mas4t0

Given that what I said above is very qualitative and that you'd really need to handle some different swords to understand the difference, I'll add some diagrams. Diagrams will be more useful than diving into physics and the associated technical terms; radius of Gyration, Mass at blade node, Hilt Inertia, Tip Rotational Inertia, etc. Here's the effective mass curves and agility diagrams of a few very different swords. Below is the effective mass curve and agility diagram for a katana. There will of course be quite significant variation from one specific blade to another, but in my experience this quite well shows the handling characteristics of a katana as compared to the other sword types shown above. As you can no doubt intuit from these diagrams, the katana will much more easily amputate arms or cut a man in two but is much less nimble. Clearly it's not just about mass (how heavy the sword is). Imagine lifting a bar loaded with 80kg, now imagine if all 80kg were loaded on one side of the bar... With the above in mind, the following videos should clarify the way the dynamics of the blade affect swordsmanship. Katana: Longsword: Épée (770g 90cm blade): Sabre (500g 88cm blade): Shinai (~500g ~80cm):

Yes, of course, a Japanese sword will work just fine to murder an unarmed man. It'll work just fine even if you have no training, so long as you draw the blade successfully. That said though, a large shard of broken glass will work just fine for that purpose. However, you'd very likely lose a duel against an (equally skilled) opponent using any of a large variety of European sword types; though it would serve you much, much better than the aforementioned meat cleaver. The point being made here isn't on the basis of metallurgy, but on the basis of the different dynamics, handling characteristics, range, etc and the very different fighting styles which the swords lend themselves to. The question raised at the start of the thread is a very high level question, which is to say that it can't be answered succinctly. The most appropriate response really is to provide a list of a few books which lay out the foundation for the discussion, but I'm guessing you're not sufficiently invested in this to read 1000+ pages? On the point of quality, it depends how you define it. If quality (to your friend) means durability then he'll no doubt agree that overalls are higher quality than bespoke suits.

This isn't as simple as it might seem. I can explain this metallurgically and from the perspective of engineering (materials and dynamics) if you'd like, but it'll be a very long post and quite technical. The Japanese sword is a unique solution to a unique set of constraints. It is different in construction, metallurgy, geometry and dynamics from all other swords and is optimised for a different usage case. Having trained in JSA for many years I would certainly not select a Japanese sword for use in a duel. There are "superior" swords for any scenario (other than the draw cut).

Thank you Michael, I had been hoping I was mistaken and someone would correct me. I'm surprised they can offer these services at such a low cost.

This is maybe somewhat off topic, but I'm kind of surprised at how much people expect of low grade papers given the low cost. I've seen time with a PhD advisor billed at $500+ per quarter hour. With a panel of 5 experts I wouldn't be surprised if: Hozon was concluded within 2 minutes TH was concluded within 3 minutes Juyo was concluded within 10 minutes TJ was concluded in 15 minutes Meaning that a sword passing TJ could have only spent 30 minutes being examined by the panel (in total). I obviously don't have any insider information, but I wouldn't expect the fees paid to buy much more time.

Katate-maki or Hira-maki perhaps? A more utilitarian mount would make sense I think for a destitute character. Some screenshots would help. Here's a link showing a few different styles.

It's from Art of the Samurai: Japanese Arms and Armor, 1156-1868 (Metropolitan Museum of Art) It's been out of print for a few years, but it's available to download for free as a PDF from the MET website. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/Art_of_the_Samurai_Japanese_Arms_and_Armor_1156_1868

