Scogg

Phew! Having only ever read these terms, I was concerned my pronunciations were wayyyy off on some of those Good to hear!

I especially like the part where it survived the 'Osaka Natsu No Jin' where Osaka Castle went through a fire - and the sword was found in the moat unscathed Did the sword will itself to safety? Or was the tossing of the sword into the moat someones final act? Really sparks the imagination and awe Very cool, and thank you for sharing

This looks like a really great option. I didn’t know they had zoom meetings. Thank you and @Winchester ! I’ll be at the SF show in August, I imagine there will be membership sign up available? Otherwise, I’ll do the online thing Thanks everyone!

That's great to know, thank you! Definitely something I would be interested in. I am looking into it now Still interested in physical meetings if possible. But the NBTHK AB zoom meetings is a great option I didn't know about Thanks again!

Hello again! I would love to be able to see more swords, and talk swords within a local community. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be any clubs available in the Pacific Northwest USA. Are there any that I am unaware of? If not, what does it take to start one? Maybe having an annual meeting in Olympia Washington, which is in-between Portland and Seattle. Olympia or Vancouver WA could be a centralized area for anyone with an interest in Nihonto in the PNW I'm merely a beginner. So I don't think I should spearhead something like this. Although I am willing and able if there is nobody else Any/all advice appreciated

I wish the same in the Portland area maybe… if there’s enough of us in the general northwest USA, one can be created with less frequent meetups sorry for being off topic to the OP

Congratulations Jon! I imagine the unboxing was very exciting. I have enjoyed following and learning from your posts I hope this is not presumptuous, but I have learned a ton from the "downloads" section on this forum. Especially on photography, and capturing activity on camera. I have even been able to capture activity on camera, that I had very hard time seeing in-person. Its been extremely helpful for my learning and documentation Your sword looks great! Selfishly, I want to see more Below is a link to the downloads section and the article I am referring to, by the late great and legendary Darcy Brockbank

Thank you @Bryce and @O koumori, those are great photos! I now see how subtle the difference can be. It's great to see those examples in polish Appreciate the help!

Love the analogy with two different Picasso paintings. Especially because painting and Nihonto are both in the fine art category I like to think, being able to recognize quality, is akin to getting into fine wine or beer. At first, you won't be able to tell the difference between a $20 dollar bottle and a $200 bottle. But as you research, and try a variety of wine of all qualities, you might slowly begin to recognize what makes wine "good", in addition to what your particular tastes are. You'll also likely learn to recognize what makes wine BAD After hundreds of hours, tastings, and dedicated study you might even begin to recognize terroir, vintages, or specific ingredients. You might find that you like Pinot, but not Cabernet. You might find that a winery with less-than-average wines, also makes one of your favorites! Anyway, I also struggle to recognize quality, but I hope to get there someday. Best of luck, Cheers! -Your friendly neighborhood brewmaster

Thank you Geraint! Very thoughtful input, and helpful information for me to know and remember. I appreciate it a lot Investigating the question "hakikake or kaen" has certainly got me looking at the boshi in depth, which has been very informative. I don't believe I'll be able to identify a smith, but learning how to identify features and characteristics has been a great learning experience. My goal is to try and recognize characteristics of gokaden (slowly...) Ya'll are the best! Cheers, -Sam

Here’s the boshi in question. Trying to determine if it’s hakikake or Kaen. Or perhaps my beginner eyes are leading me astray, and the boshi is something else entirely. Which always feels possible

It does a little, thank you! Definitely better illustrations and descriptions than my other books. Markus Sesko to the rescue per-usual If I am interpreting this correctly, it looks like Kaen is just a more aggressive version of Hakikake to the point of being flame like. It also appears to turn back into the mune a bit more I think I will just have to see more swords. Thanks to you both!

You know, thats a great answer/advice Applicable in many ways, within and outside of Nihonto

Hello everyone. I'm having a hard time determining the difference between Hakikake and Kaen boshi. Does anyone have a good side-by-side example of the two? The illustrations in my books leave a little up for interpretation, and I was hoping to see the differences on photos of real swords Does Kaen imply the turn back of the brush-stroke boshi toward the mune? Apologies if this has been covered, Cheers! -Sam

Got this from Markus Seskos site, link for the source https://markussesko....0/kantei-1-sugata-8/

Good to hear John. I imagine it will look really beautiful once it's restored, and at that point you will be able to learn a lot more from it Very expensive I know, but it will be a very special heirloom Cheers!

Hi John, I also have a sword that I inherited from my grandfather. I treasure it dearly, and plan to have it restored. Not only for my grandfathers sake, but because its the first traditionally made Japanese sword I had ever seen, and it had fascinated me my entire life. Only now as an adult, have I grown to truly appreciate it and it's history. It also represents my entry into this fascinating subject. My sword is a Shinto blade (1597-1780), and it will never be worth the money I will put into it, and that's OK. Preserving a sword so it survives the next hundred/s years is always a noble goal in my opinion I've been reading and studying for a couple years and am still very much a beginner. Take my observations with a grain of salt. Because of the condition your sword is in, its hard to say much about it. What I can say is that the shape is Shinogi-Zukuri, and the tip is Chu-Kissaki. It has a WW2 Tsuba (guard), and what looks like a WW2 leather saya(scabbard) cover. I don't recognize the Tsuka (handle) as war issued, but I haven't seen everything. It's signed Kiyonaga 二王清永 thanks to the translation from @vajo, and I would believe his opinion on age being Shinto (1597-1780) or Shinshinto (1780-1876) I can see the hamon, but not clearly enough to determine the type or style. Is there anything written on the other side of the Nakago(tang)?? Again, I am a mere learner, so grain of salt and everything. But I hope I helped explain some things Cheers!

Here is a link to his original post https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/45515-unknown-Japanese-sword/#comment-471911 best of luck!

Hi Noah welcome to the forum, glad to see you’re getting good advice for this interesting sword If you’re doing this on your phone (like me!) - One simple way I’ve found to downsize images, is to take a screenshot on your phone of the image you’ve just taken. This will immediately copy the picture you’ve taken and make it a smaller size

Thank you! And appreciate the help. Shakudo nanako would be ideal, but I’m also open to a tsuba with a paulownia theme. I recently acquired this Choshu Kiyoshige tsuba, but unfortunately, it’s a hair too small to get past the full nakago Sharing because I find it an enjoyable tsuba and set, even though it doesn’t quite fit the search continues!

Hi Stephen, I think you’re thinking of me! I appreciate you looking out! It’s a really nice looking tsuba thats right on theme for my koshirae Here’s a link to my original post about it. Although I have concerns about what looks like maybe a casting seam? I’m just a newbie so I’m not certain of what I’m seeing, but I zoomed in on the photo below https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/45376-replacing-a-tsuba/

Thanks for your help Brian, and everyone else who contributed. It means a lot that ya’ll share your expertise with newcomers like me I’ve learned a lot, and have a lot to learn! Cheers, -Sam

After looking closer, I think I discovered why. As a beginner, Im prepared to be humbled again here I think the big sign that it’s suriage, is that the hamon continues into the corrosion of the nakago rather than tapering off just past the hamachi. In addition, the last character of kanji being so close to the nakagojiri

Ji-nie, that’s very exciting, thank you! Its been gratifying to admire and study

Oops, my mistake! I love the look of the long nakago nonetheless. My beginner is showing thank you for the correction