DirkO

Seems like a deal - but this wasn't grandfather's sword ... more like fwic2803's :-) Location of item is US, seller location is UK and in the description (taken directly from a well known eBay seller) it says they will export it from Japan You'd think they'd at least go through a minimal effort to get their story straight ... http://cgi.ebay.com/Japanese-Sword-Yoshimichi-Beautiful-Grain-NBTHK-/230515780856?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0

I was very disappointed that I wasn't able to go due to other more pressing matters. So for the pics !

Got mine today. I flipped it open for some perousing, and before I knew it I was 10 pages further. Compelling read and a job very well done !!!

You can also order them here : http://www.toukenkomachi.com/index_en_books.html

Hi Chuck, While these tsuba are similar in design they're far from identical, so they're just based on the same theme, which is something very common with tsuba.

My guess would be a stylised Fudo Myo-o

Here's a previous gimei/shoshin discussion on the same smith : http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5248 If you do a search on this forum, you'll be sure to find more references to this smith.

Amazon says my copy will ship 1 September ... Now that's a long wait !

A very good and worthwhile addition to this already informationabundant forum !

Brian, I have a small collection of Sadakazu mei, but the ones with hotstamp (that I have) seem to be made 1869-1871. I have a gap in my collection from 1872-1887, so the timespan could be larger on that side.

Hi Jason, If you want to do some light reading on the subject : http://www.jssus.org/nkp/japanese_sword_laws.html It's an article by Guido Schiller who's not a stranger to this forum

Hi Morita-san, I bought 昭和大名刀図譜 They were very helpfull and also willing to ship it to Europe. Even with shipping this set was very cheap compared to some nihonto bookstores.

Yes congrats are in order. I think it's very rewarding to find books well below the going price !

Yepz, just look for the nrs 1082 - 7401

Hi Stephen, I think Morita-san means these two : 1082 現代刀工銘鑑 少ｲﾀﾐ　　 　　　　　　大野正 光芸出版 昭46 \3,150 7401 現代刀工銘鑑 　　　　　　　　　 　大野正 光芸出版 昭46 \5,250

Hi Stephen, Had the same problem a while ago - sent them various mails for a book and never got a reply. Eventually found it cheaper somewhere else in Nippon (http://www.genkido.jp/ in my case)

A while back, there was an initiative by a member here which never really got going (sadly enough - looked promising) : http://www.nihontoden.co.uk/

I remembered seeing a similar hamon somewhere (Site Guiseppe Piva): It's described as : "sharp nioi-deki, with kenbo choji, koshi-no-hirata midare mixed with o-choji, with the peculiar kani-no-hasami (crab's claw)"

Nice looking sword indeed ! In the first shot, what are those indents near the mekugi-ana ? Were those done to fit tighter to the mekugi ? Similar as with tsuba ?

here's the link http://www.nihonto.ca/sandai-tadayoshi/index.html

Hehehe, good point. If that's the case, Carlo, then just consider this a little heads up for your autograph hunting !

Facts and Fundamentals of Japanese Swords: A Collector's Guide (Hardcover) ~ Nobuo Nakahara (Author), Paul Martin (Author) Mr Martin seems to be quite a busy author/translator I came across this on Amazon : you can preorder now and save some money ! http://www.amazon.com/Facts-Fundamentals-Japanese-Swords-Collectors/dp/4770031300/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270719392&sr=8-1 Also available for pre-order : http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Swords-Cultural-Icons-Nation/dp/4805310359/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270719731&sr=1-1 edit : I just wanted to give these preorder links to save you all some money, should you decide to buy it. I'm in no way receiving any royalties or anything like that.

Hi John, I don't know where you bought it, but I recognized it immediately : http://www.giuseppepiva.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9&products_id=113

Hi Mikolaj, I was bidding on that same tsuba myself. I'm happy someone from the board snapped it up. Congrats on your new tsuba !

Yes that bothered me a bit as well, but seeing your bonji look to be italic and a bit stylized, I thought them to be a match. I'm at work at the moment, but if I'm not mistaken, in the beginning of Hawleys, there's also a list of bonji...