Yoshii

Hi, 1987, it is a shinsakuto I myself do own a Minamoto Masatsugu, unsigned, but with a Tokubetsu Kicho paper This sword is made by a gendai smith, but I could not find any information about him Greetings Jos

Hi, I have bought several items from this seller. He is a reliable seller Most of the time the description are accurate. Jos Bonsel

Hello everybody, I could use some help from the experts out here At this moment i'm writing a description of a katana made by Minamoto Masatsugu. As described on the tang it as made in the second month of 1987 for the Yamamoto family. I could not find any information about this smith. So any information on this smith would be welcome. The katana is 70.5 cm long, the sori is 2,1 cm. It does have itame kitae a gunome midare hamon, midare komi boshi, a maru dome bo hi. The nakago is ubu with ha agari kuri jiri saki. Thanks in advance for any help you can give me Jos Bonsel

Hello, Although i'm not a professional translator of Japanese, i try to translate text and put the information into little booklets of the different schools of kaji. this is what I can make of it; 筑後久留米ä½æ¸…綱 Chikugo Kurume ju Kiyotsuna 嘉永四年二月日 Kaei 4th year 2nd month a day 1851 形状 ：sugata é› ï¼škitae 刃文 ：hamon å¸½å­ ï¼šboshi 茎 ：nakago éŽ¬é€ ã€åºµæ£Ÿã€èº«å¹…・é‡ã­å°‹å¸¸ã«ã—ã¦ã€å…ƒå…ˆã®å¹…差ややã¤ãã€åã‚Šã¤ãã€ä¸­é‹’やや延ã³ã‚‹ã€‚ shinogi zukuri, ihori mune, chu kissaki nobiru å°æ¿ç›®è‚Œã‚ˆãã¤ã¿ã€ã€åœ°æ²¸ã¤ãã€åœ°æ™¯å…¥ã‚Šã€ç„¡åœ°é¢¨ãªè‚Œåˆã„を呈ã™ã€‚ ko itame hada, ji nie, chikei, muji hada style å°äº’ã®ç›®ã‚’主調ã«å°ä¸å­é¢¨ã®åˆƒäº¤ã˜ã‚Šã€è¶³ãƒ»è‘‰å…¥ã‚Šã€åŒ‚å‹ã¡ã«å°æ²¸ã¤ãã€éƒ¨åˆ†çš„ã«è’ã‚ã®æ²¸ã¨ãªã‚Šã€ç ‚æµã—ã‹ã‹ã‚‹ã€‚ ko gunome ? ko choji, ashi . yo, nioi gachi ko nie deki, ara nie 焼ãæ·±ãã€ç›´ã調ã«æµ…ãã®ãŸã‚Œè¾¼ã¿ã€å°ä¸¸å°–ã‚Šã”ã“ã‚ã¨ãªã‚Šã€å…ˆæŽƒãã‹ã‘る。 yaki fukashi, suguha awai notare komi, ko maru togari 生ã¶ã€å…ˆåˆƒä¸Šã‚Šæ —å°»ã€é‘¢ç›®å¤§ç­‹é•ã„化粧ã¤ãã€ç›®é‡˜å­”一。 ubu, kuri jiri saki, o sujikai yasurime, 1 mekugi ana 説明 ： åé‘‘ã«ã€é’木五郎。清広å­ã€‚é•·é‹æ–Žç¶±ä¿Šé–€ã€‚江戸ã«ã¦ã‚‚打ã¤ã€‚弘化ã“ã‚。筑後。ã¨ã‚る。 Aoki goro. Student of Kiyohiro. School of Chounsai Tsunatoshi, Koka periode, Chikugo kuni 作風ã¯å‚™å‰ä¼ã‚’主ã«ã—ã¦ã€åŒ‚出æ¥ã®ä¸å­ã«äº’ã®ç›®äº¤ã˜ã‚Šã®åˆƒæ–‡ã‚’焼ãã€é›ã¯å°æ¿ç›®ãŒã¤ã¾ã£ã¦ç„¡åœ°é¢¨ã¨ãªã‚‹ã€‚ ã“ã®åˆ€ã¯ã€å¸«ï¼šé•·é‹æ–Žç¶±ä¿Šã‚†ãšã‚Šã®å‚™å‰ä¼ã®åˆƒæ–‡ã‚’焼ã„ãŸå…¸åž‹ä½œã§ã‚る。 Chounsai Tsunatoshi’s hamon is in Bizen den style ã¾ãŸã€é™¸è»è»åˆ€æ‹µãŒé™„帯ã—ã¦ã„ã‚‹ãŒã€è»åˆ€æ‹µã«ç´ã‚られãŸåˆ€å‰£ã¯ã‚µãƒ¼ãƒ™ãƒ«ã®å®šå¯¸ã§ã‚ã‚‹2å°º1寸å‰å¾Œã«ç£¨ä¸Šã’られãŸã‚‚ã®ã‚‚多ã„ãŒã€æœ¬ä½œã¯ç”Ÿã¶èŒŽã®çŠ¶æ…‹ã§ã‚ã‚‹ã“ã¨ãŒå¥½ã¾ã—ã„。 2 shaku 1 sun suriage I'm sorry that i'm not capable enough to translate the complete text. I hope this will help you a little bit. Aoki is his familyname and goro his personal name Greetings Jos

