Jussi Ekholm

Well I don't know anything about printing but I'm a book nut. I bought the hardcover version of Markus Index from BoD and I am extremely happy with it. I would have gladly even paid double for it, it's just so great. Back as a kid when I bought my Hawley it costed twice as much, and has very little information about the smiths. Markus has made phenomenal job in data gathering and this book is excellent. I'm just old school, turning pages with your own hand beats staring at the screen. I'm not a fan of digital versions and I'll gladly pay for a good book. That being said, I'll sign in for a NMB limited edition of the book if there will be one, and move the current edition I have to my parents house, so I'll have references at hand everywhere I go. I'd rather cast my vote on maybe more expensive option. Smaller high quality bundle, like I said I have no idea when it comes to printing. I'm already more than satisfied with the current hard cover I have, but if you crank that up in quality... It will be phenomenal. Maybe it would be a good idea to explain those of us (like me) who don't know the differences about digital vs. offset print. Somehow digital creates an association to digital (computers, mobile devices) in my mind, while I believe it means higher quality?

I'm lazy so I'll just copy what I wrote on that another forum, you might have already read this post though. Members in here have much more knowledge to further help you. I agree with the space Lee, that's why I initially thought there would be 5 characters. I was also thinking/guessing it might be late Muromachi Kiyosada. Here is a mei reference and information from Fujishiro. (note the gap) Kiyosada, Nio, [Eiroku 1558 Suo], sue-koto, chujosaku He is the last of the line of one extended family of Nio, his works are mostly katana, ji is yowai, hamon is sugu hotsure. I have not seen any superior works, and this may be because he made a great number of uchimono (kazu-uchi mono).

Adrian I will recommend getting a copy of this book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Japanese- ... 54-1937109 It's an excellent book which will teach a lot of the craft of the Japanese sword. Hopefully this picture will explain further what Chris explained earlier about retempering.

Well others have already expressed the general consensus regarding this. And I agree that attempting restoration on antique sword by yourself is something I never recommend or do, that is a job for professionals. Of course I understand you have to begin with something, but I don't see antique/valuable swords as a starting point, as there are plenty of inexpensive Chinese copies to practice with. However as you have already done the foundation polish, I don't see the finishing polish causing any more damage to the sword, as the time consuming finishing polish will only add to aesthetics. The pages 99-142 of The Art of Japanese Sword Polishing by Setsuo Takaiwa, Yoshindo Yoshihara & Kapps discuss the finishing polish in detail. I wish you would have picked up that book before attempting a polish by yourself. As reading the book makes you understand how fine art the Japanese sword polishing is. As today we don't use swords as weapons any more, I think it's best that professionals restore them in order to keep them as healthy as possible for the future. But as the polish is already done, keep it oiled as freshly polished blades can attract rust fairly easily. And I think that The Art of Japanese Sword Polishing is the best book/resource in English that describes the polishing process of the Japanese sword.

I'm not good with photoshopping so I'll let someone else do it. And more experienced can advice you more on differences. Here is another one: http://www.tsuruginoya.com/mn1_3/f00160.html

I must say this is interesting koshirae indeed. Not really my taste, but I like oddities. Could this be called akagi koshirae or ukyo tsuka with handachi koshirae? My sources state that ukyo tsuka came in fashion as a trend in the Kansei era 1789-1801. However I have never seen kozuka mounted on the tsuka like this. I'll eagerly await the answer if this is modern assembly or possibly an old koshirae.

It can be a very nice project. You can see in some threads that forum members have made amazing stands. Unfortunately I lack woodworking skills, but even I have managed to make a decent very simple stand for katana. I just usually keep my mogito in it as I don't consider it worthy of anything else (and I lack tablespace), but I switched to real thing for this pic. Good thing about very plain design, such as that above, is that you can easily alter it's design to hold different sized swords. The hardest part for me was the shaping of the holding parts, mine are like rounded Y-shape and actual holding part is U-shape (but bit crude due to my lack of skill). I decided to go with solid base design and not creating legs.

All information I can add as fellow novice is information that's on books. Sesko's index lists 1 Kanenaga during Showa, Gifu (so it's Mino province), civilian name Yamada Chozo, he studied from 1936 at Watanabe Kanenaga's training site and worked as rikugun-jumei-tosho, he died February 19th 1971. And Hawley lists KAN 1691, Mino, 1937 and 8 points but no further information. So getting more information of RJT swordsmiths might be good way to start. Here is a some information on RJT, http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/gendai2.htm But more experinced members will probably soon give more insight on things and help you out.

