bridgeofdreams

Possibly not exactly what you are looking for, but Paragon Books has this: 居合剣道：制定形、刀剣の知識、試し斬り Iai kendo: seitei kata, token no chishiki, tameshigiri [iai Kendo: Forms, Swords, and Practice] 中村泰三郎 Nakamura, Taizaburo 5.25 x 7.25", 213 pp., profusely illustrated, text in Japanese, cloth, d.j., Tokyo, 1973. (o.p.; light scatter foxing to page edges, some wear to d.j. edges, text vvg) Iai kendo is a type of Japanese fencing,that is characterized by its use of real swords, and its purpose is for self defense. This is a beginner level book on different forms in Iai kendo, swords, and how to practice on soaked, straw target. Price $40.00 http://www.paragonbook.com/html/browses ... item=38982 Peter Boylan at Mugendo Budogu also carries a book and a couple of DVDs that can be found by entering Nakamura Taisaburo in the search box at: http://www.budogu.com -Craig

Gentlemen, I thank you for your kind words and concern. I had been thinking of starting a topic here to explain the circumstances of my situation for some time now, and I thank Barry for getting things started. I was a collector long before I was a bookseller, though I made a point of building as comprehensive a library as possible. When I was forced in 2003 to rethink my career selling books was a natural and comfortable course to take. As I had already started to sell blades, armor, etc. in what became a process of focusing my collection on early soft metal tsuba - a process I have described here in some detail - selling off the portions of my library that were now superfluous, along with the extra copies I had acquired along the way, was a natural. It gave me an excuse to continue to go to sword shows, and I loved to place the right book in the right hands. This community was a mainstay of the business I built, and I'm eternal grateful for the many good friends I have made. Some of you might remember me as a dedicated heavy smoker, though I quit in 2005. Midway through 2009 I began experiencing symptoms of what was diagnosed as emphysema, and the progress of the disease has been rather rapid. I'm not on oxygen yet, and medication allows me to be minimally functional, but my days of lugging boxes of Taikans around was clearly over. The Chicago winters are especially difficult, and much of last winter I was unable to put much energy into the business, in fact I had to cancel some orders because I couldn't drag myself out to the garage to find the books to ship them. This spring I made a decent deal with my good friends here at Paragon Books, and nearly all of my Asian related book inventory is there now on consignment. Actually they have been able to make great strides in cataloging a huge backlog of interesting books that I never seemed to get around to, like: 京都国立博物館蔵　坂本龍馬の関係遺品 Kyoto kokuritsu hakubutsukan zo: Sakamoto Ryoma no kankei ihin [Kyoto National Museum's Collection of Articles that Belonged to Sakamoto Ryoma] 京都国立博物館 Kyoto National Museum 7 x 10", 16 pp., 5 b/w illustrations, text in Japanese, paper, Kyoto, 1981. (o.p.; light soil marks to cover) This exhibition catalog contains articles such as kimono, swords, writings and paintings that belonged to Sakamoto Ryoma, a leader of the movement that overthrew the Tokugawa shogunate during the Bakumatsu period in Japan. His handwritten documents are supplemented by a printed version. Price $10.00 Item # 39582 I've been battling with Social Security over getting disability and medical benefits, and I'm still waiting after over a year to find out when I will be able to appear before the final stage of appeal. There's a technicality, I won't bore you with the details, but it's not a sure thing. Of course I didn't have insurance in force when all this hit. I've also had my hands full with the inevitable creditors, the home mortgage loan modification game, etc. We are losing our house and still have to find a place to move. Through all this I've somehow managed to keep 4 kids in school, 2 in college at the moment, and my dear wife has been working way too many hours. I've been able to maintain my sense of humor, more or less, and I do still have a few things to sell that will be of some interest here. I still look at books when I get out, and keep my eyes, virtual and physical, open for bargains. I've recently tried to contribute here when I have something to offer, and I'll continue to do that. I don't know if I have a "3rd act," though I may have to think of something if the SSDI gets turned down - my wife is tired of being the breadwinner and says I have to contribute! Thanks again for the friendship and continued support I find here, Craig

There is also an English translation of the book, published as: Treasures of the San Diego: Exhibition at the Philippine Consulate New York from November 1, 1996 to February 28, 1997 Desroches, Jean-Paul & Casal, Fr. Gabriel & Goddio, Franck, 380 pp., profusely illustrated in color, bibliography, list of illustrations, paper, New York, 1996 There is a copy listed for sale at Paragon at the moment. I'll also add that all that remains of the Japanese arms that were on the ship are the non-iron tsuba. It seems to be unclear whether these were part of the cargo or belonged to Japanese mercenaries on board, a practice that was not unknown at the time. Craig