Hi Matt, I'm Sorry , no oshigata of this smith in my collection of books Jos

Hello Matt, First of all, the kanji for Yasu which was used by the smiths who worked at the Yasukuni shrine is another one then is iscribed on your sword. I have looked in my library for a smith who worked in the Showa period and signed with Yasukuni using the kanji on your sword, the only smith i could find was a smith who worked as a Rikugun Jumei Tosho. His name was Takeshita Yasukuni. I don't know if this smith had made your sword, but perhaps you can look for information on the web for this smith. With regards, Jos Bonsel

Hello, If i'm not mistaking the hamon to me looks very regular. This sanbonsugi hamon was according to the Japanese experts invented by Magoroku Kanemoto (nidai) But his hamon is not as regular as on this particular sword. So in my humbl opinion this sword is made by one of the later generation Kanemoto Greetings jos

Hello out there, It is my hobby to collect information on swordsmiths and put it in little booklets. This I have also done on the Bizen Yokoyama school. Yokoyama Sukeyoshi is mentioned in the Nipponto Bizen-den Taikan on page 699. He was working in nioi deki and made choji, choji midare and suguha hamon. His kitae is mostly ko mokume, the boshi most of the time is ko maru kaeru. He signed as follows Jakushu jū Mita gennoshin Taira sukeyoshi yoshida gennoshin Taira sukeyoshi Goshu Hikone jū sukeyoshi Goshu Mita gensuke sukeyoshi tomonari go jū hachi dai no mago (58th generation) Bizen Osafune jū Yokoyama Sukeyoshi zukuri kore I hope this will help a little bit Greetings Jos

Hello Marcel, I'm also living in the Netherlands and collects and study the Japanese sword for over 30 years now. I'm a member of the Dutch Token Society and as so being active as the Mater of Arms in tne board of the society. When you do get your shinsakuto, is it possible that you show it on one of our meetings If you are interested in the Japanese sword you could take a look on our website http://www.to-ken.nl Jos

Hello out there, Now I know it is alright to deal with him I will take another look on the items he is offering Thanks for the information, Jos

Hello out there, recently I did got a mail from this guy Tadahiro Kimura. He claims to be a seller of Japanese antigues and should have a shop in Tokyo, Japan, and does have a homepage on internet. His adres is http://www.js-musashi.com. Does anyone of you do have any information about him, is he a reliable seller or is it a fraud Thanks in advance, Yoshii

Hi, I also have this piece on tracking. The smith concerned is rated as chu saku. As far as I can come to a conclusion it is in my eyes a sho shin mei. Who would fake a signature of a chu saku smith? By the way I did pay $ 2.500 for a fully signed and Koshu Tokubetsu Kicho papered Naginata from a jo saku smith of the 17th century. Greetings Jos

Hi Out there, I do own a mu mei katana with a Tokubetsu Kicho paper from the Bijutsu Nihonto Hozon Shinsakai. It dose have a kiri jiri and kiri yasurime. the hamon is suguha. From all the Yukinaga who are listed in Hawley, yuk 354 was the best. He is said to have hold the title of Yamato no kami. His stronghold was the suguha hamon. Greetings Jos

Hello out there, Last year I also did aquire a katana made by Yokoyama Sukenaga Sadly enough it does have two hagiri. It is almost signed the same way, the kiku mon and the kanji are on the side with the kanji Bizen Osafune ju On the other side is not only his name but also the date inscribed. I'm not an epert on Sukenaga, but it could be that my sword was signed by Sukekane, his nephew. Greeting Jos

