Rich S

Wonderful, I have added a link to his site on my commercial links page. Rich S

Ville - Yes, my interest is in older, vintage puukko. I have a few by modern makers, but not modern military knives. My biggest problem is sometimes I can not read the maker name in the fuller. Maybe if needed, you might help with that? Thanks. If I can help with Japanese swords please ask. Rich S

Ville - Welcome, nice sword and priced about correct. You mentioned Finnish knives. I collect Nordic knives as well as Nihonto. I'll be asking you lots of questions about puukko. If interested, you can see some pictures of my knife collection at: http://home.earthlink.net/~rsblade/nordic.htm and http://home.earthlink.net/~rsblade/nordic2.htm Rich S

Someone should check with Chris Bowen. If anyone has seen papered star stamped blades, it should be him. Rich S

Jacques wrote: "I'm wondering how star stamped blades could have been papered by NBTHK, this kind of blade is considered as weapon and not nihon-tô and for this reason forbidden in Japan." Both Ichiryushi Nagamitsu and Chounsai Emura blades have receieved both NTHK and NBTHK papers. Nagamitsu was Jumei Tosho, but I've never seen nor heard of one star stamped. Emura was not Jumei Tosho. IMHO, we should forget about "star" stamps and focus on the quality of the blade as the stamp seems to mean very little either here or to the NTHK and NBTHK. Rich S

My sympathy to Col. Hartley's family and friends. I had the privilege of meeting him only once at the 86 Chicago Token Tai Kai. A true gentleman and scholar of Nihonto. He will be missed. Rich S

Peter - Some may have failed shinsa (star stamped blades that is), but many have also been passed. So I guess we can't guarantee anything, but also can't say as an absolute that all stamped (including star stamped) blades aren't gendaito/nihonto. As sensei said, there are no chicken straps in the world of nihonto :-) Rich S

No, only those which are not made with tamahagane. This rule was decided in 1937 but fully implemented in 1940. Blades made before 1940 without stamp can be non tamahagane made, Since 1940 all blades bearing a stamp (star stamp included) are not made with tamahagane. If star stamped blades are not true gendaito/nihonto, then why are both the NBTHK and NTHK papering them? Rich S

Actually Elvis (according to "Men in Black") is an alien who just decided to go home :-) Don't know about Belushi or Warhol, but I suspect they were aliens also :-) Rich S

The first one, the only thing that jumps out is that some of the sukashi has rusted out in the flowers. The second I think is cast. Rich S

George - When John lived near me, he took oshigata of most of my gendaito and Showa era blades; several of which are in his current book. He has enough material for several books without resorting to stuff on my oshigata page. He kept his oshigata and info on the smiths in about two dozen binders when I last saw him. IF he is doing another book, he's got a ton of material to work from. Rich S

Peter - download Jim Meyer's pdf file of Robinson's Kanji tables. I found them of great use. Don't be discouraged. Even after 30 years of messing with these things, I still have to rely on Kanji tables and even then commonly screw up the reading :-) Jim Meyer's Kanji tables: http://home.comcast.net/~bladeshark/ Rich S

Just curious, where is John these days? He use to live just a few miles down the road from me. Haven't seen him in years. He certainly had accumulated enough material for several books on gendaito. Rich S

There is no point in responding to this guys website on "caring" for Nihonto. You can't talk reason with idiots, they know it all anyway; so why bother wasting your time. I'm sure he'll just want to argue with you. Rich S

Marek - I used an Ishido Teruhide (gendaito) in Showa era civilian mounts for many years practicing iaido. Lovely, well balanced sword. Never caused any damage to it. Did slice my thumb once before I learned NOT to guide the sword with your thumb :-) I do agree that you will be forced to learn proper drawing technique (iaido) using a live blade that you will never learn with an dull blade. Nothing like swinging a 3 foot razor blade to keep you alert and paying attention to what you are doing. Just do it well away from anyone else. Loosing one of your fingers is your business; causing serious harm to someone close by is careless and foolish. Just my thoughts on the matter. Rich S

I would also try the Ethnographic Weapons forum at: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=2 Lots of interest in old Chinese weapons there. Rich S

Please pardon my spelling above of Kaneie - it's quite early here, need coffee. Also don't consider the thread closed - I'm FAR from any sort of expert on tsuba. See what others have to say. Rich S

Would think also Saga Kaneiye or one of the other later Kaneieye schools. The work just doesn't quite look Saotome IMHO. Nice tsuba whoever did it. Rich S

I believe it reads Kojima Kunifusa. Rich S

That is Alfred Tan's site. The website worked fine for me just now. He use to alfred at japanesesword.com as an email. Might try that. Rich S

I have three excellent articles by Jon on my website at: http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/togishi.htm Rich S

George - Your Shigenori oshigata along with the rest of the site is still there. As mentioned in another post Earthlink only allows 1G of bandwidth per month, so the site is "temporarily unavailable" when it exceeds that, usually about the 25th of the month (sometimes sooner). The site is there. See the thread: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=6755 Rich S

Yes, Earthlink only allows 1G of bandwidth per month, which is usually used up by about the 25th of the month (sometimes sooner). I suggest you copy to your hard drive any of the pages you access often. Most browser have a save page feature. That way you have access to the links pages or whatever you use most. No need to set up a separate bookmark for each site on the links pages. Just bookmark the saved page on your hard drive. Also note that the oshigata page is a different URL from the main site. http://home.earthlink.net/~ttstein/index.htm You might want to bookmark that separately if you use it alot. You can save any page on the site to your hard drive for instant access without having to go online. Rich S

Otherwise known as techno-idiots (like myself). Have no Facebook, Tweeter, etc accounts. Too slow to download for a dialup connection. Rich S

Jesse - I can't get your pics to load, so can't tell you anything about the blade or its fittings. The Sukesada school worked from the 14th C thru to Showa. Dried blood is more likely just rust. The Japanese took care of their blades. Most of the rust damage has occured when the blades came into possession of Westerners. Wish I could be of more help. Rich S