I think this is well captured by another quote from Ogawa Morihiro (on the same page as the quote above). Before the Meiji era, when swords were still used as practical weapons of war, a fine blade was so esteemed that a samurai would make virtually any sacrifice in order to obtain a great sword that would protect him on the battlefield. The sword — often called the "spirit of the samurai” — was also the most coveted of gifts, to be given or exchanged on auspicious occasions and special events. In addition, after victory in battle generals often presented renowned swords to their commanders who had achieved military success, regarded as the highest honour by the recipient. Indeed, just one superior sword conveyed more meaning, and more prestige, than gifts of large domains or any quantity of gold, silver, paintings, and other treasures. The following is one example illustrating the scope of the samurai's obsession with swords. It concerns the tachi named “Ikkoku Kanemitsu” (One Province Kanemitsu) in the possession of the family of Duke Yamanouchi, formerly lords of Tosa han, which is designated an Important Cultural Property. In the early Edo period, this sword, by Bizen Kanemitsu, was highly reputed as a very great sword indeed. Having heard of it, Tokugawa Yorinobu, son of Tokugawa leyasu and the ancestor-founder of the Kishū Tokugawa family, asked Tōdō Takatora, a famous general under leyasu, to obtain the sword for him from the Yamanouchi family. The story goes that Yamanouchi Tadayoshi refused the request, to which Tōdō Takatora replied, “Even though you say that, if it were a command of the shogun you would have to give up the sword." Tadayoshi countered, saying that he "would return the whole province of Tosa” — an area covering the whole of present-day Kōchi Prefecture and nearly priceless in value — but would “never part with the great sword by Kanemitsu.” Swords made by famous smiths were, accordingly, extremely difficult to obtain, and for that reason fakes purporting to be the work of famous smiths have been made even since ancient times. In the Kanchi-in Bon Meizukushi — a 1423 copy of a Kamakura-period treatise on swords, kept in the Kyōo Gukoku-ji, Kyōto — it is recorded that cleverly made fakes of blades by the early Kamakura period swordsmith Bungo no Kuni Yukihira were in circulation, and it explains how the fakes could be recognised. In another instance, there were apparently so many blades purported to be the work of the famous seventeenth century smith Kotetsu, it was often said that if you see one hundred swords with his signature then without doubt you have seen one hundred fakes. I realise that this is well known to all participants in this thread, but it might be of interest to some people reading along.

I think it is important that we take an integrative approach and consider the blade in its proper context; at least all the parts of a sword (blade, koshirae, etc) and ideally also the other accoutrements such as kimono or armour, bows, etc. Additionally it isn't really fair to compare to painting as a whole. The Japanese sword is one part of a unique culture and aesthetic. How successful would we expect an Ancient Egypt exhibition to be if only swords were displayed? This isn't to deride the Japanese sword in any way, but rather to illustrate that it is punching well above its weight as an art object. Comparison to suiboku-ga (sumi-e) is perhaps fairer, where there are defined boundaries and limitations. Some of the finest art in all domains comes from the creative and innovative ways an artist overcomes the constraints of their medium. I think this quote from Ogawa Morihiro is perhaps worth sharing: If the Japanese sword can be likened to a picture, it would relate aesthetically to the black ink paintings known as suiboku-ga. The bright and dark, clearly polished jigane would be analogous to the paper, and the yakiba, with the appearance of white blossoming flowers, for example, would represent how the black ink is said to display "five colours," meaning the impression of colour derived through variations in tone. In order to preserve this essential beauty and carry the polished sword, a scabbard of soft wood is made to contain the blade. To strengthen the scabbard, and to protect the blade against humidity, the scabbard is covered overall with lacquer. The other components of a sword mounting (discussed more fully in the essay titled "Sword Mountings and Fittings" in this volume) include a hilt (tsuka), whereby the sword is gripped in the hands, which is typically wrapped with ray-skin and bound with cords or leather to protect it from fracture under violent impact. The ends of the wooden portions of the scabbard are protected by metal fittings, and a tsuba (sword guard) is attached, protecting the palms of the hands and aiding adjustments to the overall balance. Accordingly, the Japanese sword can be said to represent the essence of several traditional crafts and fine arts represented by three specialist groups: swordsmiths, polishers, and the makers of sword mountings and fittings.

What's the discolouration just above the habaki? The blade edge looks almost scalloped in areas and there's some unusual reflections along the face of the blade which give the impression of a wavy surface. I'm not sure if it's the camera, the lighting or the blade.

I wouldn't be too concerned; buffing shouldn't have done too much harm. It obviously isn't a good thing to have done, but buffing with a cloth is very different to grinding the blade on a stone. Given that it has clearly been buffed I wouldn't be surprised if the person had done other damage to the blade.

