Brian

Very true..and remember that late Koto mass produced is not as good as early Shinto. Once of the hard things for me to do was to get over the common thoughts that "older is better" and start looking at the workmanship in each blade individually. I would prefer healthy Shinshinto anydays over a worn out and tired Koto. You did good mate! You bought at a good price from a forum member..and had it pass shinsa with a good result. Nothing to regret. Brian

Stephen and David.. Looks like you 2 are now officially in charge of the NMB culture and refined thinking. :D Don't let the rest of us Neanderthals get to you. Most of us are still worth saving :D Brian

Good work folks. We can't shut down all the scam or fraud sales, but with the collective observation powers of the members, we can at least make a dent. Let's hope it was pulled before anyone got caught. Keep it up Brian

LOL! If I use that here...I may just get lynched. And no worries about the OT...this is why I created General Chat so we have a place to talk nonsense (within limits) and keep it away from the serious Nihonto chat Brian

IIRC..something about a game played by men with funny shaped balls :D Brian

Hahaha. If the truth be told..I'm not a sports fan anyways :D But we do like to beat the Aussies..which happens WAY too seldom. They have the best cricket team, and are up there in rugby. Still..it's nice to have a victory every now and then..even if I don't watch the games. As for the beer. Hmm..doesn't every country believe they have the best beer? I don't drink at all..so I guess I am arguing things I know nothing about. LOL :D Brian

Jeff, Can't tell you much about your blade from the pics, but it does look like a very nice blade, with a nice sugata and looks like the hamon is still there and healthy. May very well be worth a polish indeed. How about posting a bit about Nihonto collecting in China? I know there are a few genuine collectors, but we are all fairly clueless about the laws, number of genuine blades and attitudes to Nihonto in China. I have seen that forum before, and looks like there is a small but active community there. How about a short article on Nihonto in China? My boss is Chinese, and was a diplomat. He tells me about large stockpiles of Japanese swords in museums there (not publicly displayed) and is fairly certain that there are still lots of swords there, but no-one seems able to lay their hands on them. Regards, Brian

SpringBOKs Our (when they will admit to it) rugby team That'll teach me to slander the Aussies when I think they are asleep. LOL. All seeing eye Rich Ok...I have no real way to make this sword related, so let's be glad that there is a General Discussion forum Brian

Hahahaha. Boy do we have a long way to go to make up for the past few games! :D I think our guys were probably threatened with Siberia if they lost this one. If it isn't the Aussies kicking our butts at cricket then they are nailing us at rugby. The only consolation we have is that they can't make proper beer and they talk funny :D Brian

Eric, The general concensus is that they know their armour quite well, but don't know much about their Nihonto or Tosogu. Honest seller with the occasional nice item, but generally lower end stuff. I have seen the odd repro f/k that slipped in with the genuine items, but it is up to you to examine the pics. They do post lots of pics and rely on the buyer to verify what they have been told about the items. My dealings with them have been fairly pleasant, but remember that what they state about an item is not always 100% accurate. Regards, Brian

The second kanji is the difficult one. Did you take a look at Rich's excellent page at http://www.nihontokanjipages.com/koto.html ? With the sword in hand, maybe you can see more than we can. I was also looking at Ei... and thought maybe Eiroku, but it is just a guess. Nice example of a Mino sword though, and I like that tsuba and fuchi that you posted in the other thread! Brian

Darren, Nope..that is pretty much fairly accurate. The original patina on the nakago is THAT important to the value of a sword. There are people that specialise in repatinating tangs, but they are not common, and it is an expensive job. Looks like you lost a lot of the pitting too, which will never match the rest of the tang. You aren't the first to do this though...and will not be the last, so consider it an expensive lesson learned. At least some others will be warned hopefully. I once had a nice katana where the previous owner had sandblasted the nakago in an effort to read the mei. I eventually sold it off as there are no decent guys to repatina here, and it was getting to me more and more. Anyways...looks like a nice blade otherwise, and let's see if we can get you more info on your sword and anyone who can read the date. Regards, Brian

Hi Darren, Good to have you here. I edited the first post. The pics uploaded fine, but due to the large size it converted them to links instead of displaying directly. Just wanted to ask who cleaned the tang on this one? It's a pity, because cleaning the nakago is one of the big no-nos of the Nihonto world. Hope it was done before you got it. The patina and rust on the tang (nakago) is very important to judging the age of a sword, and far better to have a rusted and uncleaned tang even if the mei is unreadable, than one that has been ground or filed to make the signature readable. At a bad (and novice) guess, I would say Noshu ju KaneYoshi? Not too sure about the Kane though. Haven't tried the date yet. Regards, Brian

