Jussi Ekholm

I'm on my phone and in bus so I can't write a long reply. Have you read On the Origins of Nihonto by Carlo Tacchini? You can find the PDF here: http://www.google.fi/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBoQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.webalice.it%2Ftsubame1%2FDownloads%2F1%2529%2520On%2520the%2520origins%2520of%2520Nihonto.pdf&ei=JwXeVOrQEuTOygOIpILACw&usg=AFQjCNGodfavw9vUJnC_qaCmlddW691I-Q

I'll second Stephen any chance for additional pics?

Just a few novice thoughts for you. I believe that sword will go much higher than the current 338$ bid. Signed tachi is always desirable to collectors such as myself who like them. Will be nice to see how high this will run. I do think differently about the tachi in question than the seller does. I believe it to be early Muromachi era tachi by Kunitomo, and it would be classified just as Uda not ko-Uda. When you browse around, signed tachi by Uda school (in good polish & papers) are not that rare, and they can be acquired for decent prices. Of course signed tachi in good condition are usually expensive so take that into consideration when I say decent priced. Chris and Grey offered more experienced opinion regarding getting it polished.

Translations were sold separately. Lets try 300€ + postage & paypal fees now that the translations are gone. If you'll pay with bank transfer then just the postage costs will be added.

So I'm selling my Fujishiro to gather some travel budget for the future. Japanese books are old but still in good condition even though the age shows a bit. Previous owner has made his own numbering on the pages which will make searching faster if you are not familiar with Japanese numbers. Translations are in very good condition. Asking price: 600€ + postage & paypal fees. If you'll pay with bank transfer then just the postage.

Peter have you checked the View New Content tab? It acts similarily to the active topics. I've been using it and it works great with my phone too. And I really dig the chat. It has great potential to be a very useful tool.

But but... you might need that tiny bit of information in a 5 year old message in the next 5 years... I just noticed how the new message system works, and you can actually have 150 conversations saved? That means a ton of messages. Also the best thing is that now the private message gets emailed to you with the message instead of just the you've got a private message notification. So I can store the important information in my email as well as in here too. So I can now store PM's in my email which is awesome. Getting more and more used to these new options, and the new features are great.

Very nice Veli. I like the small detail you added with the grooves. I'll have to ask some crafting tips from you in Helsinki.

Any idea how many messages can the custom made folders hold? *Edit* Just saw that the message limit is now 150, had to make some careful deletions. Also this works like a charm on my phone, so easy to use this new board by phone.

Can't believe I've missed this. That is one long hira blade Thomas.

Wow, this is awesome. I like the new look although the black was really great too...

Christian what do the Tokubetsu Hozon papers and the sayagaki by Mr. Tanobe say?

Here is the Japanese Ginza Joho page: http://www.choshuya.co.jp/sale/gj/2011/ ... tohiro.htm

There have been many interesting threads going on about the nihonto market. Guess I'll write in this one. And as opening I will have to say that attracting new people is quite hard as swords are not that sexy (even though for us they are... :lol:). I'm not sure how much time you more senior guys have spent on other sword forums, mainly those more focused towards younger/starting collectors? I've been hanging out at them for a long time, and I think Chris is pretty much spot on with the 300$ remark. Many folks who seek replica Japanese swords have a budget of 300$'s for their purchase, if there was a genuine Japanese sword up for grabs at that price, surely they might go for it. However think about what is up for grabs in nihonto market for 300$'s and then look what is up for grabs in production replica market for 300$'s. Like Chris said there is plenty of interest towards Japanese swords, unfortunately for nihonto community most of that interest from young ones go towards Chinese made replicas because they are obtainable. You can get 300$ sword that resembles a Japanese sword and you can use for cutting, heck even I have couple of them and I see them as great investment. Nihonto are seen as unobtainable by many young/new collectors, and that is usually due to the economical situation of the collector. I know that because I am in the same boat. It takes time for me to save up for the 300$ sword let for alone 3000$ sword. So in the financial situation many of young collectors are in something like 13000$, 30000$ swords are only something to dream of. Yet you can still appreciate swords of high level, regardless of you own financial level. I met with a senior Finnish collector recently and heard great stories about the early years of collecting when you could buy swords in England for 20-50 £'s a piece and how the collecting was back in the day. It's crazy to think what you would get for that money back then when compared to the modern market. As I know my own financial limitations I've tried to get into the mindset of collecting with owning only few items. I've been trying to say to people that you can collect Japanese swords without owning them (well I guess that for collecting you might need at least one ). When I was younger I was keen on owning items but now as bit older I'm currently investing more to seeing items. Of course one big factor to that decision is that I know the quality I wan't to collect but I can't afford it... I see appreciation and knowledge as factors that I look highly upon. You don't need to own many swords to get those attributes but seeing swords is essential to developing those in my opinion. I'm always encouraging new collectors to seek their nearest sword clubs NBTHK Europe, JSSUS, our own Finnish group etc. Getting in contact with people near you and actually seeing swords is very important. I've seen many fellow NMB members in various forums/platforms spreading nihonto knowledge and that is something I try to do too. It's important that we get to where potential new collectors are, and share the information with them. Unfortunately I've noticed that even in the various sword/sword-related forums there isn't too much interest towards nihonto among the new collectors. Hopefully we will find ways to fix that.

