Kam

Hi As you may or may not know a book from the Sydney shinsa and show will be made available. The contents of this book will basically be a summary of the event inc notes or transcripts of talks/presentations, a forward by Adrian Schlemmer (event co-ordinator) and a ridiculous amount of pictures . . . if you were there then chances are you will be able to play "Where's. . . (insert own name). .?".Initially I thought that the book would be more like a booklet of approx 40 pages and should be a 1 maybe 2 person job but as I have so many professionals in various related fields helping and a lot of info was shared at the show that it would be wrong not to cover it thoroughly. So now it appears that it is growing into something so much more, at this point I suspect we will be looking at least to 150 pages if not more. Many people are behind putting this book together both in a direct and indirect way. I have had a number of people send me pictures that they thought might be valuable to the book and have had many suggestions as to content which I appreciate. So if you have any pictures or suggestions please feel free to pm or email me, any pictures contributed that get used will be credited to the photographer. And if things weren't busy enough I had wondered if we could offer some type of supplement summary of the 2009 shinsa then after a few emails with Terry Lau he had mentioned maybe doing a page on it, he also mentioned that he had a good deal of pics available. So at this point we haven't decided were to go with this but it appears that there will be some sort of coverage, once again input and suggestions will be appreciated. Kam

Hi As i have had a few people contact me in regards to my pink slipped Emura (sorry Dave it just never ends) I have been informed of some interesting findings. I can not validate most of these as they are other peoples experiences but I will relate them anyway. One gentlemen informed me that back in the mid 80's he bought an Emura with saka choji and a large section of mune yaki, another pointed out that he has owned 2 Emura 1 of which was almost identical to mine in all aspects except that the Hamon went from suguha to choji. I wonder how much his style changed and now with a lot of gimae gendaito bouncing around it is becoming a lot harder to have these other elements officially accepted. Kam

Follow up info and pics- The official explanation for the pink slip was due to the yasurime and nakagojiri, funny thing is this style of nakagojiri seems to be common on emura blades. They had no thoughts on who made it either saying made by another modern smith. I have no real thoughts on the matter so I can see both sides of the coin as to the legitimacy of the mei (which interestingly was not mentioned on the pink slip) . I have added a couple of pics of the blade to give an overall idea. Kam

Ok so it's taken me a couple of days to get back with a pic of the Emura nakago. First attempt at loading pics so forgive me if I stuff it up. Kam

I submitted an Emura that I had purchased a while ago in old military mounts. I have seen a few Emura both gimei and legit and felt this one to be legit enough so much so that I had even gone to the effort of doing a Wakasanuri job on the saya (very long and difficult process). The Shinsa team failed it based mostly on the file marks as Dave pointed out but there was also mention of the Nakagojiri. I was very surprised as everything else was spot on inc the mei. After some discussion I let it go and accepted the decision but a number of people inc some whom I consider very knowledgeable in this field felt otherwise. I had a few drop by to have another look and discuss it further and have received a number of emails with oshigata or links to oshigata. Funnily enough its been a good advertisement if I wanted to sell it as I have had some very reasonable offers. I am hoping to be in Japan early next year for further study so I may consider submitting it to the nbthk for a second opinion. This is not for any other reason than to increase my own knowledge of this smith and his workers and the huge variations that have come out of his forge. I will try to get some pics of the Nakago up . . . am I able to copy and paste or do I need to use a function to do it? Kam

Will post some pics of the Terahide once I work out how to do it Forgot to mention Terry Lau and Phil (not sure of his last name) who made sure no one touched the displays. Probably will remember more. Will also post some pics of the shinsakuto with the amazing hitatsura hamon that the shinsa team could not find any details on. Kam

Thanks Dave, truth be told I did very little this time round I just volunteered everyone else's help. And yep I had forgotten someone - Craig, thank you for reminding me. You didn't tell me your blades passed. . . is it because of my Emura (seems that a few people think that it still is, I have even been sent a couple of oshigata with the same nakagojiri. but thats for a different discussion). Did you check out Craigs Ishido Terahide that passed? Kam

I was talking to couple of people last night that attended the show and they pointed out that a lot of people behind the scenes went unnoticed so I thought I would make mention of a few that come to mind sorry if I forget anybody. Firstly Issac Currie who traveled up with me and spent the Thursday and Friday night helping Adrian set up the Taikai room, worked as Security at the door for the duration of the event and slept in the Taikai room (Scary as Adrian also slept in the Taikai room). Midori, Michelle and Sue who had the exciting task of collecting tickets. Andrew Gee and Richard Thomas (who almost lost a finger when packing up) both of these Gentlemen worked hard at looking Busy in the Shinsa room. Andrew Ickeringill who was kind enough to donate his time to attend the Shinsa and do a talk instead of spending time in Melbourne with his family (he is lucky to get any time off). Tina my wife who helped set up the Taikai room on Thursday night and set up the computers (also loaned her own) in the Shinsa room as well as scanning the results. Richard Thomas's girlfriend (sorry I forgot your name) for taking over Tina's job in the shinsa room. And finally I guess we should thank Adrian for organising the event and paying the bill up front. If i have forgot anyone once again I am sorry, I will probably remember later tonight. Kam

Hi Guys, Shinsa was an expensive but worthwhile experience and Tina and I had a great time. I didn't have a chance to experience everything but I did catch your talk Dave. . . but you already know that , and despite the distraction from that guy up the back you did well, was very informative. Was great to meet a lot of faces I know only from phone calls and emails (that inc you Jim) as well as catching up with old friends. I have a few pics up on the blog http://jigokustudios.com/blog for those that wish to have a look. For those of you that did not know the "Sydney 2011 Taikai" book will be available within the month so if you want a copy please pm me as there will only be a run of a 100 copies for the first edition and most likely wont be a second. Details will be posted soon. Kam