Gasam

Darcy, I too have pondered philosophically about the dilemma we are facing with regards to preservation, and I suspect, so have many others. It is impossible, I find, not to stand in awe of a blade I am holding that has survived centuries before us, thinking and wondering about what it would say could it speak. In fact this kind of thinking was part of why I bought my first nihonto. To be able to wonder, "what have you seen in your times, old blade". More reasons than just that of course, but that was definitely a part of it. Eventually, however many (thousands?) years it will be down the line, they will all wither away, be it from polish or rust. How then can we in our lifetime best "first do no harm" as the doctors of the world pledge in their oath? Not an easy question.

Thank you! As always prompt and good replies from the forum

Heyas! Just a quick question, one is always told to leave the nakago true and well alone with regards to cleaning etc, due to the rust and unaltered condition giving important clues to age etc. But: does this also apply to oiling? Should the nakago be oiled as the rest of the blade, or more lightly, or indeed never? and lastly, beeing friday night and wine tiems and all, kudos for avoiding any sexual innuendo with regards to nakago oiling is greatly appreciated

Well what do you know? An amaryū rain dragon it is! Have wondered for so long what creature the menukis were depicting

Hi! This somewhat resembles a pair of menuki that is part of a handachi koshirae that I own. I have tried to find/google similarly themed menuki just because I have wondered what they are depicting. It could indeed be the same creature. Will post images tomorrow, have none now and today is busy times :-)

Just for anyone interested, here are some pics of the around USD 6.000 "Katana Wakizashi (sic) in Tamahagane steel with papering" Wak mentioned in one of my posts above.

Hi again! Thanks for reply, We have 25 % VAT, but luckily, not for art and antiques over a certain age, I think it is 200 yrs old. So last time I imported a blade from Japan, there was hardly any tax/toll :-) Waiting now for a blade made in later half of the 1700s that I kind of went a bit overboard with budget wise, so hopefully I am right about the 200 years limit

Hi again! Thanks for the link to the sword with rough hada and core steel showing through. Very informative indeed

Ecxellent, So, not so finely worked, coarsely grained/coarse hada then Ty for replies as always

Heyas, Been trying to google this a bit with no luck, but what exactly is the definition of rough hada? Is it that it has been polished down so much that the core steel is beginning to show through? Not having access to any swordclubs etc I sometimes have to ask these (im sure to many) obvious questions here :-) Can it be readily captured in pictures, and does anyone have any to post here? Thanks!

Thanks for reply. Just noticed he is also selling a wak that has fairly much kitae-ware for about 6.000 USD converted from Norwegian crowners. That makes me a bit wary as he might know a lot more than he is letting on about nihonto (as he has more than one item) and the prices seems really high particularly for the wak, although it has a mei and some sort of papering is shown i a pic but no mentioning as to what papering it is. If anyone wants pictures of wak let me know and I will upload them.

Hi again all, A gunto-mounted blade markeded as a "Colonel Katana with Battle Flag" is for sale in my hometown. It is not an auction but a fixed price of about USD 2.500,- (15.000 Norwegian Crowners). The pictures are not the best, but in one or two of them I think I can see old battle mark on the mune. That makes me think it could be older blade... Can someone more knowledgeable than I am at present take a look at these pictures, and see if it is at all possible to hazard a guess as to age of blade based on the shape? Edit: And also if it bears any telltale signs of oil quench, if such signs exist. Bad pictures of the hamon though.... they are the sellers pics.... Thanks

Yay Flyfishing!! Preferably with self tied dry flies and a good supply of single malt, but also if the opportunity arises with streamers for sea trout or even a bit of salmon fishing :-) (Sorry a bit off topic all, but I didn`t start it :-) )

Hi all! My copy arrived form Lulu today. I have flipped through it and started reading a few chapters. It is a monumental work on this subject in my humble opinion. While I freely admit to not knowing much about the topic beforehand, (though I had a rudimentary knowledge I suspect many have that comes from superficial studies of the matter after encountering cutting-test gold inlayed nakagos), I firmly believe that this book has something to teach even much more knowledgeable people than me. Highly recommended then!

Lovely! Shared to all facebook friends along with the tiger tsuba film, neither of which I had seen before. Spiffing awesome good stuff!

