Markus

Its supposedly Hon'ami Koson (the kao on page 81 of my Hon'ami book). But the paper says Showa 32 (1957) what is bad news as Koson died in 1955. There are quite many Hon'ami origami fakes going round so watch out!

Thank you Brian! Will let you know.

Just a little update, and reminder * cough* I have now received about 2/3 of the payments, so for the participants here on NMB who are among the outstanding 1/3, please activate your PayPal or drop me a mail when to expect payment as translation work has already begun. Thank you.

Yes, the term Soden-Tegai, or at least Soden-Yamato, would get rid of some ambiguities but too bad they didn't ask us back then when they coined "Yamato-Shizu", hehe.

I think that the answer might already be hidden in that question: We can't really name any specific student or even distinguish between them so we have to use the term "Yamato-Shizu" to refer to post-Kaneuji local Soshu influenced Yamato works. Or: We do see for sure a post-Kaneuji Soshu influence on local Yamato works but are no longer able to name any specific Kaneuji student or smith: et voilà -> Yamato-Shizu should be the term to refer to them.

To my understanding, the wider definition of Yamato-Shizu refers to Yamato-based smiths who too adjusted to the Soshu style and not to those who stuck to the traditional Tegai style as those would usually get specific attributions like "Tegai" or "Kanetomo" (包友) or "Kaneuji" (包氏) or something like that. So even if master Saburo Kaneuji never returned to Yamato, the local smiths still experienced a Soshu influence and they are summarized as "Yamato-Shizu".

After awaiting last confirmations, this is now the official announcement for the payments and the project to go ahead. Some more got in but also some dropped out, what was to be expected. The final number of participants is thus 61 and with the generous dontation of the New York Token Kai, we arrive at a per person fee of: $45 As stated above, either please PayPal me this amount to "markus.sesko@gmail.com" or send me a check to "Markus Sesko, 623 Windchime Dr, Wilmington NC 28412". Please note that I decided to refrain from adding the 4% PayPal fee (otherwise we would go back up to $47). I just don't want to add those few bucks just because the dropping out members would have again increased the final fee a little. Well, I think we did very great with this one and I would have never thought that we will go beyond the $100 mark.

As I have also a bunch of participants from outside of the NMB, I will cross off payers from my own list for the time being. Maybe I will have to post a little "reminder" after a week or so. As things are doing at the moment (and calculating pre-approvals that just need confirmation), I am pretty positive that the final fee will be $42 (and this already includes the PayPal fee).

Thanks Jean, you got now official permission to leave the NMB for your fishing trip Have fun! @Henry: As we are soon approaching the end of May, I think a realistic date for the completion of the translation should be some time in July.

@Jean: End price is not yet settled so I suggest we wait until you are back from your trip. On the other hand, fluctuation should be relative minimal and if you want this done before your vacation and don't mind overpaying $2~3, yes, just transfer me that amount and I cross you off the list

@Barry: Yes, and I take your post as an opportunity to let y'all know how things will go from here. At this moment, counting in also the latest participant from Barry's club, we have 62 who are in the boat. This drops the price of the translation to $45 per person. The New York Token Kai has a meeting this Sunday, May 22nd, and I am gonna use this as the deadline to join the project. I will be in touch with the group and report back at the earliest possible time to tell you the final price. So in the meanwhile, please fill up your PayPal (or pull out your checkbook). Please bear in mind that a PayPal fee of 4% applies. Not trying to be fussy but it adds up. So somewhere around $45~47 it should be. Also I kindly ask you to transfer the to be announced amount to "markus.sesko@gmail.com" asap, not because we are in a hurry but because we are over 60 and it makes things much easier for me if I can cross off as many as possible right away. Don't want to track down 1/3 of the payments over several weeks. I really appreciate your understanding and let's keep everything as smooth as possible. If you have any questions about the payment or where to send a check, just drop me a mail at the very same address mentioned above. In addition to the payment, also please drop me a short mail and tell me to which email address the download link (via wetransfer.com) to the PDF-based eBook should be sent when the translation is finished. This will also be the email address to which the private link to Lulu will be sent for you to order one of the two print copies. As with earlier projects, the royalties will of course be set to 0 so all you pay is print and shipping. I am not going to make any more money with the book orders as the costs for the translations have been covered with your "participation fee" of $45~47. In short, my job is basically done at that time. If you want me to do all the ordering with Lulu and have one of the two print versions sent to your place, you can pay me directly again later, i.e. when the exact costs for the print copies are known. Also I have to calculate shipping individually, so for the first round, please do not send me more than the (soon to be announced) "participation fee". We can talk via email about the print copies later when the translation is finished. I hope the keypoints of how everything is going from here are clear. But I am around anyway.

Apart from the finish of the tang, the interpretation of the hamon in choji with some protrusions in combintion with the rather straight boshi and the jigane with masame all over the shinogi-ji woud speak for me for something in the vicinity of the Edo-Ishido School, although there might be a hint too much nie along the habuchi for that school. But that would be the first bid I would go for from a gut feeling and with not seeing the nakago...

