Markus

No problem Piers. Still don't know why they decided to do it that way, i.e. split up the translation to two different guys. I mean, it is not that I was charging a fortune or that the NBTHK is so poor that they are only able to afford half of a translation and have the other half give to someone who does it at the side and for free... I mean, I would not care if there are some typos or a few ambiguous sentences but the parts done by the other party are just straightforward too bad to have it print that way (I am far far from anywhere near perfect but these texts read really bad, sorry). That's why I can't think they were done by Gavin Frew, as Michael suggested, who has published quite some stuff. I wish my name would have been removed from that catalog as it feels like a blemish. I take full responsibility for my own work but I don't want to be associated forever with something that I did not do and that is too sub-par... So I can fully understand you Piers in thinking about letting them drop your name.

Maybe on of those: Yoshifusa (吉房), 1st gen., Bunmei (文明, 1469-1487), Yamashiro – “Heianjō Yoshifusa” (平安城吉房), “Sanjō Yoshifusa” (三条吉房), Heianjō school, gunome-midare in nioi-deki with ko-nie, some blades have a tight nioiguchi, wazamono Yoshifusa (吉房), 2nd gen., Kyōroku (享禄, 1528-1532), Yamashiro – “Heianjō Yoshifusa” (平安城吉房), “Heianjō Yoshifusa saku” (平安城吉房作), “Sanjō Yoshifusa Izumi no Kuni ni oite saku” (三条吉房於泉国作), he also worked in Izumi province, chū-sugha mixed with ko-midare, gunome-midare, notare-midare, chūjō-saku Yoshifusa (吉房), Genki (元亀, 1570-1573), Yamashiro – “Yoshifusa” (吉房), “Heianjō Yoshifusa” (平安城吉房)

Yamato no Kuni-jûnin Kanenaga saku (大和国住人包永作). Very big name, signature very different from that big name...

I see. Thanks for the update Guido!

You are right. This option is indeed available for a while now. Do you know by chance when they introduced that (I kind of think it was just a couple of years ago or so)?

Hi Hoanh, Yes, the suriage point was dropped for TH. Major changes are that you now need Hozon and you have to go through Hozon, and Tokubetsu Hozon to receive Juyo (and higher). So no longer any Kicho or other older Ninteisho are accepted to submit for TH. But, and what they did not say in that part as it does not concern the standards per se, you can now submit for Hozon and TH at the same time and you get the paper the blade, koshirae, or fitting qualifies for. Doesn't save you much money though but time (if you think your piece is really promising for TH or if you are going anyway for Juyo).

Hi Ken, Mukansa is a title that is solely granted by the NBTHK and connected to their annual sword forging contest. I.e. if you win several top prices in a row (I think it is eight, or six plus two special prices) then they take you quasi out of competing with the other smiths and no longer judge your work. As Malcolm said, the prefectural designations are decided by the administrative department of the cultural affairs office of the individual Prefecture and as far as I know, these departments and the national board heavily rely on the NBTHK Mukansa rank to decide which smith should become intangible cultural property.

The paper is supposed to be by Hon'ami Koson but it raises a big red flag as it is dated November 3rd 1957 and Koson died in 1955! That's now the second highly doubtful Hon'ami origami I have seen in recent times.

The sayagaki is from December 8th 1950 and by Inami Hakusui.

Post mainly those that were shared with me and on my FB wall, so that's why they might look somewhat egocentric.

Am so free and forward some pics Joe and Bob shared on FB. Made some new friends and had a great time and I was one of those who took the "scenic route" to Little Saigon Great show and great after show sword study with some outstanding blades! Thank you guys and I am already looking forward to the next show(s).

Thanks for the update Arnold. I've learned that there is a schedule online in the meanwhile and I am glad that most of the program is taking place on Saturday: http://orlandojapaneseswordshow.com/us/schedule/ Looking forward to next weekend!

Oops, thought that WAS the actual link. Fixed now

Thanks Axel, changed the footer.

I am upgrading my blog from "markussesko.wordpress.com" to "markussesko.com" so it might be down for a little. Wordpress should redirect automatically but I guess everyone should change their links and bookmarks when this is done. Thank you for your patience and everything will be back to normal soon.

Hm, as it is kind of similar in shape to the kashiwaba (柏葉) of a tachi or handachi koshirae, maybe kashiwaba-dome (柏葉留め)?

