trygve

Hi! I recently visited Paris and went to all of the above mention places.' The Guimet museum had a couple of blade, a dozen tsuba and an armour on display. The Musée de l’Armée (Les invalides) had ca 8 armours and a couple of blades of different periodes. I also went to the shop espace4 - They where very helpful and gladly let me inspect their nihonto and fittings. They sat me down in a sofa and brought out nice blades after the other. Top service and customer friendly. There is also a litle antique shop at the Louvre antique center with a litle of everything Japanese related. there was blades, fittings, armours, bow and arrows , matchlocks etc. Tip! I you like Japanese culture there is a book store in the reception erea on the Japanese culture center near the eiffel tower. They had all sorts of books on Japanese cooking, art, history, martial arts, nihonto, architecture, language and fiction. most of the books is in french, but many in english as well. I bought several nihonto related books there. sincerely Trygve

Hello Darcy! Your efforts to share your knowledge and your high end nihonto throuh articles, posts, photo and a very good webpage have been very helpful for fellow nihonto students. I am looking forward to buy the rest of the books, as the first Bizen book was a plesaure to read and study. Since Rich stein started this forum you have posted some of the most interessting reads on this subject on the web. "Photographing Nihonto" and the post on detecting altered kissaki is examples on articles that have given us members alot of input. I will gladly pre pay for the book. Sincerely trygve

Thanx for the input ! I will try to visit some of these places and hope to see something of interest. with low expectations, I cant`t get disepointed. Thanx again! Regards Trygve

Hello! I am going on little trip to Paris (France) soon and wonder if there are any museums, shops or exephitions with Japanese swords, armour etc. I have found out that the place with Napoleons toomb have some Japanese armour. Hope you french have some tips !!! mvh trygve

additional info. I was referring to arsenal and war time in the old days, during koto and shinto times. castle did have a lot of unmounted blades of swords, spears and polearms for use when mounting soldiers. many blades where made in bulk and maybe many was collected from the battlefield after victory to be used for mounting large armies. t his is just my speculation of course. regards trygve

the nothes are marks for identify arsenal blades wich where issued for soldiers in war times or when defending castles. the nothes are a way of keeping track of blades and wich saya and tsuka fit that particular blade. this was a topic a couplenof years ago on the the old messageboard. these blades where kept undressed foe easy service. you never see good quality blades with these nothes. trygve

Histoy lesson: Viking did not have horn on their helmets- That's a Hollywood contribution to make the Vikings look scary. Anyway - thanks to Stephen for his efforts and god luck to Ted !! regards trygve (grand grand grand grand grand grand grand grandson of Erik Blodøks)

Once again thanks for a helping hand, Nobody!!! You have helped me translate part of this sword's mei before -ref. http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=854 The smith in question is the same Chikugo Kiyotsuna as the mei is identical with the sword on the Japanese website. This is the only rererance I have found where I can compare workmanship. The hamon looks very alike but since the photos on the Japanese website are not very detailed, I was interested in the description on the sword and info on the smith/school. Thanks to Nobody, I once again have something to work on when it comes to do research of this sword. Regards trygve

Hello! A while back i bought a rusty katana by a smith called Kiyotsuna. The blade is under restoration and I am looking for reference on this school/smith. I found this for sale on a Japanese website and wonder if someone who know Japanese could help translate. I have tried web translator sites, but they translate it into babble. http://tsuruginoya.com/mn1_3/f00007.html paragraph to translate: 筑後久留米ä½æ¸…綱 嘉永四年二月日 形状 ： é› ï¼š 刃文 ： å¸½å­ ï¼š 茎 ： 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€‚ 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€‚ 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€‚ 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。 生ã¶ã€å…ˆåˆƒä¸Šã‚Šæ —å°»ã€é‘¢ç›®å¤§ç­‹é•ã„化粧ã¤ãã€ç›®é‡˜å­”一。 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。 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。 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„。 thanks! trygve

THanx for the warning! Always nice to know who can be trusted or not. general: When it comes to fraud or shady sellers it is always a bad thing. But I think it is a very good thing to warn collecters about sellers that introduce them self as collectors or knowledgeble persons. These are the most rutless people. I think there is a difference in selling a $ 500 junk on ebay wich turn up to be a wallhenger and selling a "quality" koto nihonto for many thousend of $. Luckely there are few of these people out there. We all remember Darcy's "scottish-muslim" incident a while back. These people gives our hobby a bad name. Jon! 9k is a lot of money here in europe also and I hope this can be solved for you. regards trygve

Hello again! Found another referen!ce that confirm my thought on the mei being shoshin! regards trygve

Hello again Dirk! The filemarks are close match. I was fooled by the schratches near the machi on the ura. It looked like taka - no - ha yasurime at first glance when I browsed through your photos. The sword was given to Major Brownfield from an colonel H.Ito who has given an appraisel in the surrender letter. he says: I have the honour to present you this sword with the explanation of it's history briefly as follows: This sword has been treated as a family treasure, since it has been in my familiy for many generation. It was made by one famous excellent sword makes named "Tango no kami naomichi" in the latter part of the 17th Century. The Characteristic feauture of this sword is in it's excellent sharpness, which was called "ODANUKI" and had been admired my many brave "SAMURAS" of that generation. Sincerely trygve

thanx Grey! The mei looks the same as the example in the middle. Both the hamon, hada and the filemarks resemble Tango no kami Naomichi aka Kanemichi. My conclusion is Sho shin, but I will never know for sure before a shinsa team has seen it. Thanx for all the input and help! Sincerely trygve

hello Dirk! It looks the same. but the file marks are different and there are only kajji on one side. The hamon looks similar with the slanting backwards. trygve

hi Dirk! Thanks for your the photo of your wak. What kind of hamon and hada does your blade have? This katana has a slanting gunome choji hamon that is very nice done. I have not found any sho shin example for reference. The lack of kyo yakidashi make me think it is an very early blade by this smith or gimei. There is a small yakidashi that consist of very small gunome before et explode in to slanting gunome choji hamon. Tha boshi is not visible because of the schratches on the kissaki. The mei on your waki look cloose with a little differences. regards trygve

