Henry Stewart

The point made by Peter as to a willingness to trade and swop by Bill Tagg,is as far as I have found to date quite unique on the part of a dealer and does draw into collecting good people who would otherfwise be lost to collecting. This coupled with Bill's encyclopaedic knowledge of the subject is now very rare to find indeed. Henry

Just to let those who are unaware know of the closing down of the Liverpool Militaria Shop in Cheapside Liverpool. Seemingly my good friend Bill Tagg has seen fit to call it a day, though he will maintain a website and on line dealership at http://www.liverpoolmilitaria.com. The smiling faced welcome will be sorely missed together with the banter over Nihonto matters and kindred topics.. Mark you he would maintain, after nearly forty years it is time for younger blood to get embroiled in the day to day macinations of shop life,but I still suspect he will miss the not knowing who was coming through the dshop door and what goodies they might bring. I have known Bill for many years and dealt nihonto for the same. May I take this opportunity of wishing you well Bill and have a peaceful retirement. Henry

Gentlemen Can anyone please identify a sword polisher, resident somewhere in the Strathclyde division of Glasgow Scotlland. obliged Henry

Indeed a most praiseworthy effort. Please put me down for a commemorative first edition. Thankyou, Henry

Jon At the moment bright and sunny,but clouds loom in the forecast for later on. How do you fare this bright mornng; well I trust and in good health as I fervently hope for otherfs. Henry

Gentlemen; Good gracious me,what on earth happened? I honestly did think the entry might be of use to some of the newly arrived collectors thirsty for knowledge. As in all human endeavour there are diamertically opposed views,I was just admiring a skill I do not myself posses. A good acceptable result for the individual payhing the bill is surely one of the best tests of the perenial argment "Amateur or Professional". Henry

Gentlemen May I respectfully commend your attention to Mr Louis Skebo polishing a Katana on You Tube. I have owned an example of this mans work and he is good in my humble opinion. In his offering it is possible for the new people to our pastime to see the importance placed on various stages of the swords progressiion and observe why we of the collecting fraternity place so much emphasis on proprer care. Henry

Gentlemen I was recently watching tgelevision and saw a single camera shot of a Japanes womans face. Only slightly eyes raised skywards and without sound,and a caption crept into my mind as to her thoughts; what with the worlds greatest forceful earthquake killing thousands, immediately followed by a Tsunami killing thousands,immediately followed by the threat of nuclear radiation capable of killing many,immediately followed by a snowstorm with freezing weather all superimposed on shortage of the very means of existence; and the caption "why me,who have I offended" Sincere thoughts to those in need. Henry

Moriyama San My sincere thanks for your advises; I know what you mean but no doubt it once meant something to someone; Best wishes Henry

Or better still a translation service on line?? Thankyou Henry

Gentlemen, the front of the medal; I still strive to photo the back engraving; Henry

Gentlemen This turned up in a box of War Medals and two Gunto's. Unfortunately it seems entirely unconnected; Its a bronze and bright silver pin on medallioin which I am trying to photograph with great difficulty. The box is polished plastic with blue velvet lining; the award is inscribed both front and back;but please what does it say on top of the box; Henry

Gentlemen In the dying embers of this well fought argument,I am searching around for a paper by the late great Hawley; In it he clearly infers that the greater majority of the signatures of the better known Smiths are false. Does anyone recall this paper? If my memory is correct ,one must ask what pursuaded such an accredited expert to profer such a view? Henry

Sir, If you want a rule of thumb to apply look at the saya. In the naval Kai Gunto it usually has two distinct seperate anchor points for attachement to the uniform belt,whereas the Shin Gunto Imperial Army version usually has only one. I cannot see any on the impression submitted in fact it looks to my somewhat jaundiced eye a little "moth eaten" to say the least. You would need much better photographs of it for any further definite opinions to be put forward. Indeed Gregory and Fuller would offer you some valuable guidance. Good luck in your searches. Henry.

