Wim V

Hi, If you are able to find your way in the Japanese books, you could try the Gendai Toko Meikan, by Ono Tadashi. This index contains info on approximately 200 gendai smiths. However, as this book already has some age (written in 1973 or so) it contains Meiji, Taisho and early Showa (WW II) period smiths, but most "present day" modern smiths are of course not included. Regards, Wim

Did someone go to the auction at christies and is willing to share a small impression maybe? I am really curious how the sales went as the online catalogue seemed to contain some amazing swords (next to Darcy's kanemitsu, another tokubetsu juyo Kanemitsu, a Nagamitsu, a tokubetsu juyo Awataguchi Kuniyasu, and a Yosozaemon no jo Sukesada to mention a few). Darcy, how did it turn out for the swords you brought in ? Best regards, Wim

Hi there, I am also from Belgium, and I know there are a few more Belgian members on this board. I don't know in which region in Belgium you live, but there is in fact a to-ken club which has a meeting every first friday of the month in Antwerp. I have been a member there for nearly one year and a half and I can say I gained lots of experience over there. There are some serious people with quite nice collections, which gives you the chance to learn from seeing good swords in hand and discussing them. If you would be interested to come by and attend an evening, you are welcome to send me a PM, so I can give you the details where to find it. Next meeting will be friday 7 september. Furthermore, I am sure there are some more nihonto collectors in Belgium. I have heard talking of some people who meet in Brussels from time to time but unfortunately I don't know any of them. Kind regards, Wim

Hi, The mei seems to look like Sukesada to me (祐定). However, I have no idea if it's authentic or not. Maybe you could post some pictures of the blade (sugata, nakago, and some details of the hamon and boshi if possible) in order to judge if it could match the mei. Best regards, Wim

Hi there, From age 16 till 22 I have trained Zen Nihon Kendo Renmei Iaido (commonly referred to as "Seitei-Iai") and also Muso Shinden Ryu. I know some people in Muso Shinden favour rather long swords but this did not seem like a strict standard to me. As Matthew mentioned, also in our school the importance of a good drawing motion (nukitsuke) was highly stressed. If your sword is very short it flies out of the saya very quickly as you draw it, but then your left hand has little or no function. With a longer sword, your left hand must actively participate with pulling the saya backwards as your right hand draws the sword forward (the terms "saya-banare" and "saya-biki" are used to describe this if I remember correctly). This backward action with the left hand and saya also makes your cutting action stronger (you can compare it with "hiki-te" when performing "tsuki-waza" in karate), so it is very important that your sword is long enough to be able to perform this technique correctly. Now to give you an idea, my own body length is 192cm and I trained with a 2.5 shaku iaito (approx 75.7 cm). Most people in our dojo used swords with a standard length of 2.4 shaku, sometimes a bit shorter or longer according to their own arm length. But in the end, as long as you can perform the techniques correctly, the rest is up to personal taste I guess. One of the sensei I admire the most here in Belgium is a bit smaller than myself (around 180 cm I guess) and he trains with a shinshinto katana which is 2.7 shaku in length ! (almost 82cm!). I have always wondered how he is able to handle this sword but he is fast as lightning with it, so I think good technique is most important after all. Concerning other schools I don't have a good view on them. I know of one dojo near my town where they teach Katori Shinto Ryu. I have visited them only a few times but they did not seem to use especially long or short swords, somewhere around 2.4 shaku I would think. (73cm) Best regards, Wim

interesting point you made Stephen. Another thing I was wondering: in the textbook examples I have seen, the mizukage line starts near the hamachi and slopes at an approx 45 degree angle in the direction of the kissaki. In the case of the sword discussed here the line seems to slope the other way (towards the nakago). Maybe both are possible Examples I quickly found: page 113 of Nagayama Kokan's conoisseur book under "flaws"; and the attached picture from Dr. Stein's website. Wim

I also heard this on the radio news today. The price is totally crazy I think (just my personal opinion). I can understand this sword has an important historical significance to some people, but I would guess the artistic quality of this blade can never compete with that of a finely made nihonto. So indeed, luckily for us collectors the prices for nihonto haven't gone up that high yet. Wim

Hi there, I don't know if it is the case here, but maybe Strider is looking for the more traditional kanji for the months? I know in most cases swords are just signed by numbering the months (ichi gatsu, ni gatsu, ... and so on). But I have also once seen a katana that was signed 卯月, which I found translates as "u-zuki" and is also the fourth month. It seems like this example there is a more traditional kanji for every month, I found them on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_calendar I don't think these kanji for the months are included yet in the nihontokanjipages? (if they are then I looked over them, my apologies in that case) Greetings, Wim

Wow, absolutely magnificent swords! I think I would personally favour the ko-ichimonji Sadazane; according to the description this sword is approx 750 years old and still ubu, just knocks me down If only I had the money ... :? I'm quite curious though to see how high the auction price will go. This is something you don't see passing every day (well in my case that is, I have not seen an awful lot of swords in hand yet, and certainly none of this level)

