Guido

There seems to be some confusion as to what I have in mind - I want to keep it as simple as possible, without giving Brian any (additional) headaches, so let me give an example: I post a tsuba for sale with a starting price of $ 300.-, and a one week bidding period (everybody knows when it ends in his time zone if he set the correct one in his profile). Prospective buyers PM me with their offer. One guy may bid just the initial 300, another one 450. I occasinonally post the highest bid in the for sale thread, without giving the name; subscribe to the thread in order to get updates. Someone might decide to bid 600. At the end of the set date and time, I sell to the highest bidder, i.e. the $ 600.- bid. But that also applies if I only get the lowest bid of 300, I'll sell to that person then. I still sell for the highest bid within the given period of the auction, even if I get a higher offer after the deadline. Or nobody bids, and that's it. Yes, there's a loophole: a dishonest seller might post a highest bid he never received, or claim the tsuba is sold although he didn't accept any bid, because he didn't get a sale price that is to his liking; that's like shill bidding on eBay. There's no way to prevent that. However, I've heard a lot of complaints about eBay, Yahoo!Japan sellers, Facebooks sales, or even well known dealers, but to the best of my knowledge no crooks on NMB so far - correct me if I'm wrong. Honor seems to be still working here. So, what is ist: yay or nay?

@ Chris: nice idea, but this would need an independent third party to record the bids. @ Ken: Brian wouldn't be involved/burdened in any other way he is now, i.e. just allowing us to use this sub-forum. He could put a stop to that particular type of sale if things indeed get out of hand, but I can't come up with a scenario for that.

I hate eBay – I much prefer selling and buying on NMB’s classifieds. However, due to the different time zones the members live in, some tarts are long gone before one gets his fork out. Furthermore, it’s sometimes hard to put a fair price on things, and an auction style sale would give people the chance to bid an amount they feel comfortable with (given that there’s no – or a reasonably low – reserve and/or starting price). Now, I don’t expect Brian to set up an auction system, so what do you think about a Silent Auction? I propose the following: silent bids are submitted via PM or e-mail. When the auction ends (of course a deadline has to be given), the highest bidder wins the item. Another possibility would be that the seller posts daily updates about the highest current bid, but that of course would make it not-so-silent anymore . No buyer’s fees or other eBay hassles, although a contribution should be made to NMB in the case of a successful sale. So, what do you guys think? Of course Brian has the last word on it, NMB is his baby!

I just came across a small article on nijū-habaki in a Ginza Chōshūya’s monthly sales magazine of 2006. Here’s the quick and dirty translation: The habaki is a metal fitting that has the function of securing the sword in the koiguchi so it doesn’t fall out. In the Edo period, complex double habaki came to be produced, because they strongly appealed to the aesthetics when pulling out a blade. It is commonly seen in storage houses of high-ranking samurai.

Yes, that's the unfortunate truth.

Yes, it has, I know two particular cases.

Yes, that would be impossible. But other than that, there are no legal issues if he works abroad, where Japanese laws don't apply. Have you considered that it might just have been the polite Japanese way to say "no"?

You mention that already the second time, I'm curious what "legal issues" there are. For instance, a Japanese smith can forge whatever he wants when abroad, and there are no legal issues except if he wants to bring back his work to Japan. However, participating in a show like that might not be received very well by his peers. With the possible exception of him winning the competition.

Well, I don't like the show and its format, and understand why smiths wouldn't want to be involved in it.

Not to rub it in, but I greatly enjoyed those two bottles!

That was a great exercise, in more than one way. My first impression was Norishige (yeah, I know how that sounds now), but the way you presented it made me immediately second-guessing myself, assuming you were doing something sneaky. The extremely strong hada then let me to gendai (or late shinshintō), because that's where I mostly saw this type. Lesson learned

Quite hadatatsu. I have a feeling this one is gendai ...

Paint stripper / remover will take care of the lacquer without harming the patina. I talked to Ford Hallam about it recently because I had a similar problem, and it worked just fine. Thanks again, Ford!

It'll be a major undertaking to have this book translated, and it certainly will not be me who tackles this task . I own a copy of 村垣淡路守与三郎範正 Muragaki Awaji no Kami Yosaburō Norimasa’s 航海日記 Kōkai Nikki, the diary of the first embassy to the US by this Hatamoto. In part it’s simply hilarious, like when he remarks he felt the basic precept of life in the US was neither drawn from loyalty or etiquette, but the spirit of friendliness, which completely puzzled him. Or when he was asked if he found American or Japanese women more attractive, and told his host that those in the US are the most beautiful – only to muse later that the Americans are extremely naïve to believe his answer, which he obviously only gave because he thought it to be the most polite, but certainly not the truth. I think the English translation is sometimes available.

Henry, I know that some people obsess over the tiniest flaw (I’m basically among them, btw), and are not happy anymore until they get rid of the piece. However, those minor “splits” in the mune are really neglectable, especially in older swords, as was previously mentioned. I also don’t think the NBTHK overlooked it, it simply didn’t bother them. You might remember a Bizen Masamitsu of mine that you examined during one of our Tokyo NMB meetings about 8 or so years ago. It has a tiny opening/split in the mune, and yet received jūyō papers. If it doesn’t give sleepless nights to someone as anal as me, you shouldn’t worry either

Sooooo, what about the HIZEN CODE?

I, too, am not quite sure why they enjoyed such popularity on sword fittings, but they are often seen on midokoromono, like in the attached pic:

I completely forgot - here's the list of exhibited swords and fittings (unfortunately the background information of the people who donated them isn't included, but were displayed at the museum): exhibition.pdf

Do you mean the Jōshū? Yes, there are indeed some fine Bungo blades around, even if the school has in general a rather low reputation. Uhm, Sadamune? There was none ...

Ian is correct: zakuro 石榴 = pomegranate

After visiting the final NBTHK exhibition at Yoyogi (http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/21781-final-nbthk-exhibition-in-yoyogi/), I dropped by Aoi Art. Mr. Tsuruta told me that he had bought some property near Yoyogi station, and that construction of the new home and shop will start soon. He made a point of it being much easier accessible than the current shop. Smart move, me thinks, because after the NBTHK relocates, not many people will visit that part of Tokyo anymore. I also hope it will be more spacious, i.e. less cramped, than his old shop.

masterpieces of the museum's collection I went to this exhibition today, and the blades and fittings were mind-blowing. I had looked up some of the items beforehand in my books, but it never ceases to amaze me how different they often look close up and personal, as compared to oshigata and photos. Especially the Musashi Masamune, and a crane leather saya koshirae, – both published many times – were nothing like I expected. The Masamune was a bit underwhelming (maybe because I couldn’t get really close?), but the koshirae was much more massive and less garish than what I had thought, and of amazing quality .

Awataguchi Yoshimitsu for 162,200 円? I take three, please!

Yes, now they do ...

At yesterday’s sword meeting a collector of tsuka (yes, there are people who specialize in that) brought – among others – two tsuka from the Muromachi period. The uchigatana tsuka is a very typical example, but the tachi tsuka is quite interesting: the menuki are exactly opposite each other, and it has a full same wrap all the way down, as well as a fuchi without tenjōgane (much like a traditional Japanese kitchen knife); also, the tsuka is egg-shaped.