Markus

PM sent.

Thank you, thank you, thank you Peter! I will have the NBTHK ship 16 copies via SAL to your place. Apart from that, I am going to send you the list of UK orderers somewhat later today via PM.

Short update: Order is placed but I have a last question: Is there any UK-based member willing to forward a bulk shipment of catalogues from Japan to UK rderers? We are talking about 12 shipments (16 catalogues, 2 orderers receive more than 1, minus the forwarder himself). I am asking because the UK is the third largest group. A friend of mine forwards as mentioned the catalogues to D/A/CH what makes the second largest group. The largest group is US/CA which I do of course myself as also the remaining ones scattered around the world. All costs (shipping fees, boxes, etc.) will be fully refunded by me of course.

I am afraid I can't translate this one. Can read some characters and passages though, but without the whole, it is IMHO too much "Chinese whispers" to give it a go.

@Andi: I am afraid not. Too much work involved for too few potential buyers.

There are now only 4 copies left and I put down all the names of those who reserved one. In this sense I would like to say thank you to all of you and I am overwhelmed by the support of those who initially didn't go for one but purchased one to get me out of the situation having about 35 unsold copies at home. This strengthens my belief that there is indeed a dedicated, committed, and close-knit Nihonto community and that the NMB is its hub. So also a big thank you to Brian and all the moderators who keep this going. Upon my order at the NBTHK, I will post some updates here like when the copies arrive and when I have shipped them.

Bump: 8 copies left.

Short update: Thank you all, really! I was able to gain a few more orders and there are now 16 copies left. Order will be placed on September 1st. Three-quarters of the copies are shipped here to the US and one quarter to Germany where a friend of mine kindly forwards the copies to the orderers from D/A/CH.

I have to place my order soon and want to know if there are any more interested in a copy. There are 33 copies left at the moment and NBTHK urged me to get as close as possible to the number of copies I have reserved there (100 reserved, 67 sold). So if you want a copy please PM or Email me (markus.sesko [at] gmail.com). Would be nice if some more can be sold as I am actually going to order all (or almost all) reserved copies in order not to "loose my face" if you know what I mean.

The part on the right reads: o-kesa ryodo (大袈裟両度, "cut two times at o-kesa") The part in the middle reads: futatsu-do (貮ッ胴, "cut through two bodies") And the part on the left reads: ryosando dotan-barai (両三度土壇拂, "[cut] two or three times into the ground [i.e. entirely through the target]"). To the left of the cutting tester's name we read: kore o tamesu (是様, "tested by"). The tester, Okawa Nagatsugu, had already been identified. But I don't know who Masanaga was whose name is found with kao on the ura side.

I think on Chrome it's called RIKAIKUN.

Hope you get well soon Paul! All the best.

Thank you Morita san. I will add that to my list of corrections.

Great response so far! Just a short bump: At the moment about 35 left from the copies I reserved at the NBTHK.

Hi Sébastien, the total amount for two catalogues shipped to France is 70 Euro. Please follow the payment details I stated above.

Was just in touch with the NBTHK and reserved enough copies. I will place the final order towards the end of August to give participants of several of the upcoming sword meetings the chance to place an order. I accept payments from now on, so if you are going to place an order, please paypal me either 40 USD or 35 Euro per copy. My account runs either via "dojigiri@hotmail.com" or "markus.sesko@gmail.com". If you want to pay by wire, get in touch with me for my bank details. Also please add 4% PayPal fee. Not that I am greedy but I just want to do this with +/- 0, no profit but also with no loss as my wife and I will pack and ship a big pile of copies upon arrival. :D

@Stephen: Yes, PayPal will be fine and is probably the easiest way to pay. To all: Will get back in touch with the NBTHK tomorrow Friday or Monday to reserve enough copies until we know how many we are.

I am in touch with the NBTHK at the moment and thinking of having a bunch of copies sent here and to my US address where I will be in a couple of weeks till October. How many would like to have a copy? Price is 2500 Yen for the catalogue, i.e. about 25 USD. As I am going to pay for the catalogues + shipping in advance, it would really appreciate if those getting in touch with me are actually buying the catalogue upon arrival. :D So be prepared for a total of about 40 USD what includes the shipping from Japan to Europe and the US and the shipping and handling from there to your place.

Hi Klaus, this will be only in English, sorry. Not enough potential buyers to justify all the work involved for a German version.

Thanks Brian for the poll. @Barry: :D I already corrected the date to spring next year, earliest, depending on how much material is contributed. So far only one person sent me material (blade pics and oshigata) to my email I had created for this project. That means I can only start to work, get an overview, and sort things when I have accumulated a decent data base. Now this is the phase to check out if and how this project could work. I definitely want to write something on Gendaito but I don´t want to compile some half-hearted name list or sword catalogue. Aim is something like my Index of Japanese Swordsmiths with all detectable biographical data, work and/or signature samples, and a proper introductory part which draws an understandable picture of the Gendaito era, namely from when Shinshinto ended to about the time when the last WWII smiths handed-over their craft to the new generation, i.e. what we would classify today as Shinsakuto. I am aware of the fact that I can´t go into every little detail of certain schools like Chris with the Tokyo-based smith but I will try my best to provide solid and extensive info. Well, this is the goal, depending on the contribution...

I think the seal reads "Kôgaku" (江岳). Sounds like a pen name. I can also see why red, namely this character (紅), but I am pretty sure its (江).

Speaking of the devil... Mailman just came by and brought me a copy of the catalogue the NBTHK sent me for my own reference. Indeed, they edited the foreword I gave them. Also I learned that they had (and don´t ask me why) another person to translate all the descriptions of the different schools and artists and the glossary. (Maybe they decided at a later point in time to add these sections.) I did as mentioned the foreword, the descriptions of the tsuba, and the list of works at the very end of the catalogue. Well, I will go through the descriptions on a random basis and check if my translation was edited too. But apart from that, nice catalogue and for that price a must have!

Thanks for the update Piers!

This is weird. I was asked to do the translation AND it was of course proof-read by a native English speaker/writer! This was back in April so I fear, for whatever reason, they were messing around with the files I sent them. Would you mind sending me a scan or two to markus.sesko@gmail.com to check that Piers? And if they really did mess-up my PROOFED translation, I don´t want to have my name on it any longer (if it is mentioned at all).

It´s done, my book on tameshigiri is out now. Please take a look at my blog for further details. Also and as mentioned in the PS, I would be most grateful if the book is ordered directly via Lulu.com because Amazon (where it should appear in a few days) deducts almost 3/4ths of the royalties per sold copy. http://markussesko.wordpress.com/2014/0 ... d-testing/ Thank you all for your attention!