sencho

Sorry, Now I see what Kanji you mean. I did not check the last Kanji carefully... just a glance... it looked like Saku to me..... Now I see JUO 。。。　　　住 Please disregard my last post. Cheers.

Dear Moriyama san, Do you not see SUMI... 住 for 5th Kanji? Then I don't understand 6th Kanji.... and I thought 7th was SAKU... I don't see the Kanji that you do... can you explain? Yorosiku! :D

I do not see Hiro as 5th kanji.... I see Sumi.... but 6th Kanji I don't know cheers

Strange then that both snakes and cats are considered lucky now.... After seeing a good sized snake in the garden this summer (at which point I almost messed myself) my mother in law thought it was the best thing to happen so far this year!!! If a god returns to earth, they are considered to take the form of a snake, which is why it is very unlucky to kill a snake in Japan. Snakes are depicted in art and statues all over Japan and have been for many hundreds of years, (also included with some of the lucky gods); so I do not quite understand the passage from the book. Black cats especially also regarded as being a very good omen in Japan, and Manekineko of course.... but cats are not always good... Bakeneko is a ghost/monster cat that has some control over the dead (as referred in the book), but a cat can only turn into a Bakeneko if he/she gets too old or fat!! However most cats are considered lucky, and as far as I know always have been. (My friend Shintani san, said his wife had turned into a Bakeneko the other night - but that was after he was out drinking with me until after 12 and missed the last train home!!) Cheers!

Do we have a new moderator? BTW he should work on his orthography. reinhard Ha ha! Oh you pedantic bugger!!! Cheers.

I don't completely agree with Jean, although I understand his sentiment. One of my first swords was from ebay when I was a new newbie and (while no National Treasure) it is great... however I do realize (now I am an older newbie) that it could have been an expensive lesson... although I have had these lessons before and learned from them. I like ebay..., just bought my new Japanese Keitai on ebay, and that (luckily) did not turn out to be a chinese crapper..... (beleive me chinese crapper Japanese keitai's are out there!)... but it is always a risk, however I guess I knew what to look for. There will always be people hawking junk, whatever the medium, newspapers, cards in the post office window, or internet... and there will always be novices eager to pay for said junk, against all better advice. So basically... you pays your money - you takes your chance... Caveat Emptor... and if it turns out to be an expensive lesson, suck it up, learn from it and start listening to advice on the NMB... (no matter how criptic it may be!! ) Cheers

:lol:

I will second that!!! Cheers

Chris, You should be getting used to that by now!!! Cheers

Ha Ha Ha!!! Reinhard.... next time, and just for you, I will try to get pictures of the rice paddies with the Kyabrakura and Soapland theme...!! Cheers

I thought some members would like to see some of this years rice paddy art in Aomori.... Just shows that the Japanese aesthetic for artistic detail, is alive and well.... This is quite a modern art form (I believe) an I think it is brilliant! For anyone who doesn't know the pictures are made by planting different varieties of rice, which subsequently grow in different shades. I think the caption on the picture says "Tsuguru Roman" (maybe meaning Tsuguru Romance??) and is the name of the variety of rice grown here... Tsuguru is the regional name. Picture shows scene from the 12th century - Benke and Ushiwakamaru meeting for first time on the bridge in Kyoto (900 km south), where they had a bit of a punch up.... Some members may be able to elaborate... anyway enjoy!!

(kiku no tsuboni) chysanthemum buds??

Nice one Henry!!! SAMURAI BLUE...!!!! 3-1 !!! YATTENE!!!!!!! OTUSKARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cheers!

Hi Morita san, Do you still live near Velasis C.M.? I enjoy it there! :D Is there any published list with descriptions of important lost swords? Regards

Joe, Following on from Reinhard's post, I just saw that Murtha (Japanese Swordguard Artists) also mentions Teruyuki... late Edo.... does not mention Yokoya or give an example of the kanji used... He suggests that this particular Teruyuki also signed Ryujoshi and under that name he mentions Arai Eizui, also known as Teruyuki. The name Teruyuki never occurred to me when I looked at the kanji fist time. He also lists Hideyuki as Mid Edo.... and only mentions "Yokoya style" Cheers!

First glance maybe Yokoytani Hideyuki but does not sound right, even to a gaijin, so maybe Yokoya Hideyuki.... Cheers!

Keith, Stephen and Todd, Seems to me that if you don't like the content of the posts.... stop reading them... The complaining is far more tiresome. Cheers!

As Moriyama san has already made clear it is an ordinary kitchen knife...... These kitchen knives are made by a factory and exported all over the world... the parent company has many different brands of knives including the brand Seki no Magoroku... they make millions of these... This particular kitchen knife range retails for between US$20 - $60 depending on the style of knife ... so don't get excited. Cheers!

This is a nice site, especially for anyone who works with .eps files, Adobe Illustrator and the like... They have quite a nice library of free kamon all in vector data so you can edit it and use it easily for designs of any resolution ...... and some nice flash on the front page too... watch the volume and if anyone is susceptible for fast flickering images, be prepared for a spasm.. enjoy! http://eps.crest-Japan.net/index_en.php Cheers!

Hi Jacques, Yes that is right... my point was that I do not think that this is the particular Kanji in question.. Do you have an idea what that character is? Cheers

摩 I do not believe it is this "ma"... but Moriyama san will tell us for sure.... Cheers

I have these as: 1. Hiro...?? more complex form of 広 ....?? (speculation, but I do not see "ma") 2. "Toshi" or "Ri" 3. Unsure 4. "ten" I read this 八幡　as "yawata" or "yahata" or "hatchi man" (as you have said)... the two first could be place, city or shrine related... Mr. Moriyama or one of the other Japanese will tell you more definitely.... I'll be interested to find out... Cheers

Hi John, Yep same way... 小川... literally 'small river'　that is the most common kanji combination for the Ogawa last name Ogawa with the Kanji....　緒川 ... is second most common..... but not sure what the first Kanji really means in this context and combination... on it's own 緒 I think it means 'link together'..... The others, I think are rare, and probably more used for place names rather than surnames. Cheers

John, 小川 "Ogawa"... "little river" .... That is my in-laws family name in Japan..... 小沢　is Ozawa..... Cheers