Rich Thomas

Would that be the African swallow? RichT2

Thanks all gents, very much appreciated. Beautifully summed up Guido. Does anyone know were I can get hold of these/this??? cheers Rich T2

Hi guys wondering if you could help me clear up a problem I'm having in my study. I'm learning about the characteristics of blades from various traditions, schools, smiths and putting together a single reference spread sheet for myself to help with kantei and as a way to try and make it sink in..... . I'm using the following books as reference material; - 'Connoisseurs', 'Nihonto Koza', 'Hawleys sword groups' and various others Compton collection, cutting edge, Japanese sword, plus various nihonto info sites like Rob Coles etc It seems that one book's mokume is another's itame... for example For the Yamato Senjuin scool the jihada traits are described as - Hawleys; Large midare masame hada Nihonto Koza; Itame with a taste of masame with jinie Connoisseurs; Mokume hada mixed with jinie and chikei. Shoshin; ITAME or ITAME-MASA mix, finely done. Can be strong and with O-HADA. JI-NIE. This difference in description happens in many references through most schools, 'Con' says mokume, 'Nk' says itame and occasionally mokume Would I be correct in saying that earlier books like Nihonto koza (translated from early references) would be less liberal with describing a hada as mokume, where as later books might refer to it more so? Is there a book or source (maybe that i don't have) that is more correct than others? One other question if I could Yamato described (loosely) as itame and mokume seen but usually a nagare - hada (running) combined with masame? Q;What makes a hada "running" thanks in advance Rich T 2

Hi guys, as a help to others starting out on this long journey of study I have built/am building a list of books for beginners with pics and details and a little ...drool metre - for a laugh (rating the wow factor of the pics). These are just the books I have and have found really useful in my areas of interest. This was prompted by the number of new members asking what books they should get to help with their study...hopefully this could help. here's the link (note still WIP) http://www.bushidoboutique.net/books.html cheers Rich Thomas

Thanks guys, appreciated. Hope everyone has a great Xmas. cheers Rich

Hi Koichi san, Thankyou, much appreciated, I had the same problem with this also and Meiji was the best I could come up with, but thought I must have had it wrong. Does it seem strange that it is so wrong even for gimei? It's not a variation of this?? cheers Rich

Was hoping to get some help with this one as I don't as yet have any good books for translation. (names of recommended books would be appreciated also) First pic is of the omote mei and then the next 2 are close ups, tho I missed the 5th character, the next 3 are of the ura mei. Any help with translation appreciated!! cheers Rich Thomas

:lol: Brian actually my words to him exactly first time were: Ok so I believe, (and this is only my humble opinion), that this is not a genuine blade, (sorry) the shape is all wrong, the hamon (temper line) looks to be etched/ground on? Not a usual shape for tanto of any era, even if it was the top portion on a larger blade cut down, it’s shape is wrong. It’s a Japanese shunga theme, but the mei (signature on the nakago) doesn’t seem right… a bit Chinese fake fake. Looks to me more like a Chinese copy? so looks like we agreed almost word for word :D ....but he was adamant it came from Japan after WW1... so I said it might be post Meiji tourist stuff then.....anyway just thought I'd share. cheers Rich Thomas

I don't want to get away from the original topic but since we went there I thought I show these pics that were sent to me from a guy wanting to know what it was worth, smith, etc. I suggested it was probably post Meiji tourist stuff...with a shunga theme - unusual I guess. Is this the sort of stuff that you were talking about Shan/Brian? Rich Thomas

Henry, V nice! Stephen, I count 54 plus a baby..... no 57 plus a baby....damn wish I never started Rich Thomas

I'd like to talk more about it...email me via my website if you want http://www.bushidoboutique.net cheers Richard T

There is a similarly themed tsuba on Ed's sight as a matter of interest.... http://yakiba.com/tsuba_hanya.htm Richard T

All fixed, should work for large or small now... Richard t

Syd, This link might help... http://www.ksky.ne.jp./~sumie99/hamon.html#nie/nioi Also the book '100 Masterpieces from the collection of Dr W A Compton' has some good descriptions and macro pics of all 100 blades...shows nioi/nie and other activities really quite well. Richard T

Hey Sebastian, you probably found heaps of books in the recommended list, I have 3 pages of books that I have used if you're interested on my web site http://www.bushidoboutique.net (go to the books link). I have given them a drool meter rating (for the visual wow factor!!) , descriptions, and whether they are more of a learning/reference based item. P.S.The Connoisseurs book of Japanese Swords is a great place to start. good luck Richard T

Milt - yes I do own them (16 prints on the site + tryptichs) yes and was lucky enough to get them from a gallery in Venice (though not all) and they are in really good condition, there are some really bad ones around.. yours are great, looks like you have half the whole series! and others I like...we may have to talk more Hmm you're right something was lost in html translation I'll have to work on that....works alright JP to cm/inches etc but not the other way so well... and thanks remzy et al, cheers Rich

Hi all just wanted to say hello and introduce myself as a newby. I have been studying nihonto for a couple of years and well...enjoy the hell out of it, long, long, long way to go As a little hobby/project I have put together a web site and it has some pics of my swords, Japanese woodblock prints, armour, tosogu etc. Also on the site is a sword length calculator that I built which easily calculates traditional Japanese measurements into inches/cm/mm and visa versa, so not sure if anyone will find that useful. It's under the research tab if so. The site is at http://www.bushidoboutique.net Anyway all the best to everyone and ciao Rich Thomas