Jean & Mariusz I know what you both are saying and I think you are correct. I think you will need some specific dates for rough understanding, at least it makes it easier for me, regardless of how correct it is. I know that the periods always have transition overlapping, it's not like everything changes in an instant. For example regarding ko-Mihara it says in Koto-Zenshu "Ko-Mihara refers to those Mihara smiths and works which do not date later than the Nanbokucho period," In Nihonto Koza there is Masanobu tachi that is dated Meitoku gonen 1394. Masanobu worked during the transitional period and his works are classified as ko-Mihara. As the two dated swords from him date to 1391 and 1394, to my logic it's logical that he continued to work during the Oei period too. I know this may sound like hairsplitting or nitpicking about the years & such but I understand how Jeffrey is asking about the ko-Kongobyoe attribution. Who were the early Kongobyoe smiths, to whom his sword was attributed? It's just fun to think about these things.

Mariuszk I know that comment was bit hairsplitting and it was kinda made tongue in cheeck. But then again experts have sometimes drawn pretty accurate lines on what is what, of course there are varying opinions on things. Like I said I would think end of Nanbokucho as the divider here, as for me it sounds logical. Yet I could not most likely differentiate for example Oei period work from late Nanbokucho work but I know experts can do it, or at least they'll make better guess than I do. 1293-1392 would be a c. 100 year span for the early school and as most of my sources say most Kongobyoe swords are from Muromachi era. NBTHK for example seems to use the end of Nanbokucho for divider for example for ko-Mihara. The duration would be somewhat similar to my idea of ko-Kongobyoe. Chu-Mihara is only c. 55 years according to Nihonto Koza and after that it's sue-Mihara. I'm just gathering the data from the books and repeating it as I don't yet have my own knowledge built up.

Hey Jeffrey I was wondering where you got the dates near mid 1200's for Kongobyoe? Pretty much all resource books I have list Morikuni & Moritaka at around Einin (1293-1299). I'm aware that one source lists at c.1260 but the 1290's fit a lot better when taken into consideration who are said to be relatives. I know that Fred Fimio has written a book about Kongobyoe recently, and that is on my to be bought list. However the dates I've seen him use at his website do not go along with my sourcebooks. Will be nice to see his sources once I get the book one day, as his book description says "This book contains some never before seen information, compiled and researched from every known reference on the subject." In my own novice mind I tend to think ko-Kongobyoe spanning from the late Kamakura until the end of Nanbokucho. As that would be what I would consider to be the early school, maybe that is too long period and it ko-prefix ends somewhere mid-Nanbokucho? My line of thought might be totally wrong though so better wait for better opinions.

Christian, pictures please. Will be very nice to hear the whole story once you've got the research done.

I am a sucker for deep sori, and I like that blade in overall too. There seems to be lots of interesting activity going on there too, nice.

Welcome Daniel. The previous owner of the sword is a fellow NMB member and I can PM his info to you so you can talk with him in your native language and he can tell you more about the blade. I also think that paper says blade is signed Osafune and is attributed to Yoshii. However I am not sure if this is attributed to Naganori 永則, I would be leaning on Yoshii in general. I'm just a novice when it comes to swords and reading Japanese. But in the JTK paper it reads Eikyo as the period and you can see it reads Bizen Osafune next to it. The left most bracket with lots of text is way above my skills to translate properly, but I can easily see parts of it. In brackets it starts with [bishu Yoshii Naganori] then I see Einin era (1293-1299) mentioned, first Naganori who moved to Yoshii is said to be active during that time. In third line there reads, tachi mei Osafune and I believe it's followed by と切うりる... Unfortunately I cannot read the following part properly, I think I know the characters but I don't know what it translates to as I don't know enough words yet. I can also send you some info about the Yoshii school from couple books. You are lucky that there are many collectors in Sweden and NMB has many members from Sweden too, so you can learn a lot in Swedish too.

Even though it may sound stupid but I have always just assumed that swords are aligned hilt to the left as they will be displayed omote side showing. Katana koshirae edge upwards, tachi koshirae edge downwards in horizontal stand.

Received my copy today, and it's a great book. Thanks for your efforts getting these books to us Markus.

I think you have very nice sword there Jirka. I was drooling over this when it was still for sale. I really like the shape of this blade and the strong sori. It's nice to hear your thoughts on this Darcy, and I must say it's an interesting view that I didn't think before. Now I've been looking for the early uchigatana in my books, and I'll have to look more into them.

Thanks for everyone reporting, it's always great to read these stories. Hopefully I will be able to visit the DTI soon.

That looks amazing. I really like the custom stands you have made too.