Hi all, Well..the new NMB forum recently added its 100th member, and that in just over a month since it started. It seems to be picking up the pace now, and the discussions seem to be flowing a bit now, and the topics getting more serious and in depth. I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their participation and patience (even the lurkers) and hope that you are all getting something worthwhile out of this. Thank you for the faith in the forum, and to Rich S and Rich T for the concept and work that they originally began. I have seen some very mild disagreements handled on both sides with maturity and respect, and that to me is a very honorable characteristic that I appreciate. We now have regular members ranging from absolute beginners up to advanced scholars. Some of these more advanced collectors share their knowlege with no thought of what they will get back out of their contributions and just the desire to help the less advanced collectors. They are the backbone of this message board, and they have my (our?) sincere thanks and appreciation. I know this has been said before, but on the 100 members mark, I just wanted to repeat it. I will continue to work to improve the forum, and thanks to everyone for the pleasant and informative posts and attitudes. Regards, Brian Board Admin (or despot if you like :D )

I understand what Grey is saying, and I don't see any slur in it. We could say sword..and they would deny it. So we label it Nihonto or Japanese Art object or something else. Not dishonest or anything to feel bad about..but it is dancing around the simple description? Shuck and Jive - "Not the whole truth; or manipulating something to get it your way" We all do it, no? But what he was saying is that if it goes missing, then you are going to have to put in a claim...and you are going to have to say it is a sword. And if you look at the USA to Japan restrictions on the UPS website..it says clearly: (UPS Country Restrictions) In addition to the commodities which UPS prohibits to all countries served (listed here), it is prohibited to ship the following commodities to Japan... Antiques Antiques are prohibited. Knives Only kitchen knives (no length limit) are acceptable. Flick knives, blades, and swords over 15 cm (6 in.) are prohibited So you are going to have a real problem with your claim if someone feels like getting clever. They might ship these items often, but when someone has a claim for a significant amount of money, you can bet these fine print restrictions are going to suddenly appear. Ed..I don't think anyone was trying to criticise you. Just trying to make life easier and warn about things that can make these situations a hassle. We all use UPS and USPS..and hopefully none of us will have any problems ever, but it is good to be forewarned just in case. Regards, Brian PS - EMS is not the normal Global Priority mail is it? It is an added and extra service that falls under GP, but is an extra service?

I am not sure how much insurance you can purchase with it..but Global Priority Express mail (known as EMS) is very fast and efficient. Takes about 5 days to get there, can be tracked, and is insured. I get my items from Japan and the USA via EMS. Have had items arrive in 4 days which is fast for USPS! As I said..just not sure about the insurance limit, but as Grey suggested..a private insurance policy covering it would be best. I am also hesitant to go around the "weapons" description as I am pretty sure they will ask for a valuation if it is lost, and will see that it was a sword. Brian

I think he is saying this Yasukuni blade resembles a Kamakura Rai school blade in characteristics. I think he is also saying that a touch-up polish will improve this sword to the point that you won't recognise it anymore. Starting to sound more like an eBay listing description nowdays :? Brian

Careful..or you are going to to get me hooked on tsuba too :D Nice one. Brian

Direct link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0022122629 What I know about tsuba is scary, but looks like a nice tsuba to me. The bamboo rod reminds me of a riding crop as depicted on one of my few tsuba, with the cord at the bottom? Not sure about the other larger openwork sukashi shape though. Brian

Thanks all for the update on the show. Good for those of us who can't be there to hear how they work and what goes on. Surprised that it wasn't better attended. I know hundreds of us outside the USA would love to be able to attend, so what is the reason for some of the indifference over there? The shinsa prices seemed very fair, and the location can't have been too bad? Did anyone take any pics to post, so that we can see some of our esteemed members "in action" and see some of the displays? Regards, Brian

Darcy, Excellent work, and one of the most useful Nihonto tools on the net. It is looking good, and works well for me. I like the improvements too. So the idea is that people who know their field well..can update the info there and build up the dtabase? Thanks for the effort and work you put into it. I can assure you it does not go unnoticed :lol: Brian

150 Views and only 10 votes plus a few posts? Thanks to all who took the time. All in the interests of making the board more user friendly Brian

Ken, Very interesting pair there. Pity there isn't an item to show scale, as I think they would be more impressive given a clear indication of size. If someone has a tsuba with nakago signed by this smith, then this would make a really nice set. Thanks for sharing them. Brian

Stephen, Haha. Brilliant idea..yes, let us know what he says :D If by some freak chance it is the same smith as mine, with the same dimensions and identical in every other way...then I guess I am going to have to buy it :lol: Brian

All, item 150028973169 Watch out for this naginata auction. He doesn't have it...I know because I bought it from a Japanese seller months ago and currently own it. Reported to eBay. Watch those 0-feedback sellers! He probably has extra pics too..and even altered the description a bit. Brian