Gentlemen; During this thread, I for one have been impressed by the sword photographs and information contained in transcrpt; Wouldnt it be fine if members wonderful collections could be housed in a photo albums of each collector member seperately so all could see and enjoy these collections; i.e. The Sam Smith Collection or The John Brown collection,especially highliting such pertinent subjects as members would like to discuss;say like this about Handachi.In short a pictorial demo of any point under discussion. I suppose logistically impossible? Henry.

John A Stuart; My thanks for your splendid contribution Sir. I can see why you have pride in showing it. A truly remarkable picture. Henry.

Jaques; my thanks for the picture of your magnificent blade; Guido, my apologies for mis-titling you and thankyou for the contribution; Carlo; as ever my thanks for your insight. Gentlemen I remain in your debt; Henry

Mr Schiller; Thank you for the contribution. As they are scholarly pertinent quotes from Japanese Academiae it would be pointless to look outside this spread of time, therefore the one I have is probably a popular copy of an old cult design; The blade is nothing special but still displays the patterns of forging associated with tamhagane; Henry

Toryu, Sir, Many thanks for your submission.Your comments about my sword I find very interesting. For my self I have it around 1930's,a gendaito made in old school style and signed by Kunetsugu, a smith who is recorded but virtually without further mentioin I'm not sure because of the thickness and amount of rust on the nakago but I believe it to be a civil sword in original polish but of no great importance,though as I have intimated the signature is difficult to read.I retain it as an example of Nihonto without tying up an important blade. I would though be pleased to hear are my thoughts anywhere near the mark. Henry

Brian & Eric; Thank you Gentlemen for your prompt replies. I see what is meant and hope to dend pics of what I have been offered as "Handachi Katana"; Henry.

Gentlemen Can anyone please explain the literal meaning of HANDACHI when applied to Koshirae and how one would recognise such furniture. Henry.

Tiffany, Let me first apologise for typographical errors in the last place,and follow up with it may be that you are sinking in recommendations and instead seek ideas; please try this:- As a retired engineer it did occur to me that in seeking reasons for the changes in the actual sword, one should consider that the Swordsmiths were the engineers of the day in historical Japan. As such they were Artisans rather than Academics interested more in seeking improvements in their craft,continually making experimental improvements as they went along. They did not necessarily write everything down,indeed the social fabric of the time would suggest that a lot of them were illiterate. Engineers the world over did and still do seek the continual improvement of their wares and nothing suggests the Japanese Swordsmith did not behave in a similar way. The problem being that this behaviour would lead to continual small changes being evident until when added up the sum actually produced a marked change. This is complicated by a number of different schools of manufacture and thereby a diversity of thought; this further "muddied" by customer differing requirements. Where any endevour which is customer led is concerned, one cannot avoid marked differences in wares (in this case swords) as no two customers are the same. Of course as time goes on, scientfic knowledge increases and new materials are discovered, this too adding no small amount of confusion; Henry

Tiffant; I would firstly endorse all that has been said about romantisism. If you think of Robin Hood,and Dick Turpin in this country it gives a good idea of how to initialise original thought attempts about The Samurai. As a very amatuer social scientist I have for some time been studying the social structures of historical Japanese society in an effort to understand the place of the amurai in Japanese culture,only to be bedevilled by the gaps in their historical records.and despite reading screeds of book text, I have ended up with three books, at first seemingly unconnected but each spattered with facts as the authors warm to their chosen subjects. 1) The Samurai by Turnbull, 2)Mino-To. Swords and Swordsmiths of Mino Province by Malcolm E Cox and Japanese Polearms by Roald M Knutsen, and the film to see - 'The Twilight Samurai'. I wish you luck in your endevours,and would just comment you have chosen a 'Lulu' of a subject. Henry

Hi Ted; Tried but your site refuses to accept user name of "hsrorm".Any ideas; Your administrator uses 'Outlook' which regretablly I cannot for technical reasons; Henry.

Sir, Whatever happened to Nihontoden; No fees, no charges; no users; Henry