Henry Wilson

Does any one have a copy of "Historical and geographical dictionary of Japan" by Edmond Papinot? If so would you recommend buying it to help deepen the study of Japanese swords and fittings?

...for what it is worth.... I am a member of the NTHK - NPO and attend their monthly sword meeting here in Tokyo as often as possible. (I think the next is this Saturday). I think the core of the group are a friendly bunch of people who are very down to earth and easy to get a long with as well as being very helpful and encouraging. Throught them I have had the pleasure to see countless gems with respect to swords (a meito or 2), fittings (endless supply of quality iron pieces and Goto galour), koshirae and other odds and ends that have cropped up. I have also attend their shinsa on a number of occasions as an interested observer and can vouch that there is what can only be referred to as a stack of swords that the team thoroughly evaluates. Japanese sword collectors and dealers seem to chose them for their papers which suggests that they are held in high regard over here a least. As far as fresh blood..... I have been to the Dai Token Ichi a few times and listened to the same group of experts giving each other sage bits of advice and find them quite hard to talk to and break in to the cliche. The notion of giving a full mix of Japanese culture to promote the understanding of swords is a fantastic idea as it can lead to whole new world of interest opening up before your very eyes. I wish that I could attend as it would be nice to be able to bring along the other half. My wife loves and collectors Japanese porcleain, does flower arranging and is at the minute learning kimono. She hated calligraphy at school but would love a chance to try it again as her mother was quite good. I am very intertesed in swords, tsuba and ukiyoe, have a few bonsai that I would like to learn more on how to look after. We both have had a go at Japanese pottery and are going to Bizen soon to have a try at it. With out any hesitation I would defiently go to Minneapolis and try to broaden my horizons to try and get to the origin of my fascination with Japanese swords and fittings. Good luck Chris and Larry. I hope some day you can bring the show to Japan.

Hi JS I was discussing the said sword with someone via board mail and the fact that it was made by Yasutoku and not his nephew (Yasunori) dawned on me. Quite an important fact really that should be pointed out...... Can you direct me to Han Bing Siong's articles that you refer to as I would like to read them if possible. What do you think of the sword? I like it but I feel (dare I say) it is a bit over-priced.....

I am no expert at all but I would say Umetada. Maybe Ko Umetada. It bears a striking resemblance to a piece that I own, especially the file marks and raised rim. The file marks are quite pronounced compared to mine though and mine has a single grape vine leaf sukashi. It looks convexed in shape and the metal has what appears to be a browny red finish to it, all similair to features of the tsuba that I have that has been attributed to Ko Umetada......

Fun for all the family is very important in this sword / fittings collecting game. If you can get the wife on board then it makes the collecting a lot easier The taiko drum site looks great and the info from JAANUS is fantastic..... Thanks for sharing.

The diamonds shapes could represent a family mon. The two commas (teardrops) are probably futatsudomoe which I think have a shinto-based religious significants and are also an old family mon. I tried a google on futatsudomoe but in work the PCs block some sites, but I found this on mitsudomoe http://www.hagurumadaiko.com/3.%20Taiko/Gegenwart/mitsudomoe.htm http://uk.search.yahoo.com/language/translatedPage?tt=url&text=http%3a//www.hagurumadaiko.com/3.%2520Taiko/Gegenwart/mitsudomoe.htm&lp=de_en&.intl=uk&fr=FP-tab-web-t340 I hope this helps

At a guess I would say that they use the little stickers that you sometimes get with model airplanes to get such an effect. What do you think? :lol:

I too have a nice Yasutoku Yauskunito (Showa 14) that was in the Saitama museum for a while. It also has a very nice ubu-ha with file marks that are the same as seen on the nakago. It is one of it's special features and collectors are usually interetsed in seeing a ubu ha. One person said that he hairs on his arm stood up when he saw (I am not sure why). Removing a ubu ha would be a bit like altering the nakago patina or mei in my opinion.

And I found these two as well. They are all lacking the square nakago-hitsu which may also be a kantei point too. Am I correct? http://www.aoi-art.com/fittings/tsuba/05169.html http://www.aoi-art.com/fittings/550-599/05581.html I quite like that last one. Any comments?

Thanks for the replies. I found these tsuba and it is state they are nanban http://www.aoi-art.com/fittings/6300-6349/06347.html http://www.aoi-art.com/fittings/6300-6349/06348.html How can anyone tell they are nanban? The chinese style design seems to be a kantei point, but how can some determine what is foriegn iron?

