Toryu2020

Ron - I love everything Shinshin-to - are you gonna share pictures? -t

There is a links page at the top - where you will find lots of good sources for swords - I suppose if you've "just gotta have one" buy the first thing you see that is polished and papered. (That way you may get most of your money back if you decide to sell) But as Barry has suggested there is real pleasure in getting to know the many artists, eras and expressions of nihonto. A single sword collection with a blade you just love is all any man needs. Getting there and recognizing "the one" takes an investment in time but it will be time well spent in my opinion... -tch

Kirill - You are not the only one - I would ask though if you're in California where might you go to meet like-minded collectors, share and develop relationships that lead to invitations to informal gatherings? Not meaning to pick on you, I think we all need to support our sword clubs, online study is fun, convenient and will be more and more part of the study. However the people we look to for authoritative answers were all educated in person and hands on, I don't think there will ever be a substitute for that. In fact while I have talked about using Virtual tools to teach Kantei I would hate to see the loss of live study with live people and live blades. It is art after all and it has to be in-person, and there is too I think for the "jabbering" crowd as well as the committed scholar. (it is the same in the martial arts is it not Ken?) Clubs are evolving to meet the times, now is not the time to unplug, we'll need smart people with a love for the subject if we're to build something that will serve the next generation of student... -tch

According to my Dictionary of Military Terms, 設 Setsu is translated as billet, and 號 Gô can be used for signal, signaling but in this case I think the common rendering "number" is the way to go since it is not used in compound. I would think of it as "Barrack 3013 Number 5"... -t

Dan - If you visit the registration page on the NTHK America website you will see contact info for our mail-in service. And indeed David Easley is offering to handle swords for folks, he's out here on the West Coast and on the East Coast is Moises Becerra of Nihonto Antiques also offering to serve as an agent. Sorry that you can't join us, we do thank you for your support of the NTHK -tch

Well as someone also in California and admittedly a bit biased, We have local clubs, with experienced collectors and access to fine blades. However these clubs are run by the members, if they demand certain programs or material then I feel the organizations will work to provide. For over twenty years the NCJSC has provided Juyo or better level blades for our monthly hands-on kantei sessions. We provide full write-ups for each blade/school and at each meeting an opportunity to discuss, dissect, compare and contrast the workmanship. That opportunity is there for you each month, you do not have to be a member to attend. We lost our Sensei in 1993, since then all we have been is a collective of like-minded collectors doing our best to provide for our members. Recently we polled the membership and asked what was they wanted from their club, the answer was more "education". So for more than a year now we have provided three different opportunities to learn each and every month, including the regular in-person hands-on kantei, a monthly "paper" kantei in the newsletter and an online Zoom kantei where we can discuss the works of different artists and schools from the safety and comfort of our own homes. I invite you to join us. Back in the day the JSSUS used to see a lot of back and forth in their newsletter. Admittedly a lot of the discussions are now online in forums just like this one. However I will say I have been writing for the NCJSC for almost thirty years and I have yet to see counterpoints or questions raised by our readers even though I know we have made mistakes. In every newsletter we invite folks to submit questions, feedback or articles for the newsletter. I know you to be a thoughtful and serious student of the subject, I invite you to submit your thoughts and questions, we would love to have your contributions. And it need not be a "paper", you have our email addresses, and you could even write to us here, we love nothing better than to talk swords. Keep in mind also that not everyone is mad for Japanese swords, art and armour 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year like you and I. We can't fault folks or exclude them for not having the same level of passion, necessarily our programs have to shoot for the "Mean". That being said anyone with a deep interest and desire to learn and share is welcome, we invite you to please join us. -tch

Goshu Kunitomo Kyujiro Masakazu?

Shinobugaoka no hen ni shikashite horu "kore"? followed by the signature. So "carved this at Shinobugaoka"??

Purporting to be Shibata Ka - you will want to examine the signature carefully - either way I like the blade and I think you have a winner... -t SHIBATA KA – Yakiba.com

A very nice job of copying the original - I am wondering did he make the choice to copy the signature or was that something you asked for? Did he include any hidden tells that it is a copy, like the punches in the kuchibeni? -t

John D - As Shugyosha has pointed out this blade is in perfect condition for kantei - the hada and hamon are both visible and there would be no need to update the polish before shinsa. If you cannot make it to the San Francisco show we do offer a mail-in service and I believe Nihonto-Antiques may be bringing swords to the show for their customers, if that appeals to you you might contact Moses. If you have any questions about the shinsa process you can PM me here or email us thru the website... -tch https://nthkamerica.com

Brandon - In order to schedule timeslots we need a certain "critical mass" to be reached to insure a workflow that aids the shinsa team in their task and satisfies the day/time requests from customers. Once we get closer to the event you will receive an email Reservation Confirmation that will include the day and time for submission. As I said elsewhere Saturday Am is not a problem at this point. -tch

Lots of pubs in England, has to b e a few more wall-hangers out there! -t

Can't wait to see the full restoration. Certainly looks like a good candidate at this point... -t

Nice!

Momotaro and his "Army" - excellent piece!

Good news Tony - looking forward to your conclusions. Paz - this item, a tsuba, came from E-sword and the stickers and the values noted on the invoice might have helped going into GB but thinking of this among a pile of boxes at a United States Post Office gives me nightmares!! -t

Just received this from Japan today. I wonder if they've been reading this thread?😉

Yurie san - I ordered early and received an early copy seems like more than a year ago - last I heard they (Alpha) was going to send out corrected copies once they were printed. Has anybody seen those? -t

Thank you gentlemen - I didn't do anything special, its all part of our "Apprenticeship" program, Fred is mentoring me in the role. Always looking to the next generation. With that in mind we are having conversations with the JSSUS, NBTHK and others about combining our efforts and providing more content online. Stay tuned! -tch

Should we be expecting an updated/corrected copy from Alpha now? -t

Welcome Joe - As Stephen has pointed out you live in the absolute best part of America for sword study! Sorry to say you just missed our public display at the Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival, and actually at the Cupertino Cherry Blossom Festival this past weekend. Please note we have moved our May meeting to the 22nd to avoid Bay to Breakers congestion, it costs nothing to attend and I hope you can join us. If you've any burning questions between now and then you can hit me up here, send a PM or an email. -tch NCJSC.President@gmail.com

Never be discouraged, but always be realistic! -t

The problem you will encounter is that the major families used three or four principle mon - the combination of these helped people to recognize not just the family but the generations. Over 250 plus years many second sons, cousins, retainers and servants were granted use of mon, therefore unless a mon is very unique it is a fools errand to try and associate a single object with a single family from a single mon. Add to this the fact that once the Shogun fell, everyone was encouraged to adopt a mon so anyone could be a Tokugawa, a Toyotomi or an Uesugi if they wanted. Mon books in Japan are thousands of pages long, listing thousands of families. If you are dealing with antiques and the object has several mon on it you need the Taisei Bukan, The Who's Who of Tokugawa Japan - it lists all the major Daimyo and Hatamoto along with their titles, income and mon. Keep in mind also that there were several editions of the book printed throughout the Edo period, so the families and mon do change over time... -t

I'd say that is a bit of a stretch since many families, including branches of the Matsudaira continued to use the mon long after Hideyoshi was gone...