Markus

For those who requested, I burned the midnight oil and made available also all the other non sword fittings-related sketchbooks of Natsuo. Please take a look at my blog for further details. http://markussesko.wordpress.com/2013/1 ... hbooks-ii/

Thank you all so far! I am getting a lot of feedback at the moment to also make available the other, i.e. the non sword-related sketches of Natsuo, quasi for the "real freaks" out there. Of course I will comply and will provide a hardcover book in the very same format and layout in the next couple of days (to stay within the CORNUCOPIA code). FYI: There are seven numbered and one unnumbered sketchbooks of Natsuo extant which contain altogether about 300 double-pages. PS: I really don´t know why I as the author never get any of those notifications about Lulu voucher codes...

Out now, the most comprehensive, non-Japanese book on Natsuo. Even though the kinko artist Kano Natsuo is on everyone´s lips when it comes to conversations about late Edo period sword fittings surprisingly little material is available outside of Japan, in neither a comprehensive or in a published form. With this publication I try to provide a remedy by introducing an outline of his career, his personality, his art, his students and his works (34 pieces on more than 50 pages). And, as a reference, I have republished all four of Natsuo’s sketchbooks on sword fittings (Kengu-shitazu-soko). Thus I hope that with this publication I can contribute to the understanding and appreciation of this great artist in the West and that the reader enjoys browsing through Natsuo´s sketches. Will surely also make a great Christmas present. 8.25 wide x 10.75 tall, full color, hardcover, 250 pages – $ 129.00 http://www.lulu.com/shop/markus-sesko/k ... 93656.html And the eBook is available here: http://www.lulu.com/shop/markus-sesko/e ... 93676.html

Thank you Gilles! Feedback like yours is what keeps me working. Much appreciated.

The "problem" is, that the metezashi was worn edge down. So it was not like a tanto worn at the left hip pushed along the obi to the right hip. Thus it requires another kurigata and a kaerizuno.

I always understood this as more like a kind of "warning". I.e. in the sense when all the meikan agree that there are no tanto or whatever blades extant of a smith and you stumble over one, be cautious.

I was only able to find one reference, namely in Haynes, stating that "Tetsunin" was the pseudonym of Yukimori (H 12426.0), who made tsuba in the Saga Kaneie school style. Also Haynes writes: "His relationship to artists who signed Tetsunin (鉄人) is not known." But in the entry for Tetsunin (鉄人, H 09683.0) he writes: "Later some of this group signed Testunin (鉄仁) ... There were also other variations on this style of signature."

I might read "Tetsunin" 鉄仁

I can confirm that the sword on Aoi Art is the one from Tobi 619 is I featured the latter too in my Shinto & Shinshinto-kantei. I attach a PDF of the relevant pages. Korekazu.pdf

BTW: This is a picture of the blade from 1934 before it was polished.

Never seen one of those either. What doesn´t give me a good feeling for this one is that it declares the Muramasa blade as preservable tôsôgu

It´s not really Nihonto related so I post this info in the translation section. This latest work is a guide for all those who are struggling with identifying cursive script (sôsho) characters in signaturey, may it be on tôsôgu, on paintings, vases, etc. As the usual "identifying by number of strokes" cannot be applied any longer, you have to go for the radicals. So this dictionary provides several examples of how each radical appears in its cursive writing. A match with the supposed radical of the cursive character takes you to the page which lists characters grouped under that radical. This dictionary contains approximately 5.300 characters, so it is very likely that the character you are looking for is in there. This time a paperback, a hardcover and an eBook version are available. 6 x 9", 472 pages, $ 44.90 http://www.lulu.com/shop/markus-sesko/i ... 71993.html http://www.lulu.com/shop/markus-sesko/i ... 72016.html http://www.lulu.com/shop/markus-sesko/i ... 72020.html Thank you for your attention. CursivePreview.pdf