Just an additional tip: You have to be aware of the traditional, relative strict separation between iron (tankô) and soft meta tsuba (kinkô). Both camps namely have a very individual aesthetical approach and fan base and actually only overlap in very rare cases. This just has to be born in mind from the beginning as it makes it easier to understand why things are as they are. Think about it as if there were actually two kinds of tsuba

@Barry: I am pretty positive that coupon codes can also be used for privately linked books. So yes, people will anyway receive the PDF right when the project is finished and can then wait until a good deal pops up to get the physical copy.

I got many replies that hard cover is desired with the color version, so let's go the whole hog. I checked with Lulu and this version would arrive at $58, so a slight plus of $8. Hope that these 8 bucks don't turn anyone away of those who were opting for the color edition because with Mikolaj in, we are down to $51 for the translation. This would then be $60 for the b/w and $109 for the color, plus shipping.

Hehe. I am positively surprised by the outcome. I was thinking of the usual 10 or 15, the hard core so to speak. I guess it was, as mentioned earlier, this combination of FB, NMB, and the topic that made it work so fast. And it is as Barry said. So please bear in mind that the translation costs will go down. The prices for the b/w and color copies will stay always around $10 and $50 respectively (I am calculating with 200+ at the moment, i.e. there is chance for a fluctuation of a few bucks). Now we are 53, calculating $52 per person (again, this is just the fee for the translation, print and shipping is extra and at everyone's discretion).

Brian, I am in touch. They have a meeting on the 22nd and the project will discussed/introduced. Now three more in and price per person drops to $57.

Hey, some more excellent news. Just got word from the New York Token Kai that they are going to donate $250 for the project! Thank you so much! So with our latest two participants, Jesper and Val, we are already down to $60 per person.

I know Steve With "real deal", I meant at least something like "Geishu Nobuie" or "San Nobuie", in contrast to gimei of or much later hommages to Nobuie which some dealers try to sell for as high as possible asking prices because the name Nobuie is in the room.

Ok, with now 4 from Barry (I just counted Barry himself previously) and also Brian in, I arrive at 42. That is quite incredible and lowers the translation fee to $72 per person. @Barry: I hope you stressed that a commitment is binding as it calculates everything for everyone and a drop out forces me to go back and check with all others if they are still in if the fee goes back up again Just to recapitulate briefly: I am positive that we might lower the price to somewhere around $65. So even if you go for the color print version, you end up at $125 for the copy to arrive at your place (or just be happy with the eBook that is included with your participation). So with everyone in this field despearately looking for more info in Nobuie, I think this is a pretty good deal. I mean, you are potentially going to spend at least several hundred to get something Nobuie or an amount in the four-figure range for the "real deal." So $65 or $125 doesn't sound to bad as a "decision-making tool."

I will make two versions: A plain b/w and therefore cheap copy, for those who just want to have a print book (and can refer to the color pics in their eBook). This one would be somewhere around $10. And then I will make a color copy for those who want the print to be as the eBook. As color is expensive with Lulu, we arrive somewhere around $50, calculating about 250 pages or so for the book. Shipping depends very much on location but starts around $5~8 (no tracking, just plain). I just got a reply from Eckhard saying that he got three more. So with Gilles and Mauro, we are 35 now, dropping the price to $86 per person.

Excellent! We just arrived at 30. So it is now only $100 per person. Will keep it open until next week. Until then everybody should have made up his mind. Seems we have a very fruitful combination of social media, NMB, and a topic that many are interested in.

Great! Thank you Peter.

Thank you Barry! Feedback is coming in so counting just you in from your group, we arrive at 26 participants at the moment. This would mean $115 for everyone if it stays like that but I am sure we can get some more as also others told me they are reaching out. @Peter Farrar: As you "can't take a copy" but have to participate, should I count you in? If so, we are already at 27 and $111 per person.

Great response so far! 22 are in. As for the books, yes, there will be a real copy made available by me via Lulu. With participating, you will get a private link where the copy can be ordered to your discretion. This said, I want to address a point that I will stress later again when we are good to go: Projects like that are for personal interest only. I mean, everyone participating gets his eBook and can order his paperback copy. These are neither meant to be shared nor to be resold (e.g. to recoup your investment or worse, to make profit). I always see that after sending out those private links when a project like that is completed, some are ordering two, three, or four copies. Of course Lulu doesn't show me where the order is from (apart from the country) but it does show how many copies are purchased in a single order process. Let me know if you are going to order for another participant, no problem, everything is fine. It's just always a little sad (and frustrating) for me to see when 5 or so copies are being ordered because what is this going to be? Of course they are ordered to be sold under the counter... It's not about that I am so greedy. I mean, I make an estimate on the basis of the to be translated pages and get my money from the participation. So I am paid. It's about that it "destroys" such little and medium projects in the long run because everyone will say that well, I am not going to participate because I know that I can always get a copy later from X or Y. So fewer and fewer people participate and here goes the downward spiral... Amen.