Curt, The publisher is Kokusai Shashin Joho, and if you try a search on vialibri.net with that in the "imprint" field and "The International Graphic" in the "title" field you will find a couple of volumes of collected issues, such as you have, and a single issue at at rather ambitious price. With the possible exception of a local auctioneer or a specialist such as Pacific Book Auctions, most of the big name auction houses have minimum lot sizes that start in the thousands. It is probable that eBay is your best venue for books like these, though you can probably offer them here as there looks to be at least some interest to NMB members in the contents. I know at least one collector of jutte who I will send a link to your pictures to! Craig

Poking around I found this, which I don't have enough Japanese to make much use of but probably of some interest to some of you: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id376800 ... mpt=uo%3D4 Sengoku Busho Almanac By Samurai International This application is the almanac of Japanese samurai in the Sengoku period. You can serch over 3000 samurai by using iPhone user interface. This samurai information is linked to Wikipedia. And the price is right, free. Craig

Tom, I've had good results with ShinKanji (iPhone, also for iPad) http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shinkanj ... 46107?mt=8 Japan Goggles also looks promising, though I've not had much luck with it for book titles and such: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/Japan-go ... 24055?mt=8 He has a free version that does single kanji called "Lost in Japan" if you want to play with it. Also worth mentioning here is the Rikaichan plug in for Firefox: http://www.polarcloud.com/rikaichan/ I've been using Chrome more than Firefox lately, which has better built-in translation capabilities for whole pages, but I'll be giving the Chrome port of Rikaichan a try as it allows phrase by phrase look ups, shows variant definitions, etc., and is therefore handier for people like me, who have a whole lot more learning to do. Craig

Tom, You combine great taste in fittings with exemplary scholarship, looking forward to part two. One of the only tsuba I still have is also swordsmith-made, Nobukuni Yoshinao, I'll have to post pictures sometime. Craig

I have a friend that supplies me with pre-ban ivory scrap, legal to sell in the U.S. (but not to export) and I will have some for sale at the Midwest Token Kai at the end of the month (as well as the usual selection of way too many books, of course with woodblock prints, tea bowls, netsuke, and whatever else isn't nailed down that might be of interest to like-minded folks.) Stop by and say hello! -Craig

Alan, That essay is contained in "The Book of the Sword," edited by Randolph B. Caldwell (1972) - a deceptively unassuming little book with some real gems in it, especially considering it's age. - Craig

In addition to the suggestions above, Henry's link to the post from Richard George prompts me to mention the excellent 29 page article by Richard George entitled "A Brief Survey of Tsuba to the Early Edo Period," which is included with the Supplement volume that he produced for the 2005 KTK Exhibition. This book (I still have a few copies in stock) was made from the photos Richard took at the exhibit of the US and Canadian member's exhibits, which were not included in the 2005 Catalog as it was produced in advance in Japan using only the articles shown by the Japanese members. It has some excellent examples from a range of schools. Also, back issues of the Northern California club newsletter almost always have articles of interest to the fittings collector (in addition to the sword information, of course!) Pick them up when you see them. - Craig

Regarding "Nobuie" vs. "THE Nobuie," Haynes lists at least 15 examples of real artisans who signed "Nobuie." I recall being very wet behind the ears and getting excited about an admittedly very nice tanto by "Kunimitsu." Of course it was not "THE Kunimitsu." - Craig

Steve, I meant to add that's a very nice tsuba you have, thanks for sharing. Just to clarify the way I read the comments Bob made in the catalog entries I read today, the Kodo kao was used by Torigoye early in his career, the Sado kao later. There's no hint that he used the kao to indicate anything about the tsuba, except the one or two strokes (I recall hearing one stroke for "first class" and two for "second class.") Nothing I have ever read or heard before indicates that Dr. Torigoye used the kao to indicate the era of the tsuba. I'll make a point of remembering to ask Bob about this when I give him a call next. Even though I'm not actively collecting I always learn something new. - Craig

