sencho

Shochu works great Pete... :lol: I'm flying to Taiwan from Fort Liquordale next week and staying for 3 days before flying back 50 hours of travel and 72 hours in Taiwan.... not enough time to adjust naturally!!!

Hi Lee, I think that 'form training' is what Ken is talking about, and trying to dissuade you from using a possibly significant sword... I would tend to agree with him... Cheers

Moriyama san, Thank you for the clarification and education.... regards

Moriyama san Just a language inquiry here, excuse me for this.... 　截断　 　I read "saidan" - (cut/slice) I would write "setsudan" (cut/slice) like this 　切断　 Questions: Can you read the (older) kanji that I read "sai" as "setsu"? Is the Kanji 　è£æ–­ã€€ã€€"saidan" the modern version of the kanji? Yoroshikuonegaishimasu! N.

Looks like.... not sure of first kanji..... actually not sure I have got any of it right, as my kanji reading is somewhat dubious, should wait until Moriyama san or Morita san is up and about. Regards!

Today, while I was supposed to be working, I surfed on to this site http://www.sengoku-expo.net , which I thought quite interesting... seems they may have an English version in the works which would be nice, especially for persons with dubious Japanese reading ability (such as myself... )... anyway some interesting bits and pieces on there including family mons, etc... Also some nice Kao/Signatures of various personages of note.... Nihongo duffers will have to exercise a little trial and error on the links! direct to the flags and mons and 'cows'.... http://www.sengoku-expo.net/design/E/cr ... -m01a.html Cheers

Kobe area I believe.... little inland I think from that northern setonaikai coast..... East of the bridge though... Welcome Kevin... I have an office in Sakai.. not too far away from you, however I only get down there about once a year! ... where are you from originally? I'll give you a shout when i am next in town and we can go get a pint at the Pig and Whistle pub in Osaka! Cheers!

Yup.... fujiwara cheers

He's using Mike Yamaguchi's picture, so he must have bought it through him originally..... I would know that blue carpet anywhere!!! :lol: Cheers!

My thoughts exactly....! PS... John, time to come work in the Caribbean! :lol:

Hi Carlo, It looks very similar, but has changed I think since that picture was taken... The staff told me it had been "thinned out a bit" in the last few years, when they closed the manor completely for a time. Now there is two house style shrines, one either side of the room too... The room looks remarkably similar though.... So I would be inclined to beleive that this is it... is there any photo credit/explantion on Ians book? Cheers! ...edit... Carlo, I have just picked up the flyer for Snowshill manor and the same picture as you posted is on it.... so it is definately the same place...

Hi Paul, Yes they did clear out the house completely and close it down so they could re organise. From what I was told there was simply so much stuff in there that ist wasn't practical. They have thinned out the samurai rom a little to make it a bit easier, so there are not as many swords, pole arms and sets of armour as there once was... also yes the room is set up to look like samurai sitting or standing in a camp area. Thanks for your info, Paul... Iunderstand completely what you mean about the NT and funding, etc... I hope to get more from Ian B... Cheers

Hi Bri, No this is a different place...not sure what house Frank is referring to, but his pictures seem to show a fairly well preseved display of swords... If you can imagine a dusty, dingy (let the light in Miss Haversham!) back room, with swords lying around, propped up in the corner, couple of tanto laying on the carpet... Japanese armour, etc... It took me 15 minutes of standing there just to get my eyes adjusted to the gloom.... I still couldn't see the far corners of the room... Also Frank referres to a stately home... this is more a crumbly old manor house... lovely place, but certainly not what I would describe as "stately".. In addition... nothing is marked... nothing to sy what is what.... the only thing to stop you getting in there is a chest high perspex screen... The staff do not have a clue about any of it... cheers!

