Toryu2020

Thanks Mal - you can message me here or email toryu@toryu-mon.com - your book is archived here is it not? -t

Looking for oshigata of all generations of Daido (大道) especially interested in the Shinshinto Yamashiro smith - 山城住権正藤原大道 - any help from this board appreciated. -tch

Do we know it's him writing the blog? This doesn't sound right...

Very difficult to assign a single mon to a single family - there being many generations, daughters and sons given to other families and the right to wear the mon given to many retainers. The important families had primary and secondary mon and seeing these in combination can point us to the right family - sometimes. Three mon together is even better. Unfortunately in this case these are very common mon on their own. Checking the Taisei Bukan, there is only one family using the combination of the kirimon and tsurumaru, the 9th lord of Harima Mikazuki Han, Mori Toshishige - however they do not seem to have used the mitsudomoe - rather you see the character "Ju" (as in the number ten) - if there is any connection it may be some retainer of this Han... -t

A perfect illustration of the folly of trying to associate a mon with any single family... -tch

Paz - I think the best you can say is there may be some relation - given the quality of what we can see, it may (and its a big IF) it may have been someone who served the family that used this mon. Over two hundred and fifty years there would have been dozens of branch families and retainer families given permission to use the mon - sometimes it is on "parade" items used for sankin kotai - seriously without other corroborating information it is just a nice mon... -t

Daimyo families had primary and secondary mon - sometimes as many as four - truth is that unless the particular mon is singularly unique to a single family you cannot ascribe any mon to any person, family or line. Should you find an item of quality that includes two or more mon then the probabilities are much higher but it is still just supposition without other evidence. Swords had an incredible currency over the years - some families patronized their local swordsmiths and boasted many blades by their hometown artist in their collections - many families had swords from all over and almost none from local smiths, even when they were directly employed by that family... -t

Taking care of your parents can be the toughest job in the world and don't get me started on Cats! Just know you have a family here and we're happy to do what little we can for you... -t

Liberal civil rights activist and politician of the Meiji and Taisho periods. Born on July 7, 1852 in the Miharu domain (Fukushima Prefecture). His name was Banshu. After the establishment of the new government, he served in Wakamatsu Prefecture and the Miharu domain office, and later served as head of the Tokiwa household and head of the Ishikawa ward. During his tenure as the head of the Tokiwa household and the head of the Ishikawa ward, he was enlightened by Mill's ideas and made efforts to establish the Minkaikai and the Seiyosha political association. In the meantime, in April 1881, he was elected to the Diet. In April 1881, at the age of just 31, he became the chairman of the Fukushima Prefectural Assembly and fought hard for the establishment of local autonomy. In 1889, he was pardoned by the Constitution and released from prison. During this period, he served as Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1903 and as Minister of Agriculture and Commerce in the second Shigenobu Okuma Cabinet in 1915. He left the Liberal Party, which he had been deeply involved with since its founding in 1897, and frequently changed his party affiliation, which led to some suspicion of his political manners, but he never lost the principle of "universal suffrage" that he had nurtured during the Civil Rights Movement. However, he did not consistently lose the idea of "universal suffrage" that he had developed during the Civil Rights Movement, and he worked actively to realize it. He died on December 29, 1923, while still a member of the Diet. His grave is at Gokokuji Temple in Tokyo. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

So I dunno - could be a gift "to" rather than from - also Kinnen is often translated as "Memorial" but Kono Hironaka did not die until the 1920's so its not clear what is being celebrated - my thinking is the kao may belong to Mr Kamata who seems to be the author - the unclear characters are for a Bizen Osafune somebody, perhaps that was an old sayagaki that was removed to add this one? 河野広中公の愛刀則光太刀と一組揃の名刀也 明治３４年正月元旦 河野代議士より贈興紀念也　　 鎌田代 Kono Hironaka's favorite sword, Norimitsu, and a pair of other famous swords. New Year's Day, 1901 A commemorative gift from Congressional Representative Kono.　　 Kamata (signed)　 I'm sure somebody or maybe Nobody will correct my mistakes... -t

George - I am afraid this signature, mon and yasuri do not compare well to the examples in Fujishiro. What activity/features are you seeing in the blade besides a sugu-ha hamon? -t

I'm sure youre aware (but this is the internet...) The inscription says "Futatsu do ochiru" which means "Cut two bodies" if it said "Ni no do" that would be the location of the cut as seen in the illustration. Since we cannot see the artists signature nor any seal or other mention of the cutter - I would not give this lots of weight in my considerations... -t

Education (ncjsc.org)

Always ask to see the bottom - that is where you will usually see true indications of age...

Beautiful and rare - I like it too Axel. -t

John - If you look at the first photo of that piece you'll see where we use it at club meetings - sadly no Tachi koshirae in my collection... -t

This other one I think is maybe Taisho period, the "cups" are silver - sadly I have no Tachi to display with these...

Heres one still banging around the house - the "cup" for the Kabuto-gane is lined in rawhide

Kamakura is famous for a style of carving and lacquer work; Kamakura-bori - when I lived there this was in the window of a local shop specializing in Kamakura-bori ware. I used to pass by about once a month and try to buy it but the owner said it was there for advertising and not for sale - he said I couldn't afford to have him carve another...

Kirill - the monthly topics are always listed on the second page of your newsletter - Satsuma will not be until November of next year so you have plenty of time to drive down! :-) -t

Eight digits starting with 00? then yes that is your kai-in bango...

The "Kinsuji" are the giveaway - Inoue Shinkai would come to mind but he never made this shape. Very nice find, Kirill. I hope you'll bring it to our "Satsuma" meeting next year... -t

(Historical humour) I am staunchly anti-Tokugawa Eric, so I found it amusing that you would quote me when arguing for showing them any kind of respect... -t

Well if you're asking me, any insult to the Tokugawa is a welcome one and well deserved. Toーbaku! Toーbaku! Mata Toーbaku!

Brian is in Washington, Jimmy is in San Francisco. John has a point, the sword is in good shape now. If you wanted to get the signature removed and submit for shinsa in Japan you'll need an agent. I would contact Keichodo on this board he can walk you thru the steps and potential costs... -t