May I ask where you live, as that might improve the recommendation options, as people might know someone near to you who might sell suitable kake. Token Bijutsu Kogeisha has multiple stand designs and could pick one that is of your liking: http://www16.plala.or.jp/katana-iimura/ ... ord%20rack They also list the width of the rack part for easier buying.

Thank you very much, I have gotten many answers from all over the world. And the answers will give me much valuable data for my research. I will intend to provide English language translation of the collector view analysis of my work (the history of nihonto part has been covered so much better by more knowledgeable men in English) when it will be finished. Of course this will not be professional level work, but I believe that there might be a thing or two which might evoke some discussion on certain things. But I have to say that it's been very intresting to read the answers, and I hope I can provide fairly good qualitative analysis on it. I'll be taking answers for at least a week or two more. Then I'll have to fully kick in the analysing part. But nihonto community has again been great, people among this hobby are always very nice towards others.

Thank you very much for all the answers so far. In regards to free online survey sites, I have to say I wasn't aware such things existed. I tried to create two different online forms using our schools survey tools, but I wasn't happy with either of them, so I decided to go on with more old school approach. Even though I'm a child of the Internet age, I'm just old fashioned in so many ways. And personally I'm not a big fan of clicking some of multiple options in surveys, free fields allow more precise answer when needed (of course free fields can be made on those online surveys too, but my Internet-fu wasn't strong enough). I know few questions might seem bit out of place, but I'm planning writing my work in the way that it will be bit "narrative" (I can't explain it fully in English, but I'm aiming at least parts of it in this way so even those who do not collect nihonto will not bore when reading it). As we have only very few collectors here in Finland, I'm trying to aim the final work to be easily readable by all who have some intrest in Japanese swords. But the answers I have gotten are really great, and exactly what I have hoped for.

Hello all fellow NMB members. I am Jussi Ekholm from Finland, I have been pretty quiet in the forum, as I usually just read here because I rarely yet have any real information to add to discussions. Over the years this have been a learning place for me, but I do intend to post more often in here in the future as I learn more. Some might have also seen me in other sword forums in the Internet. I've been studying nihonto since I was 16, and now that I'm nearing to finish my BBA studies in Tampere University of Applied Sciences, I had to choose what would be the subject of my graduation work. As my love for nihonto is so great, I started to think how I could combine nihonto with business studies. I came up with an idea of creating a small market analysis on nihonto market, and to my surprise it was accepted. We have very limited amount of information about nihonto in Finnish language. My goal is to provide some light to that, as I intend to give this work to our small nihonto community, antique arms communities and several martial arts communities for free. Of course my work will not be much, but I hope it might inspire someone new into nihonto world. Brian was kind to let me use NMB to help get in touch with collectors. I have included here a small and short 15 question survey, which I hope many will answer to. I tried to keep it short and questions so that they'll allow me quite easily to analyze them as a group. Of course I will protect the anonymity of all those that answer, and I will be the only one seeing the answers. This survey is very basic in form and the questions are also very general. There would have been hundreds of questions I'd love to ask, but I tried to ask those that would give the most help in regards to final work. The final work will include general information about nihonto and nihonto market, collectors view (based on this survey) and a dealers view (I will be doing a worldwide survey to dealers as well). I'm not sure if you can PM me back the answer document, but you can email the answers to me at jussi.ekholm@hotmail.com If you have any questions or thoughts feel free to post them here or by PM or email. Thanks for taking the time to read this, and here is the small survey. Nihonto Survey Collectors.doc

I agree with others, this book is a real gem. I especially love how there is so strong focus in pre-Edo koshirae styles, as they intrest me the most. Like Paul said this is a must have, so much excellent information in this book.

Here is that whole page from The Sword and Same. Most are from Tanki Yoriaku 7 is from Gunyoki 12-13 are from Token Zuko 14 is from Gioku Seki Zasshi I've tried that style 3, that can be seen better on Keith's 2nd drawing. Although I haven't got a yoroi to test it with, only on top of regular clothing. I really liked the style, felt just like wearing tachi.

