b.hennick

I'll be there. I expect that there will be many bargains at the show. Times are tough and people are selling things to get by. I will have a fair assortment of blades and fittings priced to sell. Please drop by my table and say hello. It is nice to put faces together with posts... Not everyone uses a picture of themselves as their avatar.

Although the tsuba is correctly oriented for a tachi it is somewhat difficult to read upside down (with respect to mei). In any case it seems to read Yamayoshi.

I have no specific knowledge in this area but since Japan is a whaling nation I expect whale oil was a good possibility.

Here are the rest of the photos on this post. Here are a set of Yokoya shishi menuki. There are more if interested....

Hello: Here are some more photos of shishi theme fittings.These are also Yokoyo fittings. .jpg] The next set's school has to been determined. Next post will contain more images. There is a limit of five. Enjoy!

I agree with Stephen. Andy is a good dealer. I trust his judgment. He tends to err on the side of caution. On his site you can see things that read although signed this blade has not been to shinsa accordingly it is being priced as a mumei blade. He then provides examples of shoshin signatures. Many others would just tout the maker. Andy has been in the sword business a very long time. His reputation is what allows him to be successful. BTW I have purchased things from Andy. People can be pt off by comments from others that are not complementary to their blades or fittings. I know of one who recently put a blade up for sale as it did not receive praise as expected. The sword happens to be a very good sword but not to everyone's taste. You have to learn to trust your own judgment. It does help to buy from collectors or good dealers.

Thanks for the info John. I still do not see the connection to Satsuma work. The larger fuchi is certainly very wide. Someone - Brian Tschernaga - I think said that wide fuchi like that are typical of Satsuma work. As for Yokoya work I too thought of Somen and incised pieces. I also have a pair of copper shishi menuki that Kawabata sensei thought were Yokoya work. I will photograph them next year (tomorrow) if I am able to.... Happy New Year to all! If you find any iron menuki or quality iron fuchi kashira please keep me in mind.

Happy New Year to all! I have been playing with a new camera. I have two iron fuchi kashira that Kawabata Sensei of the KTK told me they were Yokoya. Who am I to disagree. The larger set (fuchiKashira-small-1.jpg) was papered to Satsuma. The smaller set has not gone to shinsa. Can any of you help me to place these to a school. I do not know enough about either Yokoya or Satsuma to know... All help will be appreciated.

Well said Ted! A sword with hagire is an accident waiting to happen. Try to cut and it may break sending a missile towards an unprepared subject of the next cutting test. To use such a blade is probably a chargeable criminal offense - reckless endangerment comes to mind. This forums focus is sword study and preservation rather than sword usage. I think it is time to close this thread.

Today I am hosting a Chanukah Party at my house. That holiday starts soon. To all my Christian friends I wish a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May this be the year that you take the plunge and move up to next level of sword/fitting collecting. Move out the lower level pieces, get one very good piece and enjoy it for the rest of your life. Too often on this board I read about people buying junk. If only they were to save for a year and get one good thing instead of a bunch of junk they would in the end be much much happier. So if you are going to buy yourself a Christmas present save until next Christmas and get yourself a really good one.

Cary has been off the radar for at least 3 years. He is not at the San Francisco show. He no longer has a web-site.

This is an interesting question that all of us have to face. My solution is to reduce the number of blades in my collection and to increase the quality. I am happy to trade up even if that means adding cash or more swords. I hope to reduce the size of my collection over time. I have a list of what I think the swords are worth. I have friends who I trust to do the best for my estate when the time comes. The benefit of upgrading is that I get to enjoy fine pieces. As for dealers they are entitled to earn a decent commission. There are good ones and not so good ones. The quality of your blades may be a factor in determining which dealer would be appropriate for your collection. Doing nothing is the worst thing to do.

Unfortunately my experience was not a good one. I won a pair of menuki that turned out to be dirty reproductions. I asked to return them. I did send them back but he says that they never arrived. I emailed him several times in the end I just gave up on this as a loss to a bad vendor. I have not bought from him since. He does not get a recommendation from me at least not a good one.

