Markus

Thanks very much Darcy for your input. I actually did upload the revision under a new file name and deleted the initial one but I guess it is as you say, it might still hang around on some servers. So as Darcy and the later purchased copies work, I think it is safe to assume that this only concerns those who bought the initial version and I am very sorry for that this one was - for whatever reason - not searchable. If anyone who did buy this version who is constantly "redirected" to the old file wants the latest one, please get in touch with me and I will forward it to you via a filesharer.

Now this is the weirdest thing ever. I don't know how and contacted Lulu about that but it seems as if when you were one of those who downloaded the earliest, initial PDF (the one that misses Guido in the references), they still redirect you to this very file when updating, even if there is a the new one (the one that is for searchable and that has the updated references) assigned to the project. I will see what Lulu says about that but as mentioned, it seems as this only concerns those who downloaded the initial version. Another question that remains is why the heck did they mess up with the initial PDF (i.e. make it non-searchable) first place as I didn't do anything different than with my numerous other PDF eBooks... Sorry for all that mess!

Thats weird. Didn't do anything different than with my other eBooks... Will re-upload the PDF just in case Lulu messed something up (most likely that this was the case, maybe they are using another converter or anything?). Mariusz, drop me a mail at markus.sesko@gmail.com and I will send you a search and copyable PDF via a filesharing programm. Sorry for the trouble!

Sorry for being late and rehashing this thread but a reader of mine brought it to my attention as being quoted So my opinion on this matter is as follows: The vast majority of Edo-period wakizashi that is going round is of course going back to former wearers of them from the bushi class (-> daishô as part of the official “samurai uniform” if you want to put it that way). As James C. pointed out and just on a quantitative basis, there is IMHO no much arguing about that, i.e. who was allowed and expected to wear swords in general and wakizashi in particular. But I think the whole “merchant wakizashi clientele” issue can be narrowed down to blades that come close to 2 shaku, the border that separatet ruling class from civilians, and to blades by renowned master smiths. No merchant was walking around town with his long wakizashi thrusted through the belt pretending to be a samurai. It was IMHO all about power. I wrote an article a few years ago about the sword prices of newly ordered sword, the then shinsakutô, and most of the upper league shintô blades that we collect today (e.g. Inoue Shinkai, Hizen Tadayoshi) were just out of range for any middle class samurai. When I mention power, imagine the following: A fief was going to plan budgeting for the coming year, and as many of the smaller fiefs were about to face first financial problems soon (we are talking about the latter half of the 17th century), they were sending their man for this matter to Ôsaka or Sakai to discuss loans and interests. So this samurai is starting to discuss things for his fief and the (for him) exorbitant rich broker steers the conversation round to swords (smalltalk and so on before doing business), asking the poor guy what swords he is wearing. Now he says he has a mumei Sue-Seki katana and a newly made wakizashi from Doi Shinryo. And now the broker tells him how nice his swords are but also that he just got five brand new wakizashi delivered from Shinryo’s master, Inoue Shinkai, pulling one of them out of the drawer that is an exceptional masterwork and that is by no means ever affordable by the “conversation partner.” So in my opinion, this was as mentioned a power thing, showing the bushi class how far some of the merchants and rice brokers came, i.e. to “I don’t care, I can order katana and tachi from that smith whatever, just “your” regulations don’t allow me.” Of course there were also some connoisseurs who were really into swords and collected them as pieces of art. In short and repeating myself, this merchant wakizashi approach concerns IMHO first and foremost close-to-katana-size wakizashi of the greatest master smiths of their time and not the majority of wakizashi made throughout the Edo period.

Argh Guido, I apologize! There was no intention to not mention your article in the references. I wrote the references a couple of months ago and did not double-check them (what should not be an excuse of course). I just created a revision of all three versions of the book and added you as a reference. Sorry again and I hope you accept my apology!

My announced Masamune book is finally out now... I would like to redirect you to my blog where you can find more info, prices, and order links. https://markussesko.wordpress.com/2015/03/20/masamune-his-work-his-fame-and-his-legacy/ Thank you all for your attention!

It is indeed the color the Hayashi tsuba are referred to as the term used is yôkan-iro (羊羹色). And you are right, the Japanese term used is iki. Well, like most of the other Japanese aesthetic terms, the term or rather concept of iki is pretty complex. Sometimes iki is just translated with "elegance" or "style" but that is IMHO too ambiguous or too "meaningless." I had exactly this discussion a while ago when translating texts on Akasaka-tsuba and came to the conclusion to translate, for the time being, iki as "Dandyism" as this is the term I think that transports most of the original aesthetic concept of iki. Of course, several things in Dandyism don't go in line with iki but pretty many do. So purely on the basis of quantitatively weighing up the matches and mismatches of Dandyism and iki and with the aim to find an as single-termed translation as possible, I think Dandyism is still best choice.

Agree Chris. Had some of these deep air sucking moments myself...

