Guido

That sums it up perfectly.

Horyū is like the Mueller report on obstruction of justice.

I’ve seen tokujō (first class plus / extra fine) on sushi restaurant menus, but never on swords ...

I don’t have a very hairy chest, and never wore polyester shirts. Btw, how would you like waking up with a horse‘s head in your bed?

I, too,am very sceptical of the claim that Bizen potters were able to bend the laws of physics , but maybe there's a kernel of thruth in it: if the material is slightly porous, it might result in liquid evaporating from the surface, which has a cooling effect, thus keeping flowers fresh for a longer period of time.

Kind of a reversed, early GORE-TEX? Lets air in, but water not out?

The correct transcription for 天保 is てんぽう = tenpō, but ん usually assimilates to the consonantal sounds that follow. If it is followed by 'p' or 'b', it is pronounced like 'm' (e.g. Shinbashi →Shimbashi). Most native speakers I know therefore pronounce it tempō.

I buy mine at the local pharmacy - after all, it's usually intended for desinfection.

Not just any isopropyl alcohol - most has about 12.5% water in it, so dehydrated alcohol (99.9%) should be used for flushing out the gunk. This pretty much will guarantee that the loosened dirt of the horimono (usually old uchiko) gets rubbed into the surface of the blade; the result will be hike.

Maybe Braille for matsu, or this:

Ō-suriage is *always* mumei. But the relevant sentence in the item description is probably a copy-and-paste error, it looks ubu to me. In any case, it is neither mentioned on the Japanese page, nor in Mr. Tanobe’s sayagaki. Bargain? I wonder why it's still for sale after more than 4 months on the website ... maybe because the -wara (-hara) of Fujiwara is missing ...?

大和大掾藤原氏重 Yamato Daijō Fujiwara Ujishige (播磨・初代 Harima - Shodai)

I can’t read the sōsho either, but FWIW, it’s not an uncommon motif, and usually simply described as 冊子図 sasshi-zu.

This thread has some of the best, and some of the most idiotic posts I read recently. NMB in a nutshell.

Ron, kuri 栗 (chestnuts) are not ryōjitsu / hishi no mi 菱 (の) 実 (water chestnuts).I also would be surprised if they were chosen as a tsuba motif because of the symbolism of “the long history as a food staple”. I think the Japanese proverb I mentioned above (although for the life of me I can’t remember the exact words) would make more sense: in order to reap the reward, you sometimes have to get your hands dirty (or rather wet, in this case) – no pain, no gain. But what do I know …

一、is just a counting word, i.e. “one (item),”. 菱実 ryōjitsu is indeed the water chestnut, and after that follows 図 zu (motif) and of course 鐔 tsuba. There’s a saying that you can’t harvest water chestnuts without getting your sleeves wet.

That should be on the papers, too, in large characters at the top right side.

土佐国住 明珍宗利 Tosa kuni jū Myōchin Munetoshi, but I’m not sure about the last character. Oops, Ray posted while I was typing.

Neither dangerous nor unhealthy (unless you swallow it in large quantities), but since sword oil contains less than 5% clove oil, it might have been kind of a placebo effect ????

No. It‘s the same camellia oil that has been linked to already a couple of times in this thread.

That‘s the same I linked to, just in a spray bottle (which I personall don’t like, too messy for swords). And it’s available in the UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Camellia-Oil/dp/B015L1FI4A/ref=sr_1_21?crid=2NT1TPDCJVUUF&keywords=camellia+oil&qid=1556276104&s=gateway&sprefix=camellia+%2Caps%2C348&sr=8-21

Unsolicited fun fact time 米兔 = rice bunny: nickname given to the #MeToo campaign by Chinese social media users to circumvent online censorship - 米兔 is pronounced mǐ tù in Chinese …

Hmmm, it would be helpful if the "The Institute of Asian Arts" tells its customers what's actually in the oil, not how much is in the bottle - if it's indeed pure chōji oil, it has to be heavily diluted with camellia oil. I think this DIY approach would do the trick, George: https://www.amazon.com/KUROBARA-Tsubaki-Japanese-Maintenance-Camellia/dp/B00362HBPQ/ref=pd_sbs_201_2/131-6071420-0626607?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00362HBPQ&pd_rd_r=84385db4-67c7-11e9-851c-1df216413549&pd_rd_w=2Or2A&pd_rd_wg=vioIg&pf_rd_p=588939de-d3f8-42f1-a3d8-d556eae5797d&pf_rd_r=DS2KN5N24YTR2ZCYFJAC&psc=1&refRID=DS2KN5N24YTR2ZCYFJAC + https://www.amazon.com/Majestic-Pure-Essential-Natural-Therapeutic/dp/B01M07JVC2/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?keywords=clove%2Boil&qid=1556244302&s=home-garden&sr=1-1-spons&th=1

Hard to read, but could be Bishū Osafune Ietsugu 備州長船家次.