DirkO

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...

I think you're right with the first one : http://www.mandalar.com/DisplayJ/_Year/10Rooster.html Could the 2nd one be Dai'nichi Nyo'rai ? http://www.mandalar.com/DisplayJ/_Year/09Monkey.html

Nowadays they're not called smilies as much as 'emoticons' - and that's just what they do, they convey a certain emotion.

Hey Grey, If i'm not mistaken, they need to be installed on the forum ? At least if you want to add them to the already available smilies list

Aaah you jogged my memory : I actually followed that discussion,but I didn't remember the Toppei koshirae : Thanks for the reminder, George !

I don't think it to be a locking mechanism. I *think* the bar can raise into a D shape to provide room for your fingers. If you look at the end of it, it will stop the bar from raising at a certain point. But maybe that's just a long shot

Hi, I came across this on AOI : http://www.aoi-art.com/sword/tanto/image/09617koshirae.jpg What's the metal bar placed where I would expect to be a second menuki ? I've not yet come across this and would like to know what it is. Doesn't seem to be functional at all, and I think it would hinder the grip on the tsuka ? Or is it meant to put your fingers under it, so to provide extra grip and secure it more in your hand ?

Hi John, although I'm just turning 30 this year - I already know the virtue called patience I'm not really dead set on getting this one, but finding a decent one in Europe that's even near affordable is practically impossible. So if you know of a US dealer, by all means, please send me the link.

Yes, you could do that, but I'm thinking that JAC would terminate my account immediately, seeing they would lose out on money :-) So basically what I'm looking for is someone to bid and ship for me for this one item. If that person has PayPal, I can easily transfer the necessary funds beforehand.

No it's the curios_paradise one :-) Thanks for the offer, but I'm unable to bid if not going through JAC. And if I do that, they will automatically ship it to them, no ? So I would also need help in bidding for the item I'm afraid. Any ideas ?

Hi, There's a katana dansu for sale on Yahoo Japan which I'm really interested in, but when I asked JapanAuctionCenter what their estimate on the shipping was, they told me that they only use Fedex for these kind of things and the shipping would be at least 100,000 yen. Now a Japan-based member (sadly currently not in Japan :D) told me that this is seriously overpriced. So here I am. Is there a kind Japan-based member who's willing to help me with the buying and shipping to Europe of a katana dansu ? I know some work is involved, and I'm more than willing to compensate this. Here's hoping ...

But to give you some comfort, many have gone before you : http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1919&p=13127

Hmmm so metal is equally hard as wood ? So sciccors can't beat paper ? :D Never argue with an idiot : they drag you down to their level and then beat you on experience !

Hi, I have this Mishina blade. It is signed Tamba no Kami Yoshimichi. It displays a nice sudare-ba/kikusui-ha. But the Kami kanji as well as the absence of a kiku mon lead me to Osaka-Tamba, whereas the yakidashi is Kyo-yakidashi. I've discussed this with several people but it still doesn't sit right with me. So I'm trying to place this Yoshimichi, any ideas ? I've included some pics of the mei + blade. It needs a good polish (some rust developping here and there), but this is what it looks like after some carefull uchiko-ing.

Loved that show, although it was before my time, I saw several reruns. :D Really catchy intro too ! "Who do you think you are kidding mr Hitler, if you think we're on the run ..... " Thanks for a enjoyable flashback there, Henry !

Hi Ford, I was able to find some high res pics on http://art.thewalters.org but not the exact tsuba you're looking for. Although nr4 is absolutely fabulous. If you ever decide to not do a "tribute" of that one, I'll be more than happy to buy it from you :-) Copied high res pics here to not abuse NMB bandwidth : http://www.genpuku.com/otsuki

Total steal on eBay : the 3 compton catalogues for a TOTAL of 120 USD !!! If I'd known they'd go this cheap I would have bid on them. I was just following them to see what they would fetch http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300386456785 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300386457197 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300386457484

Hi Klaus; We have the seller here apparently, so you can ask him directly

Hi Marc, Do you mean these mon ?

Stephen, I don't really think it's dying out. You see a lot of new members here asking for translations. A percentage of those will grow into serious collectors to "carry on the torch" as you so aptly put it :-) I think the low book prices are merely due to fact that it's a buyer's climate at the moment, not a sellers one. This mainly because of the crisis. Once this is over, you'll see new collectors emerge.

those are indeed prices one dreams of, especially a fujishiro's set for a good 200$ With the Euro being what it is, that's really really cheap ...