I think you accidentally quoted the entry for Tanaka Kiyotoshi (p.217)? This line "Besides Gotō Ichijō and Kanō Natsuo he is ranked among the greatest kinkō artists of the bakumatsu era." is found in Kiyotoshi chapter. The Bamen were indeed armorers, helmets from the Sengoku period for example are extant and the latest kabuto seems to have been made around Genroku (1688-1704). The place name of Bamen is found in pre-Genroku era maps as being a district of the town of Maruoka, Echizen province, where the school had moved after their original place of residence, Toyohara, had been destroyed by Nobunaga in 1575. When one branch of the local school participated in the siege of Osaka in 1615 as part of the arms and armor production and repair unit, the did a good job and were so their lord, Honda, allowed them to use Bamen as family name (they also received a house as reward). The horse mask thing is probably something that was later claimed to give their name some fancy background, for example, one tradition even sees the origins of that name back in the time of Sasaki Takatsuna (late Heian) who allegedly ordered a mask maker to make him a face mask for his horse. His horse did not suffer a single wound in the subsequent fightings and each time his horse wore this mask, Takatsuna turned out to be victorious. So the craftsman, his name was Jigo, adopted Bamen as his family name. In short, the Bamen were for sure armorers or at least blacksmiths (mentioned so in historic documents) and when it was time for the obligatory rewards after a battle, i.e. Osaka in 1615, they were granted with a family name and probably created this horse mask myth around it because it suggested itself.

Will be there, but only on Saturday (arrive Friday afternoon though) as I have to be back on Sunday. Arnold, when are you and Bill scheduled? Hope that not everything is scheduled for Sunday but I am still happy to see you all on Saturday.

Please drop me a short mail to "markus.sesko@gmail.com" and I will provide you with the revised ed. manually. Will ask Lulu about that. Maybe in the meanwhile can somebody step forward where the download of the revised 1414 pages version worked? Getting scared now as the Masamune nightmare still sends shivers down my spine...

@Peter: When did you buy the initial version?

I did the eBook and made an announcement on my blog. As mentioned there, please get in touch with me via "markus.sesko@gmail.com" if you are one of those who got the eBook before that change and I will provide you for free with the revised PDF. https://markussesko.wordpress.com/2015/05/10/e-swordsmiths-of-Japan/ @Brent: I am afraid, Lulu does not offer this option and doing it manually is just too much of a hassle. That means I am not against this idea at all but it doesn't show up at my account who purchases which book. All I see is that this or that book was ordered from this or that country. So everyone would have to get in touch with me directly, show me that he just purchased the hardcover set, and I have to make something like a private download link on Lulu for their free eBook. In other words, I can't say that this person can download it for free as he just got the books but others who use the same link to the eBook have to pay for it. Yeah, would be great if there was a kind of automatic process to handle such bundles but I am not even able to bundle the three hardcover books in a way that a buyer can add them to his basket with just one click (instead of adding each volume separately).

Sounds great! Planning to attend but should be able to decide over the weekend.

As announced earlier, I revised and enlarged my Index of Japanese Swordsmiths and the result is out now as 3 volume hardcover edition. Please see link below that brings you to my blog for further details: https://markussesko.wordpress.com/2015/05/06/new-swordsmiths-of-Japan-3-volumes/ And you better might not miss the 20% sale offered by Lulu right now and until May 10th! I mentioned on my blog that I need a few more days to finish the eBook version but I want to discuss here about what is the best way to do so. That means I want to do this as revision so that those who already got the initial eBook are able to download the new version and don't have to pay extra. Also we had the issue that those who downloaded the eBook Index a while ago are now no longer able to get free revisions as Lulu has changed copyright things in the meanwhile. My question now is: How to get the eBook to the early buyers? An option is sending out the PDFs via download links but this would mean that you are again excluded from downloading revisions. Other problem, I don't know who is affected by this as I don't have the names of course from those who downloaded it. So if we are going with the free file sharing option, it would be nice if just those step forward who really purchased the early eBook and not those who see this as way to grab a free copy if you know what I mean Other possibility would be to upload the revision and significantly lower the price so that you are able to download it again, quasi for a little fee, and be eligible to get future revisions and don't have to pay again. But this means that it would no longer be free as promised. So I am open for input!

I think your smith signed with SAIKO (西光), i.e. not Saikomitsu, as KO (光) is already MITSU.

There was a mid-Edo period smith with the name SAIKO (please see info below) but I have no records on the Showa man. But I will list him in my new Swordsmith index, that means he is no linger unrecorded Saikō (西光), Genroku (元禄, 1688-1704), Hizen – “Hizen no Kuni-jū Saikō saku” (肥前国住西光作), it is said that there had been a Kamakura-era Hizen smith with that name but no blades of this Saikō are extant, it is assumed that there might had been a certain connection to the local Hizen Saikōji (西光寺) temple, i.e. it is assumed that “Saikō” was a actually the nyūdō-gō of a certain local smith