markturner

Hi, I would like some advice on what is involved with assembling a set of mounts for the blades I have in shirasaya. I have a nice saya for the katana, that Don Banyen the dealer I purchased form had that fitted my katana. I need Tsuka, and all the other fittings. My plan was to get as nice as I could, buying old items that were as in keeping with the blade as possible. I have already purchased a nice Tsuba from a member here. My questions are: are fittings that I buy likely to fit? I Have seen plenty of Tsuba, menuki, fuchikashira for sale, but not really any Tsuka. How would I get a Tsuka for the blade? How would I know if all these disparate items will all "fit" together? Is there anyone in London or the UK, that offers this kind of service? Is it something I could undertake myself? Thanks in advance, Rgds, Mark

Why so cheap if the sword is genuine and nice? Cheers, Mark

Hi, I was looking at Aoi art ( nice site) and this caught my eye. I wondered what you guys thought of it and the price. Its a nice old sword in very nice mounts. http://www.aoi-art.com/sword/wakizashi/10300.html Thanks, Mark

Some advice for a novice please? As its local and I am very interested, I was looking at the catalogue. Most of the Hizen blades are out of my price range, but there seemed a fair few lower priced items in the "gentlemans collection" listed before the Hizen section. Do any of the blades shown in that section look interesting, priced reasonably and worthwhile investing in? I would be quite keen to attend and auction ( not done so before) and wonder if there are any pitfalls? What are the likely extra costs on top of the price paid at bid? Thanks for your advice, Mark

I may be being incredibly stupid here, but I cant find any "buy now" buttons or purchase page anywhere on any of the linked pages. Please can someone point me directly to where I can purchase this DVD? many thanks, Mark

Hi guys and thanks for the replies - apologies for some confusion, the katana is described as shinshinto, not the wakizashi. As the katana has more information, I only posted some pictures of the wakizashi, but I think a couple of you are mixing the details. The description I used for the Katana was taken directly from the auction catalogue from 1979. I was hoping maybe to find out about this collection, how highly the smith was regarded, etc. I will post up some photos of the Munechika ( Presume that is the actual name of the smith?) regarding the Wakizashi, which I feel being older there is more to find out about, I searched under the name of Bishu osafune sukesada on this board and although it came up fairly often, it seemed to refer to a general school and be a very common name of smiths. I was hoping perhaps that the pictures would be able to pin it down more. Do I need to try and post some better close ups of the Hamon etc? I wanted your opinions as to the "Niceness" of both blades - I think they are beautiful, which is why I chose them, over mounted blades. They have an understated simplicity and beauty in the shirasaya and they were ones that "spoke" to me most when i held them. They also seemed to me to be in very good condition. I plan to gradually get some mounts for them and have a Tsuka made etc. any books you can recommend as help to learn more about each blade, i would be glad to research! I will also contact Don, and see what else he may be able to tell me. Thanks, Mark

Hi, my name is Mark, I am a newcomer to the hobby, having recently fulfilled a lifelong ambition to own a genuine Nihonto. I found the name of Mr Don Banyen, on these boards and being local to me, went to him for the purchase of my first acquisition. I was very pleased with his service and actually came away with 2, a katana & a Wakizashi ! I was hoping that you guys could give me some more detailed information about the pieces. Firstly the Katana. I was lucky that this piece is pretty well documented, it is from the Bigelow Collection, and was sold at auction in New York in 1979, it is a shinshinto Katana by sanjo munechika 16th generation munetsugu, in shirasaya, with sayagaki by Honami heijuro. It is in flawless condition. I would like to know as much as possible about the school or smith anything else of interest. Secondly the wakazashi - signed Bishu osafune ju sukesada, dated 1509. Again, the blade is almost flawless and is in shirasaya. Again, any information would be gratefully received. here are some shots of the wakizashi: Thank you, Mark