Thanks, I now know it is not a fake certificate Greetings Jos

Hi all out there. Recently I have obtained a katana with a certificate from the Bijutsu Nihonto Hozon Shinsakai. In the certificate it is stated as holding the Tokubetsu Kicho status. It is mu mei and attributed to Bungo Fujiwara Yukinaga. The certificate is dated SHowa 58th year 4th month 24th day. Does anyone of you knwo anything about this organisation I only have found on the Italian Nihonto forum a mesaage from someone who also had a certificate from this organisation, but I cant make out, because I can't read Italian , what they said about it. Any information would be welcome Greetings Jos Bonsel

Hello out there, I have sent a mail to PayPal about this question. They will look into the case and take proper actioun on it. I have also informed my chairman of the Dutch Token Society and we will inform our members about this site Greetings Jos Bonsel

Hello everyone, I'm glad with the quick response you did gave on this subject And no I have not send any money yet :D I think this site must be avoid for the future Thanks for your input By the way the same sword is listed at ricecracker.com, with the same pictures, so now I know where he did get the pictures Jos Bonsel

Hello everyone outthere. I do have a little problem. Does anyone of you have any knowledge about the store which is called Black Samurai in Tokyo? You can find it on internet at http://www.armor8.com. Today I did make a bid on two of the swords which are listed on this site, a Katana by Tairyusai Sokan and a katana which is gassaku by Kawano Sadashige and Kita Sadahiro. When I looked at internet for information on Sokan I did find a sword listed at http://www.legacyswords.com/nihontocons2.htm. At both sides there is a photo of a TokubetsuHozon Token certificate , on the site of legacyswords.com the nakago of the katana is dated Ansei shichi nen and on the site of armor8.com it is dated Ansei go nen just like it is stated on the certificate. I did send a mail to both the sites in the hope for an anwser. So if anyone can give me some information on the reliability of those two sites, I would be more then happy Jos Bonsel

Hi again, the other side reads Nihon kaji Sosho, that means Japanese master swordsmith. Alwasy trying to help. Greetings Jos

I do think the name must be Masa hisa Keep on trying to translate, i will do so also Greetings Jos

Hi Austin, As far as i'm capable to read the Japanese kanji, i do ttranslate it as follows; it is a kanteisho paper fromt the Nihon Bijutsu Token Hozon Kyokai, the rank of the paper is Kicho Token. This was the first paper you could get. It was issued in Showa the 34th year 3rd month 1st day, 1959. It stated that it is a katana with a length of 2 shaku 6 sun 2 bu. The katana is mu mei and said was made by a smith who worked in the style of Sanetoshi. The name of the expert on the left side I believe is Fujita Chotaro. I am not sure I havegot it all right, perhaps some other members could give their opinion about it. Greetings Jos

Hi Brian, Although i'm not an expert on Japanese names, i suggest that the first two kanji can also mean Mizu ta, this is a name of a place in Bitchu kuni but it is also a familyname in Japan. I don't think the first two kanji are a surname of this smith. Greetings Jos

Does anyone give me some help on this mei? I can read Yokoyama and sukesada, but the 3 kanji between puzzle me. I gues it could be Kozuke Daijo, but then there is one kanji missing of Kozuke, and the three kanji are not readable to me because the mekugi ana are on these place. Could this be done because the nakago is so small? The cutting edge is 20,6 cm and the nakago 8,5 cm long I bought this tanto on eBay, and asked the seller if he knew what these three kanji should read, but he anwsered me the mei was only Yokoyama Sukesada and nothing else. Hoping for some anwsers, Yoshii (J.M. Bonsel)

Has anybody any information on this eBay seller? At this moment he is offerin several swords on eBay, one of them is listed with the item number 140102652712, a tachi of 82 cm cutting edge. He claims it is more then 530 years old, but on the same page he shows a Hozon paper of a sword (about 63 cm in cutting length) of Osaka ju Gassan Sadakatsu dated Showa 13. I did send him a mail in which i asked if he can confirm the paper belong to the sword he is offering, but i did not get a anwser. So i send him another mail concerning another sword he is offering, on that page he is also showin a hozon paper which does not belongs to the sword he is offering. On this message upto now he did not anwser. So what do you people think, is this guy reliable or not? Awaiting your reactions on this subject, Yoshii (J.M. Bonsel, master of arms Dutch Token Society)