Does it matter whether the categories are strictly correct, or only that a useful taxonomy is established? A taxonomy describes, names and classifies things based on shared characteristics and helps us categorize, organize and communicate information more clearly and efficiently. The benefits of the taxonomy stem from the information embedded within the data structure itself. It's far more useful to group animals by taxonomic rank (kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species) than to group them by their colour. We can identify an unknown animal as a beetle based on phenotypic traits without ever having seen a member of that species before. A very brief glance will tell us that it's an animal, an arthropod and an insect (from the order Coleoptera). This taxonomic information contains a lot of embedded information. Without any prior experience with this species, we can guess with high probability that it has undergone complete metamorphosis and was previously an egg, a larva and a pupa before reaching adulthood. We also know with certainty that it can't asexually reproduce and many other things that I won't bore you with. That got quite entomology heavy, but I'm sure you can see the parallels to sword kantei. I'm much better at insect identification than I'll ever be at sword kantei, but it is the same process and the taxonomy is doing most of the heavy lifting in both cases. My point being that the taxonomy is of great value regardless of whether or not it is strictly correct (whether in a historical or genetic sense). It also greatly increases repeatability and reproducibility of judgements, I guess it's debatable whether it increases reliability or only increases consensus.

Yeah, that’s what I thought too!

This is likely to be the key piece of evidence. Hopefully this will be enough to have them release it, but if not I'm sure it'll be very valuable in court. In my (limited) experience, these people are quite readily persuaded by expert opinions given from a position of authority (which they recognise as valid).

Kindle books have some solid DRM to prevent copyright infringement, so you can't do much without removing the copy protection. There's a free piece of software available from Amazon called Kindle Create which allows authors to quickly and easily convert documents into properly formatted e-books and publish them on Amazon. It takes under an hour to go from a word document to a published e-book. If Yurie's contract with Alpha allows for this, it would be best to re-publish the e-book this way. I could do the work in Kindle Create for her (obviously at no charge) and send her the files, but she'd need to publish it from her account.

Matt, It would be best to first decide which style of koshirae you're going for. If you already have tosogu then their era, school, level of opulence, etc will help you determine the appropriate style of koshirae and thereby the reasonable options for the saya. An overall koshirae can turn out quite poorly if you focus myopically on individual component parts. A reference book with lots of examples would be the best place to go for inspiration, but you'll see a few examples here: https://www.nihonto.com/uchigatana-koshirae/ https://markussesko.com/2014/10/ Here's some specific examples I'm sure you'll enjoy: https://yuhindo.com/goto-mitsunobu-yokoya-nobusada-daisho/ https://yuhindo.com/hoshizukiyo-kencho/ https://yuhindo.com/mutsu-no-kami-tadayoshi/ https://yuhindo.com/hatakeda-moriie/ https://yuhindo.com/rai-kunitoshi-4/ https://yuhindo.com/imagawa-shizu-meito/ https://yuhindo.com/kanemoto-katana/ https://yuhindo.com/ko-yamashiro-gojo-tachi/ https://yuhindo.com/awataguchi-yoshimitsu/ https://yuhindo.com/samonji/

For example:

Thank you very much Luc.

+1 I'd very much appreciate some more thoughts and opinions on these lots. I've only been studying Japanese armour for a few months, so I won't muddy the waters with my twaddle.

The profile is reminiscent of a German (Wusthof, etc) kitchen knife. The tang is in the Japanese style, and would be used with a wa handle. It's a somewhat unusual combination as Japanese double bevel kitchen knives such as Gyuto and Sujihiki (but obviously not Nakiri, Santoku, etc) are generally based on the French profile (Sabatier, etc) and European knives generally have Western style handles. It's even more unusual that it was pretending to be a kogatana.

https://web.archive.org/web/20170328123936/http://www.n-p-s.net:80/musubi4.htm

Ford, Would it be of any assistance to have someone organise and compile your old posts, relevant to this volume? I'm sure they represent thousands of hours of work and there's more than enough content. I have a lot of time on my hands right now, and my secretary has had almost nothing to do for the last year, so it really wouldn't be any trouble. I did back the project, but I don't really care about the book. I personally would prefer that you abandoned the project, called it a failure and focussed on yourself. As you are dedicated to completing the book, I'm offering this in case it might be of assistance to you. If you would like to take me up on this, or if you can think of anything else I could do to assist, please let me know. I read about 800 pages most days, so I would probably be able to go through everything you've written on this site by this time tomorrow.

Are under 18s welcome at the expo?

I don't recall ever seeing an NBTHK papered tachi tsuba photographed edge down on the papers. I think I've seen quite a few edge up, but I don't have anything on file to share, and could be mistaken.

Is postage really that cheap within SA or is it being subsided by the seller?