Steve, First, apologies for addressing you as "Bob" in my earlier post - I'm not multitasking too well today. To try to clear things up we ought to first be clear about terminology. "Kao" is the hand brushed stylized signature, usually of the "art name" of an individual. Individuals almost always adopt different art names, usually at different times in their life. "Hanko" is the "seal" carved and stamped usually with red ink. An individual might use several different hanko for different purposes, and even in Japan today there is usually one hanko a person uses as their official legal signature. Both of the examples posted by you and Jesper show Dr. Torigoye's older kao, "Kodo," which Haynes describes as the "very early signature of Dr. Torigoye." (Haynes #7 p. 119) Neither of these examples have a hanko. Both of the examples I posted in the older thread, as well as the one posted by Rich Turner, show the later kao "Sado" which Dr. Torigoye was using by the time of his visit to the U.S. in the late 1960s. The two examples posted by me have the "bird" hanko that Dr. Torigoye used when outside Japan, while the example posted by Rich uses a square hanko. Another example of the later kao with this hanko is on p. 141 of Catalog #7, dated 1965. As Pete Klein pointed out, Catalog 7 has many examples of hakogaki of Dr. Torigoye and others that bear close study. The notion that he used one kao or another for Edo vs. pre-Edo might be a confusion because of comments that have been made about the one mark vs. two mark variation in the Sado kao, supposedly a comment on quality. On the other hand, it might be another creative invention of those we have all seen at sword shows who need to be saying something authoritative sounding even if they are mixing half-truths with nonsense. As long as it is said with conviction the new collector especially is impressed. Craig

Bob, There was some discussion of Torigoye hakogaki here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5778 I see now I forgot to ask Bob about the art name variations, but elsewhere Pete Klein mentioned there's something about this in Haynes Catalog #7. As it happens I'm about to ship my last copy of #7 on hand to a client, I'll have a look before I pack it up and scan it if I can do so without damaging the book. Craig

Grey, You're correct of course, I wasn't considering that as I use a 3rd party insurer for all my shipments, set up as a default option in my shipping software. It uses the declared value from the integral customs form. Craig

Paul, Ditto to what Grey says, particularly if it is a heavy book that will fit in the Priority Mail Flat Rate Box (see usps.com for details) it should ship to anywhere in Europe for about $45, with Insurance available to most countries. Express Mail is a bit more, but offers full tracking and insurance. - Craig

I'm glad this thread got revived, as I certainly missed it before. 1. Guido's tsuba is magnificent, though not my taste, still fantastic. 2. I never worry about Milt. 3. There was mention of nanako and iron in the same post - I had an iron tsuba, a rather formal tachi tsuba with a great dragon, on approval from Andy Quirt once, that had nanako in iron done just as well as the best I have seen in shakudo. My money, and that tsuba, went elsewhere, but I was glad to have seen it. 4. I had a shakudo kiku sukashi guard with a similarly countersunk seppa-dai, but I don't recall now who bought it. Boris probably remembers. If I find a picture of it I'll post it for comparison. - Craig

I just checked, and my last two sales for Uchigatana Koshirae, which is one of the very best books there is on authentic koshirae, were both for $200. As Martin pointed out with all the extra expense for a buyer outside of Japan this is not a super bargain, but not a bad price either. There was a service that handled all of this, but I never tried them and don't know if they are still in business. In looking this up I noted that I've got a copy of the museum exhibit catalog from this exhibit, which has quite a bit of the book's content in a less expensive book. Craig

To clarify the current situation regarding the Haynes Index, it is still "in print" and available from the publisher in Germany, and is actually being sold at a price reduced from it's original. The CD, which is a set of pdf files reproducing all the pages of the book, is (or was) sent with the book and is not sold separately. As the CD was not produced until quite some time after the book was printed, the publisher sent out copies to distributors (like myself) and some direct buyers of the book. I suspect any copies of the CD offered for sale are leftovers from that distribution (I sold a couple of those here some time back) or copies that were given away or sold by people that just wanted to keep the books. The original plan was to have buyers register their copies with the publisher - a postcard was included - and that at some time an update would be issued on CD. That's not happened despite the fact that the last time I spoke with Bob Haynes on this he had over 500 additions and corrections to the work. As Curran alluded to, the Index is based on Bob's experience handling literally thousands of fittings since the early 1960's. Each new artisan was cause for a new index card, and everything was eventually cross-referenced to the various books, auction catalogs, and other references showing that artisan's signature. In any case it is available directly from Nihon Art: http://www.nihonart.de/en/produkte.php I am not aware of any official distribution other than the publisher. I've been told the shipping charges are within reason. - Craig

