Shugyosha

Apologies if this is a silly question. When reading the date on this item I too thought "Ten Bun" and then went to check the year in the Kanji pages on the board and read "天文 Tenmon 1532". For the purposes of my education, could someone please explain whether or not this is a typo on the kanji pages or an alternative reading of the 文 kanji? Thanks for your trouble.

Was curious enough to google this one only to find that it was in fact a game of Connect Four.

Hi Trent, Sue Bizen means "late Bizen" so your sword is not attributed to any one smith but is reminiscent of work of the Bizen tradition during the period from 1470 to 1596 AD. Best,

Hi David, I was about to write what Jean said. For a definitive view, it would help if you could post some detailed photographs of the "naked" blade without the tsuba and habaki showing, in particular, any activity in the hamon (hardened area near the edge of the blade) and in the area just above it. There's a thread here about arsenal stamps: viewtopic.php?f=50&t=8010&start=0 Kind regards,

So a bit like ericowazamono then?? :D

Well, if it's a genuine Koyama Munetsugu katana, given what you have paid for it, the likely re-sale value would mean that it is worth having it straightened and polished.

Or it can be found on Googlebooks: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=zPys ... ds&f=false

Does anyone think that the tanto signed "Soshu Ju Hiromasa" (Page 85, Lot 187) looks a little earlier than 19th century? Kind regards, John Johnson

It is almost certainly an example... It's described as such in the on-line catalogue. Best, John Johnson

Hi David, Please accept my condolences. I am, by coincidence, based about 20 miles north of London in Welwyn, Herts. You won't get better advice from me than from anyone you might meet at the Token or Northern Token Societies, but I have a reasonable library and if I can help I'd be happy to do so. Kind regards, John Johnson P.S. There's a guy called Peter Yorke who deals in Japanese swords based in Bagshot, Surrey, who'll be at the London Arms Fair which is on 25th and 26th April 2014. http://www.antiquearmsfairsltd.co.uk/exhibitors/. He's been quite generous to me with his time in the past and might be worth contacting.

Some of the rows of nanako don't look particularly evenly spaced. Looking above the mantis's back leg there appear to be two lines that run into one another and a similar thing appears to happen above the water wheel by the mantis's head. That said, I'm new to sword fittings so please feel free to educate me. Kind regards, John J.

Dear Fabian, Sword clubs are also a good place to begin learning as you will have access to a greater number of swords to view at first hand than might otherwise be the case. If you are based in Liverpool UK, you are not too far away from where the Northern Token Society holds its meetings: Manchester. Here's a link to their website - http://www.northerntokensociety.org.uk/ Best regards, J. Johnson Sorry to be repetitive, I've just read to the end of Paul's post.

Hi Stu, Here's a link to the NBTHK Shinsa standards on the Nihontocraft website: http://www.nihontocraft.com/Nihonto_Shi ... dards.html If it helps, I have an unsigned Bungo wakizashi which has Hozon papers and assuming there is nothing about your sword that falls foul of these criteria then it should be awarded papers. The issue that you have alluded to is that Bungo swords are sometimes thought of as lacking in artistic merit, as they have the reputation of being made with functionality in mind, and this puts off some buyers. Hope that helps and that you enjoy your new sword. Kind regards, John Johnson P.S. Sorry - misread your question re Tokubetsu Hozon, so much of this is irrelevant.

Dear Sam, To my semi-educated eye, the late koto or early shinto candidates would seem more appropriate than shinshinto. The patina on the tang and the (almost) absence of ha machi and mune machi suggest an older blade. But I'm sure you'll get a more informed view in a while. Kind regards, John Johnson

Hi Alex, I agree with you. That column of the Kantei Sho begins with "middle thickness/ depth", something I can't read and ends "no ko gunome midari". I can't see enough of the dealer's work sheet to tell what that says. Is it perhaps a pro-forma and he forgot to delete an irrelevant part of the description? Kind regards, John Johnson

Sorry, date of shinsa is in the fourth column from the left in the first photograph: Heisei, 19th year, 1st month 21st day. I think that is 21st January 2008 (Heisei started in 1989). Best, John M. Johnson

My Japanese is a bit limited but if I have it right, in the second photograph, the first full length column on the right says "o suriage mu mei". Kind regards, John M. Johnson

Dear Jean, I'm trying to improve my Japanese so I took a stab at translating the mei - I hope you don't mind and I'm sure someone will correct me shortly. I make it: Suo Iwakuni Ju Masa Uji Saku. Unfortunately I can't come up with anything sensible for the two characters on the right. I think the character you are trying to tie down is 岩 from Iwakuni. I hope that isn't too wide of the mark and will retire to my bunker to dodge any incoming flak. Kind regards, John M. Johnson

Dear Dave, I too would subscribe to what you are proposing. Also, I am based in Hertfordshire, UK and would love the chance to look at some armour close up. Unfortunately, I am pretty much a katchu novice so wouldn't have an awful lot to contribute myself. Kind regards, John J.

Gentlemen, I'm sure this has been discussed previously, however, here's a link to an article by Albert Yamanaka on Japanese Sword Index which gives details of some of the swords carried by the 47 ronin. It is perhaps of interest that a number of them chose a short swords 2 shaku in length or longer. http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/ronin.htm Kind regards, John J.

Hi Roy, There were a number of copies available in various conditions. I paid a little more for a better one (£10 or so) and Amazon kindly slapped £5 on for delivery. Regards, John

Thanks for that Roy. Amazon in the UK and US have copies for sale via their network from as little as £4.99/ $4.99. I splashed a big £15 including delivery for the one I just ordered. Kind regards, John Johnson

Hi Denis, This might be a bit of a statement of the obvious and sorry if that is the case, but I have found that having a basic knowledge of how Kanji work i.e. stroke counts and radicals can make life a lot easier. I have found Let's Learn Kanji by Mitamura and Mitamura very useful for this. It also fits in with my plan to have a working knowledge of the language beyond sword terminology. It can be a slightly less daunting task if you can find a way to break the elephant down into something more like bitesize chunks: most dated swords you will encounter will be shinto or later so this is a good place to start on dates and the Kanji do repeat themselves in a number of cases. Likewise with provinces, sort out the ones which occur most and least frequently and it just leaves all the rest... :D Kind regards, John J.

I don't see one I think I know the answer to too often. My guess is Yamashiro Ju Mizuta Kuni Shige. Best, John J.

There's a similar one for sale here: http://www.nihonto.com/rh432sale.html Kind regards, John