Thanks for the input ! I do have the AFU translatinon of Fujishiro shinto on my computer but not my books with me. The plate on s 69 says there are two exampels of : KANEMICHI TANGO NO KAMI SHODAI [KANBUN 1661 SETTSU] SHINTÔ JÔSAKU He is the second son of the nidai Kyoto Yoshimichi, he has the Gô of Yoshibei, and he was also called NAOMICHI. He died at the age of 70 in Kanbun Jûninen (1672). His works are tempered with a hamon of a beautiful uniform choji, or a kikusui ha or sudareba like that of Tanba no Kami Yoshimichi. At the base there is sugu yakidashi that is characteristic of Osaka Shintô, and there are many which have the KIKU MON and "ICHI" inscribed on the ura of the nakago. (Ryôwazamono) Signatures: TANGO NO KAMI NAOMICHI MISHINA TANGO NO KAMI FUJIWARA KANEMICHI TANGO NO KAMI FUJIWARA KANEMICHI and the KIKU MON is inscribed. Page 69 Plate I: TANGO NO KAMI FUJIWARA KANEMICHI Plate II: TANGO NO KAMI NAOMICHI Anybody with the shinto book can veryfi this ???? Sincerely trygve

hello! i am without my reference books at the present time and would like yours thought on this blade: mei : tango no kami naomichi sugata: kanbun ?? hamon: gunome choji - wide very healthy blade with no flaws very nice tight itame hada mei on the nakago looks very well cut. Sorry for the bad photos, it was the best I could do! http://home.online.no/~kjoklepp/naomichi.cfm PS! tsuba ?? Any thoughts?? Regards trygve

Was browsing old links on my PC and visited Dean S. Hartley`s web site. read trough the summary of the "ARMS AND ARMOR OF ANCIENT Japan" museum Exhibits from 1964. Many fine blades there. To bad the photos are in black & withe .... but they are good for beeing 40 years old. Nice read anyway! http://home.comcast.net/~colhartley/Oriental/ArmsAndArmor.htm regards trygve

of course! The original mei is katana mei and is foldet back to the other side when shorted. This opens up a wide range of smiths suddently. Need to get home to my books! tk

shape suriage irregular boshi tachi mei All point to koto hamon ? sanbon sugu with sunagashi OR maybe TOGARI MITSU-GUNOME "Three-grouped" MIDARE BA. Wide, unevenly spaced valleys push against large mounding, two and three grouped GUNOME. The valley floor should incline to a small NOTARE roll or unevenness. NIOI may reach from the valleys for the HA. Profuse MURA KO-NIE and ARA-NIE sprinked like KAZUTATSU. Pattern should be fairly equal on both sides of the blade. MIDARE-KOMI BOSHI appears JIZO with long falling".(shi-shin.com) points me to Muramasa tk

This is one of the better chinese fakes out there. But if one looks closely on the details you will see that they are poorly made. The details make real nihonto and only Japanese craftmen can produce and these details thats makes the unique Japanese feel and quality. The best way to learn is to look at many real swords first hand. Than you will learn to spot the real among the many fakes. PS! when buying over the internet- alway ask for detailed photos of the blade. on these photos you can not see if there is hamon, hada or serious flaws (cracks, lack of hamon etc) if you decide to buy a sword before looking at real sword first, be sure to ask someone experienced for help. regards trygve

Last time I was in Lonon I delt with Don at his shop in The Grey Antique. He is a really nice dealer lets you stay in his little shop and look every thing he has. Even the good quality items he sometimes have stashed away trygves

See what you mean. is the wak a koto or shinto piece? Do you know wich Kanenaga this was? tryve

I was wondering about the criteria for a sword to be tired! To make a judgement to when a sword is "tired" is a difficult thing when it comes to sword that was made with "shirake utsuri", open grain. A Japanese polisher said that utsuri, ware and open grian have nothing to do with steel qualitet and the quality of the steel i judge by the colour of the steel and hamon. Overpolished sword often get the description "tired". I understad this refers to blades that have had their sugata changed and core steele, ware show up and hamon is weak because of to many trips to the stones. But how "tired" can an koto piece be, before it would be non-acceptable? Would, for example, a "tired" koto piece most likely paper to Hozon, if the the are "no fatal flaw" and made by a jo-saku smith. Have any of you had "tired" sword that got papers - or is "tired" seen like a "fatal flaw" I know that many "juo token" sword get high papers even with no "ha-machi" and little steel left because of their historical importens and that sometimes "fatal flaw" are aceptable on heian and kamakuran sword. I understand that "papers" mens importen before quality. will a medim sword from a medium smith automatically mean that the sword must be "healthy" to paper to hozon. And the the higher the smith rates - the sword can be less healty? Any thoughts?? trygve

Hi Barry I found this tanto when I googled after Tosa Yoshimitsu some weeks ago. I know that the Tosa yoshimitsu school was famous for their tantos and that some of the good blades have been represented as Awantguchi Yoshimitsu. But the mei do not compare. The characteristics on the blade could match. Difficult to to say because of the bad polish. Do you know which generation the tanto was? trygve