Hello fellow students of Nihonto. Through the kind permission of Rich Turner and the work of Darcy Brockbank, I am very pleased to announce that the Japanese Sword Society of the United States web-site now hosts the Nihonto Kanji Pages. This is the third educational tool added to our web-site. In order of implementations they are: 1, Nihonto Knowledge Base a research database of sword smiths by Darcy Brockbank 2. Index to Japanese Sword Literature by Grey Doffin 3. Nihonto Kanji Pages by Rich Turner The JSSUS is recognized by the IRS as a charitable and educational organization for the appreciation and advanced study of the Japanese art sword and related fields of interest. Membership dues are used to publish a bimonthly Newsletter and to fund the translation of work from Japanese to English. The latest book is Kyomono no Ko-Meisaku by Yoshikawa Koen translated by Gordon Robson. If looking for a Christmas gift for your self or a friend how about a membership in the JSSUS. Barry Hennick Director/Ombudsman JSSUS visit the JSSUS at http://www.jssus.org

Thanks - wow that was fast. Your efforts are greatly appreciated not only by me but by the others on this Board. Domo Arrigato!

Francisco Couthino and I are working on an article (part 3) on kantei for the JSSUS Newsletter. We have problems with the following two tangs. Any help would be appreciated.

As the new year approaches one should think about membership renewals. The Japanese Sword Society of the United States - JSSUS is the largest swords society outside of Japan. Our membership includes people from many countries not just the USA. To join go to our web-site http://www.jssus.org and click on the button "Join". That will take you to a page that gives the snail mail address to which you can mail a cheque and buttons that lead to Paypal. A few people have found difficulty with the Paypal page. If that happens please do the following: 1. Send the appropriate membership fee - $40 USA, $45 Canada, $60 all other countries to treasurer@jssus.org 2. Send an email to me (Barry Hennick) at barry@hennick.ca a give me your mailing address. I will verify the payment and then pass your information on to the person who keeps our membership lists. As JSSUS Ombudsman I am available to solve any problems that arise with your membership in the JSSUS.

Hi Brian: I propose two separate and distinct events. 1. Any member who wants to donates $10 to support the board. This is a no strings attached donation. 2. You draw names of members from a hat or whatever and give to those people a prize. You first must ask the person whose name was drawn a skill testing question. Did you donate to the messageboard? If the answer is yes then do send then something. If the answer is no, then follow up by asking how the board might be improved. One event has nothing to do with the other. Paypal will be happy, members will be happy. You can then follow this with a trading period of three days where people can exchange prizes if they so wish. Finally prizes can be sent out.

The JSSUS has spoken to Rich about hosting the Nihont Kanji pages. He has graciously given us permission to put them up on our web-site http://www.jssus.org Work is progressing on accomplishing that now. The information will be available to everyone on the net. We, of course, encourage membership in the JSSUS. Your membership fees helps to support translation work. Our newsletter provides information and updates on events in the sword world. Please join and keep the largest sword organization outside of Japan strong and productive. Many members of this Newsgroup are members of the JSSUS. Some have made significant contributions to the Newsletter. The cost of membership is $40 USD for residents of USA, $45 for Canadians and $60 for the rest of the world. Click on the join button on the web-site. You can either mail in a cheque or pay with Paypal. Some days Paypal acts up. If that is the case please pay to treasurer@jssus.org and send me a note with your mailing information. I will see that you get your Newsletters. Regards, Barry Hennick Director/Ombudsman JSSUS visit the JSSUS at http://www.jssus.org

Most of the heads of the "craftsman" unions have signed on as have some Mukansa artisans.

Please look at this thread. viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4077

Hi: If you use Thunderbird as your browswer there is a neat feature. Control + increases font size and picture size. I use it often to view sword detail.

Here are the images of the two Oni tsuba I misplaced. Enjoy

Look at the third tsuba from the bottom for a small Oni. http://www3.telus.net/sword/sword/index ... sbsale.htm Here is another with Shoki http://www.legacyswords.com/fs_ant_tsuba10.htm Here is another http://www.goantiques.com/scripts/images,id,694635.html I had a good Oni tsuba - unfortunately I can not find my pictures of it. Computer crash

I agree genuine.