Oh, I totally missed this post. Here are my translations: 1. Kanetsugu school, called „Saemon no Jô“, works include tantô with sakizori and ko-gunome-midare, also horimono in the form of sô no ryû, ken and bonji can be found. katakiriba ko-gunome-midare with a tight nioiguchi with ko-nie which resembles Kozori-Bizen, Yoshii and such kind 2. There were several Kanefusa, also such which had changed their name from Kanefusa to Kunifusa or Sukefusa for example. Dated works are rare what makes a differentiation difficult. The signatures in pictures 1 and 2 are similar but differ a little and go thus back to the hand of different craftmen. The yasurime are both katte-sagari and we know hira-zukuri and ko-wakizashi from the Tenshô-era Kanefusa which show often a gunome-midare (Kenbô-midare) or notare and other hamon interpretations. The two pictures to the right are made by the same smith. The hira-zukuri blade shows higaki yasurime and the shinogi-zukuri blade takanoha yasurime. There exists a mei „Nôshû Seki-jû Kanefusa saku“ with an identical signature style which is dated Bunroku two (1593). 3. Made a lot of sunnobi-tantô. The hamon is a suguha-ko-midare with tight nioiguchi. (Yes, the hightlighted part of the mei is the alternative writing for „four“, i.e. two times two.) 4. Lived in Kusado in the Ashida district (of Bingo province). At that time, the Mihara smiths focused basically on suguha but Hokke Suetsugu often tempered in midareba.

It´s pretty confusing. As Jacques said, the Mino-to Taikan says Meiji 23 (1890). This is also what Kazuno says in his Toko Taikan and what I adopted for my index. The Tosho Zenshu in turn says Meiji 13 (1880) and the Mino Toko Taikan Meiji 32 (1899). The latter year is also found in the Nihon Jinmei Daijiten.

Not a bit. I am really very grateful for such tips! Also thanks a lot for the links. I will change the quotation marks according to the English conventions and will also take this to heart for my future publications. That applies to the others too. If you have any suggestions, don´t hesitate to contact me. I am always around here and not too hard to find.

@Klaus: The mei is ok because when writing the character "kage", you can extend the upper box radical down to the central horizontal stroke and replace the "dot" of the radical (亠) by a second smaller horizontal stroke. This results quasi in the radical (且).

I can only second Barry. Thank you very much Brian for all your efforts and not giving up! If this is going to be realized, I would suggest that everyone who has found out some mistakes or unclear points, which are unavoidable at 900 pages, adds them to the thread started by Chris a while ago: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=14715&p=128748 I would be very grateful for your support as you just can´t have in mind what was found out on each and every smith when compiling such a work.

Yes, also the rarity comes into play here. The kozuka is namely one of the rare examples of a reisho-script interpretation of Natsuo. The kozuka shows by the way the last two lines of the famous "Quiet Night Thoughts" by Li Bai (701-762): 擧頭望山月 I lift my head to look up at the mountain and the moon, 低頭思故郷 Lowering my head to think about my hometown.

@Klaus: The introductory offer is the complete series, i.e. "Nihon-koto-shi", "Nihon-shinto-shi" and "Nihon-shinshinto-shi", namely now in the en suite design. The initial German translation of the "Nihon-koto-shi" done two years ago has namely another format and was print via another publisher. The German set is € 150 as the individual German volumes are a bit more expensive than the English ones (because of the lower number of sold copies). You can mail me if you are interested. I have namely each set of three books print and shipped individually.

Thank you Gilles and Dirk! @Dirk: You´re right. If I would have done this for money alone, I would have probably stopped after my third or fourth book because you just don´t get back when you invest. But I just love the subject too much to let it go. :D

Now available, the final part of the series, i.e. of Dr. Honma´s "Nihon-koto-shi" and my own follow-up the "Nihon-shinshinto-shi". I take the liberty to link to my blog where more details can be found. http://markussesko.wordpress.com/2013/1 ... nto-shi-2/ The book can be purchased for $ 65.00 here: http://www.lulu.com/shop/markus-sesko/n ... 55340.html And the eBook for $ 30.00 here: http://www.lulu.com/shop/markus-sesko/e ... 55345.html For those who haven´t got any of the books yet, don´t miss my introductory offer for $ 150 for the entire en suite set of three (instead of the regular $ 200). Also please don´t miss the Lulu coupon code PUMPKINS for 20% off until October 18. Thank you for your attention!

Ah, "kago" of course! The twisted pic also twisted my brain. :D

The inscription says: "Go-ryûsô Monju Kaneshige saku" (御龍鎗　文珠包重作), lit. "Dragon yari made by Monju Kaneshige" And the inscription on the other side ends with "jûsan-ban" (拾参番), "Nr. 13". Does the blade show a dragon horimono? Never seen a saya cap like this.

Back to your initial question Ken, this date can be explained by the Japanese trend to stick to nengô eras. I.e. some date Suishinshi Masahide´s main artistic period around Tenmei (1781-1789), others around Kansei (1789-1801). In short and following this trend you can say that if Masahide was active around Tenmei and the founder of shinshinto, shinshinto - upon reversion - can be dated from about Tenmei (1781) onwards.

Thanks a lot Barry!