Very nice work Mike, it was great that they brought in a real expert on Japanese swords for this episode. You did very well performing on television. The information you shared was very nice, and informative to us collectors as well as the general public. Hopefully they'll get another sword and you again on the show in the future too. I know you probably can't answer to this question but I'm intrested to ask it. Have you done inspections & appraisals to the other Japanese swords they have at Gold & Silver Pawn? I've watched Pawn Stars for years and unfortunately I have understood that it's somewhat of the Antiques Roadshow, people bring only items that have historical / television entertainment value as I think there are application forms and of course they take the most intresting ones to the show. I think there has been only a handful of actual pawning in the 100+ episodes of the show. I'm kinda hooked on American "reality" television series that run on History, Discovery, National Geographic and other networks and I've learned a lot of them (how they are made etc.) during the years I've watched them. I'd say about 60% of these shows is fake and scripted, networks want to make intresting television not 100% real television. I agree some of the people will probably get in the show just to get their television time, and they sell & do things for television entertainment, when the item would be wiser to sell elsewhere. I don't want to get into details about these big television networks and shows, as there is lots of talk on that on other forums and this forum is about swords and related stuff. I've read that Gold & Silver Pawn in Las Vegas is actually a huge tourist spot today. Of course some deals can be had there, but as it's a huge tourist attraction prices are probably sky high, and stuff still sells. But if I'd some day travel to Las Vegas, I might still check it out just to see it. But these "reality" shows that now fill most of the History channel & others are great television entertainment. Sure there are starting to be too many of them now, but I keep watching the good ones in the future too. Hopefully we will see more swords and sword related items on these shows.

For Tatami Omote I could recommend Karasu, http://karasu.se/KARASU_swordworks/Targets.html

Well I try not be be affected by the answers by more experienced collectors and I'll go with my initial gut feeling. (plus I got to handle one similar blade yesterday to one of the examples). 1,5,6,9,10. Can't wait to see the answers.

I tend to think 1392-1573 for Muromachi, and as Connoisseur's book was amongst my first nihonto books it mainly comes from there. I think Oei which began 1394 is the first era for Muromachi as Genchu and Meitoku are overlapping the periods. And Genki which ends in 1573 is considered to be the last era of Muromachi. However there are slight differences give or take a year in different nihonto books. For example, Kanzan Sato has 1333-91 for Nambokucho, 1392-1572 for Muromachi. Yamanaka has 1334-1393 for Nambokucho and 1394-1466 for Muromachi and 1467-1595 for Sengoku. Few notes worth mentioning, Nambokucho is the 60 year period of competing courts (North / South). In sword collecting the Bunroku era is usually considered to be the last Koto era, ending 1595. And Keicho starting 1596 is considered to be the first Shinto era. While Edo period itself usually is mentioned to start 1600. Kenmu Restoration might be affecting the varying dates for the start of Nambokucho (or if you include it as a part of Muromachi), Because the Southern Court, the loser, is considered the legitimate one, its time reckoning is the one used by historians. Both courts had slightly different time reckonings. As I personally have great intrest in Nambokucho era blades, at first I was puzzled as many non-swordrelated sources listed it just as a part of Muromachi, when in swordrelated information it's usually always listed as Nambokucho. These are just beginners thoughts, and mainly related on swords and timeline in that sense. Hopefully this helps a bit.

Thank you very much Kunitaro san for all the information you shared in this thread. I can shed bit light about the modern Chinese made replicas. In most cases you have something that bears little resemblance to authentic Japanese sword. Sure for inexperienced collectors looking for "Japanese style swords" they look and feel as authentic swords, but there are many fine details that these swords are missing. Most of these are made from monosteel or in the last few years (I haven't paid that much attention to these Chinese replicas anymore) different lamination methods have became more common. The way these swords are made, corners are cut. Chinese forges offer Japanese style blades at low cost (so low it's sometimes hard to believe they make profit), but there are lots of buts... Some of these swords simply have even sugata that lacks finesse, so to say. Some better examples are modeled after good examples, and with people who have knowledge. However their problem comes with rising cost. There are people working with Chinese replica swords that have the knowledge to make pretty nice copies of authentic Japanese swords. But... they cannot use that in full, as if they would pay so much attention to the blades, they would cost lot more than majority of people are willing to pay for it. Kunitaro san gave great insight on some important features of Japanese sword, and I'll try to explain how those things are with Chinese made "shinken". Niku - This is somewhat hard term to grasp. I feel quite confident to say that the vast majority of Chinese made blades don't have niku. I've recently studied niku quite a bit (with my very limited amount of swords), but seeing and studying authentic Japanese sword hira-ji and Chinese replica hira-ji they are completely different. Like Kunitaro san explained the polishing process of Japanese sword is very complicated, but the polishing process of Chinese replica is very simple. Chinese replica swords that I have seen are flat hira-ji, excluding the rare few "higher end production swords". This is thing that is very hard to understand without seeing it in person, but the difference is huge. Many "shinken" are designed to cut mats, which further explains the lack of niku. Fumbari (or is it proper to write funbari?) - This is feature I have never seen in a Chinese made replica blade. Because they make the swords cheap, they have to cut corners, as Kunitaro said it's very hard to make. Fumbari is very beautiful sight, now that I have old tachi with amazing fumbari it's a sight to behold. Chinese replicas don't have this kind of beauty. Kissaki/Yokote - Many Chinese replicas still have improper kissaki. Yokote, ko-shinogi, fukura etc. are off. Some forges have improved this and the better ones had better resemblance from the beginning. Polish - I believe all Chinese forges use various etching processes to enhance the hamon. Those made from various carbon steels have indeed true hamon if they are differentially hardened, some are through hardened with make up hamon. Average Chinese replica blade will resemble a Japanese sword more or less, and most likely it will cut mats well. However it lacks many fine details of Japanese sword. However there are smiths in China who have studied under Japanese smiths, swords made by them and higher end production swords they are involved in resemble much more true nihonto. I have never owned these "top-Chinese products" as they are very expensive and I rather save for nihonto related stuff. But I just wanted to note that there are products of various level in China. How all these small details affect the difference in cutting, unfortunately I cannot say as I'm no engineer and I think swords are individuals. I have never cut with a nihonto, and I kinda think a person with such limited skill as mine does not deserve to cut with a blade of such quality. Kunitaro san that thought about Tameshigiri seminar in Europe is great. I've seen and read things about Isao Machii sensei, and it would be amazing to see demonstration and explanation of cutting mechanics by him and you. My apologies that I talked so much about Chinese production stuff, but I think that it's somewhat relevant to this thread.

