Toryu2020

If I have to travel with swords I always go to the TSA counter in the airport - have them swab the items in my presence - put an inspection card inside and out and then secure the case right there. This should ensure that they have no need to open it in transit and gives me a lot more peace of mind. I also try to avoid connecting flights as much as possible... -t

Adam - we have done a display at the festival every year for over fifty years! What years were you at the festival? We were most likely in the hotel lower level and that may be why you didn't find us... ーt

900 years... The Genuine ‘Nanbu Tekki’ Kettle - Morioka, Iwate - Japan Travel -t

Japanese cast iron: history, benefits, products, and brands (booniehicks.com) 800 years of history? -t

History of Tetsubins (calacademy.org) The adventure continues... -t

Correct! http://ncjsc.org/ncjsc_publications.htm -t

Search the Yamanaka Newsletters - there was a selective translation of the Tokugawa Nikki there... -t

Namban Tetsu kore wo motte... I think -t

I'll be there! Un fortunately no NTHK Shinsa this year - will probably be another four or five years before we are back in San Francisco. -t

Best to use SHAPE to determine age and not features in the hamon (there are always exceptions) - when it comes to shape you have to think of things along a range and not in absolutes - there was the mid-Kamakura shape that morphed into Namboku-cho and then gradually back to the older shape but adapted to the times - so you will see shapes that are very similar in say curvature but other factors like nakago shape or length that point you to specific periods when it is all added up. Another general rule is there is more activity in the jigane before 1600 and more focus on the hamon after 1600 - jigane like this would not have been seen in Osaka or Yokoyama works - so you should be looking at the Gokaden to try and place it and by extension this means Koto schools. Were it Sukesada being unsigned would be a concern but since it is an earlier work from a different line in Bizen, not so much of a concern... -tch

Not in color but the NCJSC Has two good books for the student of tsuba/Fittings... Publications (ncjsc.org) -tch