Markus

These are abbreviations of references: kenkô (剣工) = "Kenkô-dan" (剣工談) bikô (備考) = "Kokon-kaji-bikô" (古今鍛冶備考) sôran (総覧) = "Tôkô-sôran" (刀工総覧)

Maybe "Moriyasu saku" 盛康作 Maybe...

Yes, Koichi-san is absolutely correct, Kaneoka. 兼罡 or somestimes also written 兼岊 There were several Muromachi-period Kaneoka smiths of Seki´s Zenjô lineage.

This is Kashima´s "Shinto-oshigata-shu" (新刀押象集) published by the Ôsaka Tôken Kai.

I think the meaning is as Thomas suggested: "tenshikin o motte kore o saku - Suzuki Shigehide" (以天賜金作之 鈴木重秀) So I think that a certain Suzuki Shigehide had him made this sword by a later generation Izumi no Kami Kanesada using the money he was granted with as Imperial gratuity (shikin, 賜金). Maybe he was so proud of that bonus that he ordered the smith to engrave this on the tang. However, this does not rule out that the mei is gimei. Maybe he said he is going to have him forged a sword by Kanesada but went actually to a cheeper smith, ordered him to fake Kanesada´s name on the tang, using the saved money for saké and/or wives.

I´m leaning out of the window and say the opposite, i.e. rather Akihiro than Hiromitsu, just because I have the strange imagination that a narrowing of the hamon towards the habakimoto is more common for Akihiro. On the basis of these small details, I would pick blade 2 or 4.

I´ll fully subscribe to that. Somewhat offtopic but that´s IMHO exactly the difference between "I bought it because I like it" and "I bought it because I like (AND understand) it."

Hi Marc, The signature on the left side is "Setsuhô saku" (雪峰作) which was the gô of Hidetomo (英友), H 01174.0. Haynes mentions "this artist specialized in making brass plate tsuba of snakes in the round ... 1900-1930 ... Most were made for export." I´m not sure about the right side, probably "Nara Sugi-sanroku" (奈良杉山麓), "at the foot of Mt. Sugi"?

The second girl seems to think "Did I turn off the stove?"

Two brutally stylized swords (koshigatana, ebizaya). Hey, such a guessing game is quite funny.

When viewed from the other side, as the omote side of the pieces of Jingo Shigenaga, it could be - with much phantasy - a stylized depiction of the Japan archipelago (to the right), and the Chinese/Korean mainland (to the left).

Hi Darcy, I can do the translation work. I´m just leaving to attend a sword study meeting this weekend (how apt;), so I will only be able to reply from Monday on. Greetings.

Hi guys. Will be there on Friday and Saturday. Looking forward to the party;)

Problem solved :D There is nothing like people with the same kind of interest keeping a well sorted archive.

Hi all, I am doing research about Tanaka Kiyotoshi (田中清寿) at the moment and am in need of Fukushi Shigeo´s comments in the Token-Bijutsu issue No. 548. I would be very grateful if anybody has this issue and is willing to scan the relevant pages for me (PM, not high quality needed, just readable). Thank you for taking your time.

Kisshin (吉辰) is another term for "kichijitsu" (吉日), so the left part of the fuchi is not a signature but belongs to the date: seika-kisshin (盛夏吉日), "a lucky day in the middle of summer". The motif is IMHO the sign of Abe no Seimei. http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%AE%89% ... 4%E6%98%8E http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abe_no_Seimei

The name on the backside seems to be "Ryûsô" (竜叟), a gô of Tanaka Kiyotoshi. As the workmanship is of this school too, I tend to think that Yuiga Kazumichi (唯我一道) was maybe an otherwise not recorded Tanaka student

Hawley lists a "Masayasu" (應保) MAS1763 but as Ko-Bizen smith. The tang is clearly from a later Muromachi-period Bizen blade. Maybe the smith is just "meikan-more" (銘鑑漏れ), i.e. "not in the lists".

There are older, nowadays rather unused characters for "shû" (州), "province". For example: But I bet the second one is "nai" as in "Kinai": 記内

Lions Club :D http://heiwa-lc.sakura.ne.jp/

Yep, surely not a perfect zôgan design. For the purpose of comparison, two other Umetada-tsuba with the round-square-round concept. Both are signed "Umetada" to the right, and "Myôju" to the left of the seppa-dai. Please take a look at the raimon-zôgan along the rim. Its hard to say of there was such a zôgan on the piece in question or if this part was accentuated only by carvings?

I strongly assume that there was originally more zôgan on this one. The aesthetical concept of this interpretation was already introcuded by the Ko-Shôami group. It is based on a contrast of round (the shape of the tsuba), angular (the masume), and round (the tsuka/saya) when worn. This concept got later a lyrical name when adopted by the Higo artists, namely "sugimori-hôen" (杉森方円), meaning about "cedar forst in an square" (see pic below). Otherwise it is just called "masume" (枡目), "measure" or "square". Or take a look at this link, a nice example for a typical Higo-koshirae: http://www.choshuya.co.jp/sale/sword/10 ... nemoto.htm

Wow, 100 bucks per half a page! Maybe I should raise my charges :D

播姫臣伊勢城美守造 Banki no shin Ise-jô Yoshimori zô Made by Ise-jô Yoshimori, retainer of the Himeji-fief of Harima province. 元治元年五月日 Genji gannen gogatsu-hi A day in the fifth month of the first year of Genji (= 1864).

As seen in the cc list, some other of this board have received this mail too. Someone (email kept confidential but its ridiculous anyway) wants to sell a katana by Higo Kawachi no Daijo Fujiwara Masahiro in gunto mounts. So far so good. Asked price: TEN MILLION DOLLARS (US $ 10,000,000) Plus superb nonsense descriptions like "This is ONLY 100 katana in THE WHOLE WORLD".