Mariusz, The Haynes/Torigoye source mentioned actually only has a page and a half on Ono, and it looks like I can scan it without breaking the book. My friend Julie found a nice Ono some years back, since sold, which was published in the KTK 2005 Supplement book, page 23. Craig

Mariusz, There are probably other suggestions that I've not thought of, but two that come to mind: I don't have a copy at hand, but Harry Watson's translation of the Nihonto Koza Token volume on Kodogu may include some comments on Ono (unless Ono is part of the untranslated "Kodogu Volume Two.") There are several pages on Ono in "Tsuba: An Aesthetic Study" by Torigoye via Robert Haynes and Alan Harvie, published by the NCJSC. I have the original version, but I think the club sells a reformatted version fairly cheap ($25?) and it should be on anyone's shelf even if only a casual student of tsuba. - Craig

#1 is Tsuba Kanshoki, by Kazutaro Torigoye, looks like the revised 2nd edition of 1975, ltd. 1000 copies. About $300 in good condition. #3 is Tsuba Shusei, by Tessei Nakamura, first (and only) edition of 1964, ltd. 1000 copies. Has sold for more, but $600 - $800 in good shape is a reasonable price today. Paragon Books has one @ $695 at the moment that's in as good shape as any I've seen. - Craig

Chuck, I've written about my experience here: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=6467 How common are collectors? A few years back I was flying to the San Francisco show, and had my best tsuba all snug in their travel bags in my carry on. I was prepared with my stock "antique Japanese metalwork" answer for the inevitable TSA query (notice: no mention of "sword" in my description) and as I was answering the TSA guy who had my bag, the TSA guy behind the xray screen leaned out and said "tsuba." Now Chicago is a pretty big place, but I thought the collecting community was fairly small, and fairly well known to me at that point, and I have a good memory for faces (not so much names) but this guy was a complete stranger. He added "I used to collect tsuba." On your point about "flippers" relative to limited edition statues (I have a couple of Usagi Yojimbo statues myself!) I can tell you it's clear to me that this sort of thing happens from time to time with limited edition Japanese Nihonto related books. Most of the small number of copies seem to fall into a very few hands, and the price escalates rapidly until the sheep are shorn. Once most of the copies are in retail circulation, and get resold by their original owners, the prices tend to come down, but never to original publication prices. Long term Japanese sword and fittings books printed in editions of less than 1000 tend to hold their value, at least as long as they aren't reprinted, and can be 'investments' as long as they aren't bought at the artificial peak price. - Craig

Tiffany, You have come to the right place, though you might be quickly overwhelmed by all the suggestions that will be coming your way. First, there are some good studies that have been done on the changes in the shape (curvature, length, construction, etc.) of the Japanese sword through the roughly 15 centuries of examples we have to study. There are articles as well as sections of books that deal with these practicalities, but a few good ones will probably be all you have time for between now and Spring. Some of this time period includes revivals of older styles, and to some extent that is true of the mass produced blades that served in WWII. John's point about understanding the historical context and avoiding romanticism - or at least understanding how the Japanese have romanticized aspects of their own history at different times for different reasons and purposes - will provide a solid scholarly ground to work from. I highly recommend Karl Friday's "Hired Swords: The Rise of Private Warrior Power in Early Japan" for an understanding of the earliest transformations of the warrior class during the Heian period. At the other end of the historical spectrum it would be important to understand the role of the book "Bushido: The Soul of Japan" by Inazo Nitobe, originally published in 1900, and it's role in romanticizing the notion of the Samurai both in Japan and in the West. This was used effectively by political interests leading up to and during WWII to sell the whole concept of the Japanese Empire and the rightness of the Japanese aggression. Ironically it has remained popular in the West and feeds the common romantic notions of the Samurai, showing up in movies like "Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai" (1999), a movie that needs to be seen once - and only once. Just a start ... Craig

It ought to go without saying - but since no one has said it yet - all this rubbing and fussing (which is the preferred technical "term") is for iron only, not soft metal tsuba. Cotton works well, denim particularly as it has a bit more texture. I've not tried lambs wool, which might be fine, but stay away from synthetic carpeting. Someone, probably Bob Haynes, but don't quote me on that as it was some years back, told me that he had seen some of Sasano's tsuba that Kremers had fussed with on carpeting and they had taken on a grey dull patina. Craig