I am a beginner so I consider this to be very difficult, but I want to try anyway. From the sugata, i.e. the rather robust (masculin) shape and the gentle sori, I would guess the period should be nambokucho. For a koto piece however, the blade looks very healthy to me, but I think this impression is largely due to the very wide temper. The hamachi seems rather small, so this indicates the blade has seen a number of polishes, which could confirm it being koto. The point looks chu-kissaki where I guess nambokucho (textbook) works should be o-kissaki, but I would stay with nambokucho due to the strong shape. From the high-res picture the hada seems to be itame with clearly visible chikei (the dark lines in the ji). The very wide, flashy, midare hamon with nie particles would also lead me to soshu-den (like Mark already said, so I might be a little bit influenced, I maybe shouldn’t have read his opinion before drawing my own conclusions). What also draws my attention with this sword is the particularly wide boshi, it seems to run almost along the ko-shinogi (or is this just the influence of the light giving the whole boshi area a white appearance?) If the boshi is indeed that wide I guess it should be a very important kantei point, as I have not seen this on other swords. Unfortunately I do not know where it should lead me :? (also don’t have any reference books here at the moment) So I will leave my answer to be: 1. koto, nambokucho 2. soshu-den 3. ?

Hi there, For a very informative page on origami, take a look at this link (website of Mr. Danny Massey): http://www.nihontocraft.com/japanese_sword_papers.html Most of the content on the paper are standard sentences, normally only the mei/attribution, the nagasa (for a sword that is) and the date the paper was issued will be different. The mei, nagasa and date you can usually translate yourself by consulting one of the kanji pages, and if you really can't make it out, you can always ask here, there are some very skilled people at this on this board

Thank you very much Moriyama-san ! It all makes a clear sense to me now, as the menuki are indeed made as small folding fans, having a form like in the picture you attached. This board is really great, thanks again! Wim

Hi all, Below is a section of a NBTHK tokubetsu kicho paper accompanying a wakizashi koshirae I recently acquired. I cut the relevant part out of the scan because the rest of the paper contains standard sentences, and otherwise the picture would be too large in size. I have been trying to interpret the information on the paper and this is what I got so far: 一黒石目地塗脇指拵 (ichi, kuro-ishi-me-ji-nuri, wakizashi koshirae) 金具一作四分一磨地無銘 (kanagu issaku shibuichi migaki-ji mumei) The last column starts with 目貫 (menuki), but I am having difficulties to find the following five kanji. Could anyone help me with finding these and suggesting their interpretation? Many thanks in advance, Wim Vanspeybrouck

Hi all, Has anyone noticed this auction? Link: http://www.bidders.co.jp/item/82118435 Anyone willing to share some comments on this? Not that I intend to place a bid, but I just think it is curious you could find a genuine Muramasa on an auction site. At first I thought it would be fake/gimei maybe, but it seems to be accompanied by tokubetsu hozon papers and at this moment the price has already gone up to 1,005,000 yen so it seems some people are fairly confident about it. Greetings, Wim

Hi, I can only share two more pictures (one detail of the sword + one of the koshirae), which were provided by the seller, as this sword is still on its way from Japan to Belgium. I am waiting for a notice from the customs to get the import cleared. I just hope they won't touch the blade with their (dirty) fingers. :? Greetings, Wim Vanspeybrouck

Hi guys, Wow I wouldn’t have expected that much reactions to my first post, thank you all very much for your input. Not that I want to question your knowledge John and Sencho, but I also tended to believe the date on this wakizashi has to be Ka-ei, even if the kanji is somehow simplified. I found another reason for this. While searching the web, I found a katana in tachi koshirae for sale, which seems to be made by the same Kanetsugu (see below for the link please). http://www.nihontoya.com/items/575469/i ... ntoya.html The jihada, hamon, bohi and even the file marks on the tang look very similar, and it is signed on the sashi-omote with the same 5-character mei (Seiryushi Kanetsugu). This katana is clearly dated the first year of Genji (1864), so if my wakizashi was made in the seventh year of Anei (1778) this would make a time difference of 86 years. I believe this would be too much to span the active career time of one smith. Or in that case there should be at least two generations? Anyway, thank you all very much for your help. Wim Vanspeybrouck

Hello everyone, I have been following this board for quite some time and I really feel I can learn a lot from the interesting discussions held here. This is my first post and I would like to start with a request for help. I recently bought a wakizashi (please see attached picture) and I have some questions about the mei. On the sashi-omote it reads 青龍子兼次, which I believe can be read as “sei-ryu-shi-kane-tsuguâ€. Kanetsugu is of course the name of the smith, but I can’t figure out what is meant with the three first kanji. Literally I found (thanks to the internet) they translate as “blue-dragon-child†but I wonder what this means. Is it just a family name or clan name, or does this refer to a certain school? Or something else? My second question is about the ura-mei. According to the seller this reads 嘉永七年八月日, which is “ka-ei shichi-nen hachi-gatsu-hiâ€. I believe this is a day in the eight month of the seventh “ka-ei†year, which should be august 1854. However it seems to me the first kanji in “ka-ei†(嘉) is not completely equal to the one chiseled on the tang of the blade. Is this an older way of writing this kanji maybe, or did the smith write an error? Any help is very much appreciated. Best regards, Wim Vanspeybrouck