Wanna add my two cents in this matter as I see myself somewhere in the middle of this task. First of all, thanks Paul for praising my Kantei volumes but it took several bends and corners and a turning of two blind eyes to the matter to give me the permission to use the oshigata and the descriptions for my books. Acting as secretary of the Euro branch of the NBTHK, I tried a few times to get permission to translate and make public information that seemed to me of interest. It always ended up as Darcy said, I was turned down as they were worried about copyright issues. I don't blame them being worried about violating copyright laws as Chris said and as having books published myself, I also want to have a certain protection from my work being exploited. But where there's a will there's a way. So IF you want to make information accessible, you WILL find a way to settle this with the initial authors and contributors. And I am talking about articles in magazines, articles that already have been published once. About getting permission to translate and publish entire books, I can tell you a thing or two about that too. I sent letters to publishers to get the copyright (of course by paying $) of certain books quite many times by now (of course with all the Japanese business letter and politeness bells and whistles, written by Japanese friends of mine for me). Response tended towards zero, and now after having sent the one or other letter asking about the status quo of my request, I start to feel happy for even getting back a negative reply. At least better than nothing... Well, I was pleasantly surprised by the positive feedback I got from the Me no Me magazine, allowing us to have certain of their articles translated and re-published with all photos and stuff. But they are basically an "antique dealers association" and see this thus probably as an investment in the future, attracting more interest abroad. So I am with Darcy on this matter. There has to be some kind of "generation shift" or whatever you want to call it. This refers to what I have written above, i.e. IF you want to make information accessible, you WILL find a way to do so and not to say no by default of fear of just the slightest tiny approach of potential hassle on the horizon. All the requests from abroad that had came after any English information had discontinued by the NBTHK "begging" for a restart of English texts have just lead to half-hearted translations of parts of the magazine made available online. That's it. No articles, no beginner's guides, no pics. This can be much better and as this is the 21st century and the time of eBooks, not even a great deal of money has to be paid to do so. Just translation, webpage, and maintenance costs. But at the moment, I don't see this happen, and I consider myself rather a pretty optimistic guy In the meanwhile, I will continue making available information with what I have at my disposal and will still put as much as possible effort and labor in my blog and books, even if it is mostly not profitable (you don't make big bucks with sword books, maybe I should rather write vampire or BDSM novels ).

Thank you all. Got the info I needed in the meanwhile.

Maybe someone has some info on this Masamune tantô? Thanks in advance! https://markussesko.wordpress.com/2015/03/01/asking-for-masamune-tanto-feedback/

I can only agree with the last paragraph of Ron's post. There is, at least for me, also a big social side in all these meetings. Tampa was my very fist US show. I was not going to buy much (well, you never know) but I am very happy about having now met a lot of those posting here and elsewhere in person and about making new friends (some I did already know from Japan, but that's another story ). So this was definitely not my last show, although I haven't decided yet if I ever start collecting again, and I am perfectly fine (as long as book sales are doing fine ) with spending some bucks on that aforementioned "social factor."

Will be there too and leave like you David Friday early morning. Looking forward to talk to y'all.

This is so sad to hear. My condolences to his family and friends. May you rest in peace Veli!

In a nutshell and supplementing Darcy´s post, Tanobe says that the blade is dated Ryakuo three, is hardened in a calm suguha, has a good deki, and is a very precious reference piece.

Not at all. Please feel all free to quote from my index when necessary. It also helps to find errors (my own ones and others that were just reproduced without knowing the source was wrong) and typos (which go solely back to myself :D ).

Thanks for the update Michael.

Great work! Look at these names: Rai Kunimitsu, Soshu Yukimitsu, Sadamune, Sa Kunihiro, Muramasa, No-Sada... Would also love to see that massive Daido.

UPDATE: Just also uploaded als my Honami book (English and German) and the two books with the genealogies (swordsmiths and tsuba/kinko artists). Thanks.

Just wanna say: Thank you all! Got quite a bunch of orders over the last couple of days and this approval keeps me going.

Oops, forgot the activate the checkbox for this one. Should be online now. http://www.lulu.com/shop/markus-sesko/t ... 51159.html

If you were goint to get one of my eBooks, please check this out: http://markussesko.wordpress.com/2014/1 ... uper-sale/

Hey, I am right moving into your "neighborhood" soon. My wife and I will live in Wilmington NC from January on so maybe we can work something out in 2015. I need some time until all paperwork is done and I have finally settled there but I would really welcome a meeting some time later in the year.

Apart from re-ordering and shipping the three copies of 100 that got lost in mail, there is now an eBook version of the catalog available for those who did not grab a copy and for those who don´t buy and more real books. http://www.lulu.com/shop/markus-sesko/i ... 30542.html PS: Again, I dissociate myself from the translation of the Chapter descriptions and the glossary. Does anybody know who did these parts (I only did the foreword and the description of the pieces). Katakana says Gyabin Furee (ギャビン・フレー), so Gavin something. Would be nice if I can get in touch with him to take to him in for any upcoming project with the NBTHK.

Just want to inform you all that the last catalogues have been shipped and are on their way.