Bugyotsuji

Dated Showa 48, but the photo is just too fuzzy for me to make out the shop name. The proprietor signing this authentication certificate was Ōzawa Toshio.(sp?)

Maybe fit onto this Nakago?

Can’t see it sideways very well, but Suishinshi (?) Masahide. 正秀

Now you have put the cat among the pigeons, Mauro.

I like a good mystery!

On Sunday a collector friend at a monthly outdoor event said he had something in his car for me so we walked over and he handed me a bag with something boxy inside. Today I finally got around to opening it. Five stacking trays for nine tsuba each, enough for 45 tsuba! Have just sent him a thank-you message.

The dark side of the moon.

Just for a moment there Jean, I thought I saw a spot of rust…

Both Shioda and Shiota are common readings of this family name 塩田. I have a friend who says ‘Shiota’.

Actually I particularly like Yoshifusa too. Today sadly I was with people and did not take many photos, *although I do have some Yoshifusa pics somewhere from earlier exhibitions there.

They ask you to place a sticker against which sword you liked best.

Check out 'This is not a Samurai', and Tetsuya Noguchi. (That should give you some background to this genius guy! Definitely weird, but intricately and uncannily accurate.) PS Re 'ages'. Different times in history.

She said that it was a man wearing a miniature 'replica' traditional armour sitting on a yellow rubber duck, the two elements representing different ages, the whole designed to clash or create disharmony, and that it was a work that particularly appeals to her.

Here’s a pic or two I took about 7 years ago, before the owner sold it. The nick

One of our NBTHK members is a Bizen potter and after much effort he eventually succeeded in making a full-sized version in fired clay. Another member creates detailed exact-scale copies in wood, down to the nick in the blade edge. These are not cheap but there is a waiting list for his work, the Sanchōmō and other famous blades. Even the Mei are faithfully chiselled in.