Stephen, Do you mean you can see the posted pic, but it won't open to a larger one? If so..then I don't think it is an AOL issue..I can't open the larger image either. I think you have a broken link there Darcy. Thanks for the kantei..I enjoy them and am going to encourage them. Maybe some measurements? I understand the criticisms of online kantei, but I feel they are a worthwhile learning tool and are by no means a replacement for "in the hand personal and official" kantei processes. Just a bit of fun that we can learn from. Brian

Some good suggestions. I will be looking at all of them and think I will implemement some of them. I also believe the tosogu forum will be good for the tsuba guys, and the "Sales and Auctions" category is specifically for eBay discussions etc. I think i will combine wanted and for sale into one. As for the Daimyo rank....it is the title I gave to moderators I thought it was more appropriate that the usual title. Rich and Henry have volunteered to help with moderating this board, and I am looking at another volunteer in the USA. We will then have the board covered in all 3 main timezones. If I create a new forum for Armour/prints/netsuke etc..then won't that make too many forums..or should we have this section include eBay etc discussions? Keep them comming...good advice, thanks. Brian

Ok..let's hear your suggestions for the new forum. I have had spellchecker suggested, which I will be looking at. I can only imagine what they will suggest as an alternate spelling for tosogu, hataraki, choji, suguha etc :D Do you feel there are too many forums here? Should tosogu merge with Nihonto, and do we need the separate forum for discussing sales/ebay items? let's hear your comments and suggestions. Please..no colour changes! I have already lost most of my hair just coding this style, so it is going to stay this way for a while. I hope you guys will use the wanted and for sale boards. Commercial messages are fine for now...just please include a price. Brian

Rich S, I think it is us who owes you a big thanks. You began the forum, and without that we would all be lost. You still have the finest Nihonto site on the net, and I think we all owe you a big thanks. Nigel..thanks for the comments. I may post a poll and see if we should reduce the amount of forums here. Perhaps the auctions and sales one should be incorporated into the Nihonto one? It seems the Tosogu guys may appreciate their own forum, but if requested by all..then I can combine that also. Will see what the members say in a few days. Regards, Brian

Welcome to the new home of the Nihonto Message Board. This forum was originally run by Dr R. Stein, and subsequently by Mr Rich Turner. Both provided a great resource for Nihonto enthusiasts, both beginners and more advanced collectors. Due to other commitments, it has now been passed on to myself, Brian Robinson. These are some huge shoes to fill, and I think if I can provide even half of the service, help and information that these 2 gentlemen provided, then we will have a productive and informative discussion board that I hope will be of assistance to all enthusiasts. Please remember that I am not an expert on the subject by any means. I do not even class myself as an advanced novice. The intention is to provide a place for the forum to continue to grow and provide assistance. Everyone is welcome to participate, regardless of their knowledge level. Anyone with an interest in Japanese Swords is encouraged to join and participate at any level they feel comfortable with. The rules are very simple. 1-Please use any screen name you desire, but we ask that you provide at least your first name and initial, or initial and surname somewhere in your post. This can be by signing your posts, adding a signature in your profile or using it as your screen name. Anyone who has a GOOD reason for not doing this is welcome to contact myself, and I will look at this on a case-by-case basis. 2-Be polite, courteous and civil in your posts. We will not tolerate rudeness and abuse. Debate is fine, but when it turns into bickering or arguments then the topic will be closed and action taken against offending members. 3-Links to active auctions and sales ARE allowed here. All we ask is that you remind members that any comments are merely opinions, and as such are subject to independent verification. Please use your discression when posting info on these subjects, and use the correct forums. Members should remember that opinions can be wrong, and are just guidelines. They should be treated accordingly, and pure slander will be dealt with appropriately. Discussion should focus on items themselves and not on pricing. 4-Please try to remain on topic. There are appropriate forums for most subjects, and although some light banter is welcome...please remember that this is an educational forum and the topic is Nihonto. 5-Commercial messages are allowed within limits. The occasional commercial post is welcome, but please do not abuse this allowance, and contact a moderator if you are unsure if your message is appropriate. 6-All non-copyrighted info posted here becomes the propery of the NMB and can be used in any way such as subsequent quoting or in articles or submissions. 7-Have fun. This is an informal place, and we want to see you enjoy yourself here. Feel free to ask any questions you may have, and welcome to the new Nihonto Message Board. I hope you find this beneficial to your interests. I would like to thank everyone in advance for their participation. Brian Robinson

There are a few ways to do this. You can link to a file on another site, you can upload the file to an independent hosting site and link to it here, or you can upload the file to be hosted here. Please note that we only have so much bandwidth, and therefore external links are prefered. However feel free to upload them here if this is easiest for you. Linking to a file on another webpage somewhere: Just copy the exact link on the other page and paste it into your post. The board will convert the link to a clickable link. No need to use the img tags, as this is added automatically. You can either right click on the image wherever it is, and select "copy image location" or "copy shortcut" depending on your browser. Then paste this into your post as is. Linking to a different filehost: We recommend using Imgur, or one of the other free hosts. This can be found at https://imgur.com/or google the others, and are free hosting sites that can also often resize images. Once you have uploaded your image, you will be presented with a table of links you can use. You can link to a thumbnail or a full size image. Either copy the "Direct link to image" and do as above (put it between the IMG tags) or copy the link marked "Hotlink for forums (1)" and paste this into your post. If you do this, you do not need to use the img tags above as they are included in the link. Uploading here: This is as simple as browsing to the file on your pc and clicking "add attachment" below the posting box. You upload the pics one at a time. You can upload documents, images and other files for downloading by members. You can upload 5 attachments per single post, and 2 per private message. Don't forget to submit the post after you have uploaded the images. You can preview your post first, save it as a draft, or just submit. Please keep in mind that 72-120 dpi resolution is fine for most pics, and those 300dpi settings on many cameras will only lead to huge files that will be blocked or edited. Here are a few tips: Check your filesize! Many use newer digital cameras that take pics at high resolution. The height and width may be small, but if your resoluion is 300 or so..then the pic is going to be huge in filesize. Over 1 meg big..the pics won't upload. A resolution of 72 dpi to 120 should be fine for most pics. If you need to change the image size, check the How-To Forum for free programs. Everyone should have at least one image manipulator on their pc! Best pixel size is no bigger than about 1200x1500 pixels. Bigger means your image will display as a download/view link instead of directly. Posting pics in a new topic: When you create your post...write your message. Then browse to the file on your pc by clicking the BROWSE button at the bottom of your post. The link to your file should appear in the box when you have chosen the file. Then click the ATTACH THIS FILE button, and wait for a while for it to upload. The page will reload and the name of your file will appear in the add attachment section. You can then repeat the process for more files, one at a time. 6 files max in one post. You can alse try the FLASH advanced uploader. Link is under the ATTACH THIS FILE button. Only once you have attached each file individually, then you can click the POST NEW TOPIC button to post it. Be careful you don't click PREVIEW without later submitting.If all else fails...read the How-To forum for more explanation or other methods such as uploading to imageshack. Posting pics when replying to a topic: We have a quick reply feature, at the bottom of the thread. This is for fast replying when you want to comment. If you wish to upload pics though, then click the MORE REPLY OPTIONS at the bottom right of the quick reply box. This will take you into the regular full reply box, where you have the image uploader. Simple!