Hi all, So this is literally a sword mentioned in the Meibutsuchõ that has surfaced? How insanely great isn't that? I am actually opening a bottle of Barolo as I write this just for the coolness of it all!

Ha! This was fun I never have even attempted to read anyting on any nakago before. Could the ura side be something like: Bun Kyu Roku Nen Ni Gatsu Hi ? "A day in he second month of the sixth year of BunKyu" or something similar? Will try the other side tomorrows if noone posts first Think I have the two last kanji at least. Thanks for posting this Fun times!

I think it looks like "real" utsuri, but admittedly I am far from the most knowledgeable person in here. It is very interesting that you were able to get that in Your blades even if by accident. Of course, there is something going on with the metal that if identified could possibly be controlled and reapplied, I am thinking. Also: As far as utsuri beeing a form follows function factor, I agree we see that with weaponry a lot. But could it not also simply be seen a mark of the best smiths of the time, therefore making swords by such smiths desireable? Or just as particularly beautiful blades, and therefore commanding a Premium price? We sometimes see this in weaponry as well. Even in practical weapons, there have always been engravings etc, admittedly more so in earlier times, and much less so today... And lastly: There must be a metallurgy doctorate thesis idea in this thread for some aspiring phd

Excellent reading, thanks for posting this link. (and thanks to others who posted utsuri-links) So fascinating, the stuff we still don´t understand fully.

Indeed, Musashi says, or rather writes in the Go Rin No Sho: "Warriors, both commanders and troopers, carry two swords at their belt. In olden times these were called the long sword and the sword; nowadays there are known as the sword and the companion sword. Let it suffice to say that in our land, whatever the reason, a warrior carries two swords at his belt. It is the Way of the warrior. (..) Students of the Ichi school Way of strategy should train from the start with the sword and long sword in either hand. This is a truth: when you sacrifice your life, you must make fullest use of your weaponry. It is false not to do so, and to die with a weapon yet undrawn."

Does anyone know of some articles or such that discusses the processes involved in making utsuri? I was under the impression that its manufacture was somewhat of a mystery, how the old smiths did this. But if later and modern smiths have been able to reproduce it, even by happenstance, there must be some good theories at least :-) On a wakizashi of mine, utsuri can bee seen, so it would be nice to know more about it. I am very interested in the whole process of forging the Japanese sword, so any opportunity to learn......

Hi again: Just read yesterday this explanation on 2 different types of holes in tsuba, and seems to agree with earlier post in this thread: http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/sageo.ht ... ll%20holes Very interesting indeed :-)

Hi again! I also do a lot of metal detecting. For removing red rust, some of my fellow detectorists use finely crushed nutshells in a tiny sandblaster to remove red rust without hurting patina etc. Apparently this is very gentle the object, and removes red rust very effectively. Just thought I would mention it, in case it can be a time saver if lots of red rust must be removed. Never tried it myself (hard to find small sandblasters I find :-) ) edit:obvoiusly the crushed nutshells is the ingredient that make this at all feasible. No blasting sand please :-)

Thank you Brian, and indeed everyone, for your kind words and welcoming me to the forums. Actually I ended up buying my first real sword at one of the dealers recommended to me by Mr Darcy based on my budget. English is not my first language, so I can sometimes write in such a way that misunderstandings can happen. Not important maybe but i would not presume to have bought a sword from Mr Darcy when indeed I had not. But kudos to him for his tremendous helpfulness :-) Once again thank you all for your warm welcomes! Gard S.

Hello everyone, My name is Gard Samsonsen, and I recently joined these forums. I have been lurking around anonymously for some time. I am 42 years of age, and have had an interest in all things Japanese and especially the enigma of the samurai culture and the Japanese sword ever since beeing blown away by the then epic TV drama "Shogun" as a kid. I was not until recently, however, aware that genuine nihonto could be owned by ordinary men such as I. I came across nihonto.ca, a site that I am sure you all are familiar with, and the owner of the site (whom I sometimes see writing in these forums) kindly responded to my email requesting pointers as to how to start collecting/aquiring the genuine stuff. So now I own one mumei sue-nio koto wakizashi (hozon papered) and one kansei wakizashi (Nobuchika, tokubetsu hozon papered) is beeing fitted for a shirasaya in Japan before shipment. So 2 is a collection then, right? Yay! I hope and know that I shall learn a lot from these forums. best regards to all, G. Samsonsen Norway