Question for any of the UK based members I went to Snowshill Manor today in the Cotswolds. I had been told a few sets of Japanese armour were on display, part of an early to mid twentieth century collections of bits and peices from all over the world, by a guy called Charles Paget Wade. Well there were about 8 complete sets of armour on display in a very dim room in the house, and maybe 4 or 5 naginata (on poles) plus a bunch of yari (also on poles) leaning up in the corner. Each set of armour has wakazashi and katana or Tachi stuck in them at odd angles and there a few tanto lying around on the floor with two or three sword racks with katana and tachi upside down on them. More stuff was in there, however but close examination was not possible due to the fact that you could not enter the room. All pole arm blades were bare and all swords were in koshirae (of what looked like varying quality) I would suggest there are between 10 and 15 pole arms and 20 - 25 swords. On speaking to the staff, they told me that the collection on view was nothing, they had boxes of the stuff crammed away in a spare attic of the manor!! They also told me that they "had sent one sword to Japan to be cleaned and had been told by the Japanese that it was a National Treasure and they had a bit of paper that showed how it cuts. Also when the Japanese had taken off the handle, they had found some markings underneath and all sorts of writing. Apparently is was made by someone really famous who only made 3 swords ever and we have one of them and it is worth about £60,000. " When I skaed them if they had any details of this smith written down they said they didn't and they had no idea who he was. "We are taking very good care of everything. The Leeds Armoury comes down once a year and cleans the room" I asked if they meant cleaning the actual blades? " Oh no... they only clean the room... they do not touch the armour or weapons! " Does anyone know about this collection at Snowshill?? Seems like the Nation Trust do not have a single clue what they are doing with this stuff... I have some contact details of the NT lady who is going to be inventorying all of this for the Trust... I was thinking of getting in touch with her and letting her know that these artifacts could be better served in a permamnet exhibition of some kind and cared for as they should be. I wonder if our British based memebers can shed any light on this? Cheers!

Just got back to Yokohama a full 36 hours after leaving with an absurd hangover caused by NMBG VI... had to go to sea to trial a yacht with a prospective owner.... After a day of trying to keep my cold soba noodles down, ended up in Tatiyama Bay (and susbsequently Taityama Port) where I was expected to repeat the evening before and get completely trollied again, this time on a rather deceptive shochu with quite a sting in it's tail.... Passed out on some nice person's tatami mattress and awoke with another raging head! Taken to breakfast in nearby village where the Miso and Nutto did the trick.... ...and to vainly keep this on a Nihonto related thread, the business contact I met took me to see Tatiyama Castle which was great. Sweated the alcohol out up the hill and really enjoyed the castle and surrounding landsacpe... Nihonto wise, Castle itself had a Tachi and a Wakazashi (both mumei and multiple suriage), and the little museum at the bottom of the hill had a beautiful ken and a koto "KISHU" JU YASUSHIGE katana (I guess mispelt on the card to really mean BUSHU JU YASUSHIGE) however I was still a little light headed and am not sure of what I was reading.... Also some rusty lumps of metal said to be from the 6th century.... Anyway nice place and to anyone, I recommend the countryside and coastline of Southern Chiba... it is magnificent... (the booze is pretty good too! :lol: ) Cheers!

0730.... OUCH!!! I'm hurting.... on my way to business meeting... dribbly heap... pain

I take it that you mean the Horimono with the scratches all around it that was otherwise in a finish polished state.... One question (that was not asked!) and that I do not know the answer to, was why would you wait for the sword to be fully polished, before starting a Horimono?? Cheers!

Anyone with access to Nihonto Zenshu Vol 3, will be able to see a few examples of this style of horimono... most utilize a clear traditionally cut ken that the stylized "dragon" is wrapped around... will be another few weeks but I will scan some pages and post them when I get back to the USA.. cheers

Just picked up the afore mentioned Nihonto Zen Shu from Noadashi (the parents in law)... books 1, 2 , 3, and 5... I bought for $50 which included domestic Japanese shipping.... ....and bugger me if they weren't all in pristine condition in their original plastic wrapping... now there is a deal!!... especially when they were originally 4,500 yen each!! Here's a gloating git, full of shochu! Cheers!

Thanks Piers, and thanks Henry who's post has led me back to this thread.. (been at sea for a month and missed a lot!) I will go back to the sword stor as it is 5 minutes walk from me in Yokohama and see if the Tanto is still there. The Horimono, as I remember was of incredible quality. Henry, your point is well taken, but as I have only seen these on Tanto so far (I have not clicked on this threads like as yet) I would suggest it would not be under the same stresses and strains as a larger blade.. I would further suggest (but do not fully know) that with the correct structure it could be incredibly strong... not quite sure of the physics of it actually becoming stronger though... but there are many things I do not know!! :lol: Cheers!

Guido, Thanks for the information. Are you going to go to this....? I may head up there Monday or Tuesday. Cheers!

This one was discussed before, Ford, but it is good to show it again for new to the board folks... Don't be fooled by the Tokyo address... I believe they are based in China... any fool can have a Japanese telephone number with VOIP.... Nice site though... their talents are obviously misplaced!!! Cheers!

Nice sword (so far) Anne, and thank you for researching all of the details... long blade it seems... Can you get us some pictures of the blade itself..? hamon... kissaki (tip)... this may spark a bit of a discussion in the Nihonto section... Cheers!

Lawrence, What do you mean by the word "use" Cheers

Any idea why Mike still lists as Historian333 and now Komonjo too..? Is he in the process of a slow change over or something? By the way I echo the appraisal of MY... very good guy and excellent to deal with.. Cheers!