Stever

I use the 99% isopropyl you get at the druggists. Works just fine and that 1% H20 has not been a problem in any way. Stephen, where did you get those kanji sheets? They're great! And I agree, Yumoto's book is quite handy for kanji as well. cheers, /steve

What do you folks make of this, another (pretty nice) bungo? http://cgi.ebay.com/Japanese-Samurai-Sword-Fine-Wakizashi-in-Shirasaya_W0QQitemZ160117188825QQihZ006QQcategoryZ73466QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem cheers, /steve

My understanding is that there were two conventions for menuki placement - one that places them under the palms and the other places them under the fingertips. cheers, /steve

Seriously...how cool is that? Sweet blade with a well-known and interesting history. I'd love to hold such a blade in my hand. cheers, /steve

BTW, you may want to try these folks as well. Not as much traffic there as here, but it is in Australia. http://www.austnihonto.com/forum/ cheers, /steve

Post your pics here. I'm sure someone here has an opinion about your sword. cheers, /steve

Ok, that's really disturbing then, as that seller is Japanese and ships from Japan, and usually seems to have reasonable stuff, though there are a lot of Edo tourist items. Unless they've had their account hacked, I am obviously missing something here. Ford, I realize you don't want to give it away, but would you mind PMimg me with a hint at least? thanks, /steve

I think is most likely that they wanted to use something that looks good for the camera, i.e. highly visible hamon. I think most here are aware of the issues surrounding trying to get good pictures of nihonto, let alone the hassle that video must present. Just appealing to the masses, I suspect. cheers, /steve

Hi Andreas, Echoing Stephen (that sounds weird, like I'm talking about myself, lol!), wait 'till you hear from Mike. This seems a little strange, as it clearly states in Mike's auction description: cheers, /steve

Cool, I learn so much around here! I thought it might have looked a little thin for lacquer, but I thought ink would've worn away by now. Hence the question. Thanks guys. /steve

Hi folks, First off, I'd like to thank everyone for their help. You guys are great. Now, here's an update: A board member who happened to have some reasonably-priced antique kogatana for sale got in touch with me. Pics look pretty good, I'll be inspecting them in person shortly and most likely will buy at least 2 of them. Also, on the shinsakuto front...I contacted the Kashima sisters after getting that info from Peter and it looks like I'll be ordering an o-kogatana blade with gunome hamon in shirasaya, with a silver habaki (just 'cause ). Whole deal is ¥52k, without the habaki it would be ¥40k. Admittedly, going for the full koshirae at ¥60k as per Peter is probably a better deal on the whole, but it just doesn't do it for me personally. Considering that I'm seeing gendai and showa kogatana blades in shirasaya online going for $900-1200 (and not even particularly famous smiths, either), I think this is a pretty d*mn good deal, comparable to Aoi's antique kogatana prices (which are about the cheapest I've found online). I'll still probably get in touch with M. Nadeau about the mini-to (I suddenly feel a need to own a miniature tachi, and it's all Brian's fault!), but I think it'll have to wait for a bit, now. If anyone else contacts them, please let us know! Thanks, /steve p.s. Got those links for us yet, Brian?

Ah, I think I understand a little better what you mean now. Like a commissioned pair, I take it? Does anyone know what exactly that toku hozon paper goes to? cheers, /steve

I'm confused...how can bare blades be classified as a daisho at all? I thought it was more the fittings, and not even always that. If you wear two swords, one long and one short, is this not daisho? What did the governing edict say? cheers, /steve

no issues with that here...I just want to make it clear that I was merely commenting on a noticed change to the page...don't shoot the messenger. cheers, /steve

Thanks, Ford, good info. That definitely makes sense. Always nice to learn something new. cheers, /steve

Hehehe...I like the latest edits. /steve

Thanks, Koichi. The first, third and fourth were killing me. I was thinking the third and fourth were one character, which definitely didn't help. cheers, /steve

More sword shop links, yay! That'd be great, Brian. I've been to that soulsmithing site before when I was looking into westerners that have attempted aprenticeship with Japanese smiths. Was looking for a good excuse to contact him, now it appears I may have one. If I get in touch with him I'll definitely say hi for you. Those small swords seem an interesting idea, I wonder if they count against the smith's output allowances? cheers, /steve

Sorry, Stephen, I didn't see your post earlier! Thanks for the info. We'll see where the price goes on that one. cheers, /steve

Hey folks, Mike Yeon mentioned (jokingly, I'm sure) the idea of having a raffle for a particular blade that's on Aoi at the moment. While that may not be perfectly feasible, I think it's still an idea worth thinking about. How's this for an idea: we have a raffle with fixed ticket price, say US$40-50, with a deadline for purchase. When we draw, the winner can get a blade of their choice within the budget determined by the total amount from tickets. We could have one for nihonto and one for tosogu, or just make it a single raffle with winner's choice. What do y'all think? cheers

Hey, now. That's not a bad idea...

Great! Thanks for the link, Peter. It looks beautiful. That seems a reasonable price, too. Now to contact Ono Yoshimitsu and order one with juka choji! :D That wak's the one you had restored, then? Interesting photos of the process. I bet the togishi cringed when he saw it! Looks pretty good now, though. cheers

D'oh! I guess I gotta get myself to Japan. Prices you mention are half what they are online (at the lower end), and it sounds like there's a lot more selection as well. Arg. Thanks, guys. Oh, and Simon, the shinsakuto question is really a totally separate thing. I figured that a newly made blade is not going to be cheap, but I am still interested in getting one made at some point, if possible. Still, I'd expect it to be less expensive than a wak or katana; if most smiths still make them then maybe it's a more affordable path to owning a blade made by a mukansa! :D Would something like that be ordered in the same way as a sword? thanks

Hi, Would someone mind helping me with this date? Apologies for the horrible pic, I tried cleaning it up. thanks

Hi folks, Does anyone know where I can find reasonably priced kogatana? Decent condition, signed/unsigned not drastically important, not looking for jo jo saku juyo papered blades. Only place I've found so far is Aoi; just hoping for some more selection (I have seen a couple of others, but the selection/pricing is beyond what I'm looking for at the moment). (edit) As an addendum, are there any modern smiths making shinsakuto kogatana? If so, how would one go about ordering such an item? thanks