Henry Wilson

Has anyone ever had dealings with this company / shop? http://www.thelanesarmoury.co.uk/home.php Cheers Henry

To me it looks in a bit of a bad state. I think the basic structure looks damaged, not just the surface. The blade in the left hand side of the bottom picture looks swollen were the other side looks normal. It looks like it has been bent or something resulting in the cutting edge and the ridge line (shinogi) looking distorted. Just my two pennies :|

Has a decision been made on the topic of general discussion? This is the link below: http://militaria.co.za/nihontomessageboard/viewtopic.php?t=307

Thanks everyone. I hope to get there for around 4pm ish. I am not looking to buy anything fancy, just a gunto tsuba for a wakizashi that I have. I will try to touch as many treasures as possible though

Does anyone know the closing time of the Dai Token Ichi? I hope to go after work tomorrow as I will be near Shimbashi. :D

Hi Darren Saw this and thought of you http://web.archive.org/web/20041108014556/members.cox.net/jkk/cleansaya.htm

I think that the board should be for the discussion of things related to the Japanese sword as the banner of the board indicates. I think that a general discussion board should be for discussing things that are not easily categoriesed in the other forums and may not immediately appear to be related to swords, such as kabuki, ukiyoe or modern steel manufacture etc but are linked in some indirect way and have some value to understanding Japanese culture. As a moderator I feel that a free discussion forum on any topic that does not bear relevance to swords or Japanese culture would be very hard to monitor and would find it hard to judge what is acceptable and what is not. If we are talking about politics, gun laws or religion than why not talk about gambling, pornography and counterfieting? There is enought to learn in the world of swords and fittings with out getting distracted with other things that can be pursued on other boards.

There has been an up date on the ebay post.

Hi Bobby Your sword is very nice but I am sorry to say that it is not a Japanese sword and I think it is a fantasy sword. There is no design of a Japanese sword were the blade bends. The writing on the blade in the bottom picture is not Japanese too.

I sent an email asking for more pictures. I got them and I could not make them out so I have asked for more crisp ones if possible. The seller said he is beginning to think that it is not a Yasunori sword now. I have sent him a few links that illustrate Yasunori's siganture too. I will keep the board posted as things come up.

Just an idea but would anyone be interetsed in running and managing a quizz of sorts? I think most of us can rememebr the days of Condell's Conundrum and the excitment and general e-buzz that was experience once every two weeks, when the results of the authenticity of mostly big-name mei were announced and the participants were given points for their answers. (Well I got excited and buzzed anyway ) So just to give yet another dimension to the new board, does any one have the time, resources and knowledege to run and manage any sort of quizz that could help us in the road of learning in nihonto? The kanteis that were submitted by some of members a few months ago, I felt, were very helpful and gave me an excuse to flip open the books and read up and study a smith / school that I would not otherwise be considering. If anyone would like to do this regularly it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks all for reading.

Mine I don't think would handle a polish. When you get your sword back from polish I would love see some pics. Cheers

It is a great shop and on the main road of Yasukuni Dori.

That looks very similair to the one I have except that mine is a bit more tired. On mine there is a spot through the hada where core stell is showing and I am not so sure about wheteher it has much of a boshi. However the nakago and the hamon seem to be the same. I think that mine has a slightly longer kissaki thought. At a guess I would say that your sword dates around Eisho (1504 - 21) as mine does. At the moment I am in year two of trying to cheer the polish with the uchiko powder method that the late Jim Kurrasch discussed. Unfortunately not much has changed yet. Thanks for sharing.

With out a doudt Bishu. Looks very similar to my first swords nakago, which is a Bishu Osafune Sukesada wakazashi. What about the other side? Does it have a date? What is the general condition of the balde?

Hi Richard Daimaru dept. is connected to Tokyo station. From JR Tokyo station take the Yaesu Exit and you will walk striaght into the Daimura store. http://www.marunouchi.com/search/cgi/maps/e_building_map.cgi?bid=1028 Enclosed is a rather awkward looking map but you can also see how to get to the Imperial palace gardens from Tokyo station too.

How about the "Kanzan Shinto Oshigata Dictionary (with romanization and English foreword)"? About 730 plates of shinto work. It is not quite English but the romanization of the Japanese is a kind of half way point. http://www007.upp.so-net.ne.jp/m-kenji/sword_books.htm PS Just a thought but why romanized Japanese AND an English foreword? Why not English to go along with the English foreword? Or a romainzed forerword to go along with the romanized text.................

Hi Darren It sounds like you may need to get a shirasaya (the plain wood ones) for the blade and have a blank wooden blade fitted for the koshirae that is leaving the deposit. I don't think you need to discard the old one just don't store the balde in it if you are worried. The shirasaya is easier to clean as you can split it and clean it out but koshirea I think is very hard if not impossible to clean out properly. I periodically put mine mouth down on a thick cloth and tap it gently a few times and see what comes out. I have also heard about giving it a gentle rummage with a straighten coat hanger too, but never needed to tried.

I have just joined up and made an edit under mumei just to see how it works. For what it is worth, I think it is a good idea but I feel that there is a lot of potential for bickering, name calling and general falling out with each other.

I have what looks like a shakudo habaki on a katana and the inside appears to have what can only be described as red laquer. Am I imagining things? Is it a surface effect of the copper and gold alloy? If it is laquer, what is the purpose of it? As always thanks

That is a nice set. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks everyone. The way that Junkei was referred to made me think that he was a smith legend, a bit like Masmune or Amakuni. He is still pretty barn good though

I sent this email a few days ago I received this today

I have read somewhere about swords made in the very beginning of nihonto history (around the pre-heian period) are so thin that if held with the surface of the blade towards the ground (as opposed to the cutting edge) that the blade would slightly bend under it's own weight. I think it has been concluded that they would not be much use in a fight and were probably used for ceremonial purposes.

I feel this may be a silly question but here goes. It seems that Nagamitsu and Jinkei could have been the same person. According to Fujishiro and Nagayama anyway. Who was Jinkei? It sounds like he was famous but I can not find an account of him anywhere. PS None of this in response to my