If any one is intertested there is an article in Richard T's blog about Nanban tsuba dated January 2nd. http://tosogu.blogspot.com/

If you can pluck a fiber from it and burn it will tell if it is real or not. If it burns like a plastic bag then it is repro as the material is plastic.

The post of nanban tetsu in the nihonto forum got me thinking.... Where tsuba (or other fittings) ever made with nanban tetsu? I think that early Heianjo were inlayed with Chinese metal (brass) but how about the main plate of the tsuba, not the inlay and details. Merry Christmas

I have got back from the NTHK (NPO) monthly meeting and had the tsuba in question looked at. From the good quality patina, the hammer work, round mimi, the slight convex shape, it is most likely an unsigned Akasaka piece from the early Edo period and probably made by the 1st, 2nd or 3rd generation making it Ko Akasaka. The theme is that of Matsushima at dawn which is sometimes assoicated with New Year and happy times. That is what they say but if anyone disagrees don't be shy as I don't know myself and am very much a beginner with tsuba Also thanks John Stuart for your input on the matter. Happy Holidays to everyone.

I picked this tsuba up last month in Ginza and have finally got time to research it. It is 7cm diameter and 0.4 cm thick. The photos are from the shop and are a little hard. The colour is a lot more brown (less black). http://www.finesword.co.jp/sale/kodougu/htm/445/445.htm To me the theme looks like Matsushima at dawn with a single dew drop to the pine tree with mist rising from the sea. Can any one help me out with period, school, tosho etc? Thanks all in advance and Merry Christmas

If you want to own a papered sword, it may be better to use the money that you would spend on removing the mei and put it towards buying a sword with papers. I got a nice sword with NTHK papers around the 220,000 yen mark as one of my early buys a few years back....

You should ask the seller if he thinks the signature is real or not.

It sounds like you are slowly destroying it which would worry me.

It is quite possible that the oil smell has invaded the box. Choji has avery strong odour.

It could be talcum powder. I have never come across scented uchiko.

If the inside of a scabbard gets too dirty it will damage the blade and a shirasaya is easier to maintan as it is possible to wedge it open and clean it periodically thus preserving the blade. A koshirae on the other hand is usually laquered and sealed and to keep the inside clean is quite difficult as it can not be opened. Also by removing the sword from a koshirae removes some stress from it (the blade's weight, oil residue etc) so it perseves the koshirae a little longer. Shirasaya can be remade quite easily and at a fraction of the cost of restoring koshirae. I have heard of people comparing the shirasaya to jeans and a T-shirt and the koshirae to a prada suit .

I would definitely not use uchiko on a blade in polish as it sooner than later will dull and spoil the polish. I have learnt this from first hand experience. Last year we bought a nice new tv and as part of the service they were generous enough to give us a micro fibre cloth to clean the screen of finger prints etc. I cut this in half and use it on my blades every 3 months or so, or when the seasons change and I replace the oil. So far there has been no bad effects and I would recommend it. I use uchiko to re-vitalise a blade that will not take a polish. I have been treating an old wakizashi with the uchiko for about a year and half now and I am starting to see the hamon. Basically the stuff (uchiko) is abrasive so it is definitely going to scratch a lovely new polish.

A wise man once said to me (I think Richard T) why bother cleaning the habaki? I give it a rub with a tissue after I have looked at a sword but as far as rubbing away patina, another wise man once said (I think Jim Gilbert) we in the west are too fond of cleaning things.....

All you really need is a mekugi-nuki, a bottle of oil and a box of unscented good quality tissue papers. I think that the oil is intended to be used very sparingly so that is why it comes in small bottles. I have used one bottle of oil in about three years on three swords. One of the swords is an out of polish tired wakizashi that will not take another polish and I am trying to cheer it up with a monthly regime of uchiko powber treatment (as recommend by Jim Kurrasch) so I use a lot more oil than I otherwise would on the wakizashi as after each session of uchiko it needs a bit of oil. Depending on climate swords should only be oiled once every 3 to 6 months. If there is too much oil it will soil the inside of the saya and also risk attracting grit to the blade.

Thanks novice They are expensive (especially the swords) but there are few things that are listed that I have been looking for for a while and they seem to have a good examples of them for sale. I think Darren from sunny Blackburn bought a Mino blade from them a while ago. I wonder if he is about with any comments.........