Thanks for sharing this Barry, so many fine pictures too see.

Brian, as a fellow novice collector I'd like to say that please pay some attention to the advice that is given to you in here. Many of the members here have been collecting nihonto longer than I've been alive, the knowledge and wisdom that they offer here is very generous, and we should be glad for that. And we should try to absorb as much of that information we can. I've seen you've been buying a lot of blades lately, and my advice might be to slow down the buying phase a bit and lenghten the study phase of each sword. I know by experience that in the beginning you can actually learn a lot even from the "bad-mediocre" blades. Just take a lot of time studying them, and you'll probably see some things you might have missed before. I tend to think in similar way that you should buy what you like, but... take time thinking what you actually will want. Then maybe further narrow it down to few possible purchases, and keep looking and waiting if something like that will come up somewhere. Eventually it will show up and then it's buying time if the price is right. I remember you also have purchased some books of this subject, and I think that is a well made investment to this hobby, and will be very important learning material. As a final note I'd suggest you to think why you see this as high quality blade. I mean this post in no bad manner, and have fun collecting swords, but please pay some thought to comments given to you in these threads.

Visually this book is really stunning, and it provides excellent pictures of the craft. The black background works surprisingly well, I had my doubts before I had this in hand. Just for heads up, Susan from Tuttle informed me that they will be publishing more sword literature in the future, hopefully the future book(s) will be as good as this one.

Brian I'm with Paul, if you don't have the item in hand or payed and closed the deal, it's not really yours yet. Sure you can make offers to the seller but unless you 2 agree and close the deal it's still anyones game. You can't really blame the seller if he doesn't end the auction, if you 2 haven't agreed on a deal. If you both have agreed to it you might question the credibility of the seller. However I tend to keep a policy on Finnish auction site that if there is a bid on the item I refuse to end it early because it would be very rude regarding other intrested parties. As I don't follow eBay I can't tell how things usually work there, but there have been several buyers (10) bidding on this item so it would be very rude to cancel this auction before the ending time. Someone might wait until the last moment before making their final offer. And this is an open forum, if you put information (measurements, pics etc.) of an ongoing auction/sale on an open forum, and people discuss it then everyone intrested can see the outcome of that discussion. Someone might get a spark on that item and maybe buy it. The outbidder in last case may or may not be someone in this forum, as the information is available for those that search. Many people who are not members here still browse this forum. *EDIT* Well I missed that it's not yours yet fact. I thought that agreeing on the price meant you had bought it.

Stunning results, very well done. And yes please share more of your work in the future.

Sesko's Index has 2nd generation working in Genbun (1736-1741), Hizen province, signed Hizen Ichimonji Fujiwara Hiroto, Hizen no Kuni Musashi no Daijo Hiroto, civilian name Hashimoto Chu'emon. He was son of the 2nd gen. Hizen Kanehiro, he died in the third year of Kanpo (1743). Unfortunately I haven't got more info on the Nidai as most information seems to be of Shodai. But those with more knowledge about Hizen can hopefully help you.