Soshin

Yes, I have all three books of the Tosogu Classroom series translated by Markus Sesko from the writings done by Fukushi Shigeo for the NBTHK. They are a great read with a lot of helpful information to improve your study, appreciation, and collecting of Japanese sword fittings.

I completely agree with this statement. It best to save up and buy at the various Japanese antique art shows (including Chicago show) or in my specific case when I visit Japan. Starting next I will be visiting Japan increasingly often not just like the casual vacation when I was young and single. P.S. I have just marked the dates for the 2026 Chicago show on my calendar. Thank you @Mark S. for posting an information card for next year's show.

I came across this short video on YouTube discussing the basic identification of Satsuma-yaki. I enjoyed watching it and wanted to share it here, enjoy.

Sorry to hear about the loss of Skip Holbrook. I had his contact information in my iPhone and his business card. I remember getting a wonderful trade from him for heavily damaged tsuba I had one year at the old Tampa show. I remember the trade vividly as he was willing to trade three of this nice condition tsuba for my one heavily damaged tsuba that he wanted to work on and try to improve its condition. That tsuba was later restored completely by him and it was papered Tokubetsu Hozon by the NBTHK at shinsa. I remember talking to him mostly at shows, he was very knowledgeable. He had his master's degree in art where he studied the patination process applied to iron by my premodern Japanese sword fitting artists. It is a sad day.

Thank you for posting this PDF, Dale @Spartancrest. Enjoyed the quick read of the article written by Malcolm Cox and downloaded and saved it as a reference. The article had several examples and a few from my collection or was once in my collection.

I cannot attend the Chicago show this year unfortunately. @Mark Mark Jones and family has put on some wonderful Chicago show that I was fortunate enough to be a part of in the past. Please post as many photos as possible of the show here on NMB. I would love to see the tables and displays. Thank you in advance for taking the time to do it while NMB members are walking around the show floor.

@Toryu2020 Tom, thank you for sharing these great photos of the wonderful displays done by your local Token Kai. This year's Washington, DC cherry blossom festival and my annual demo of traditional Japanese martial arts on Penn. Ave. went very well. My wife took a few photos while my school was demonstrating. I am looking through the photos now.

Looks great to me on my Windows 11 desktop computer using the Edge web browser. I never access NMB on my iPhone 8+. I tried your website using my iPhone 8+ by typing the address into my Safari web browser on my iPhone 8+ and it looks great to me as well. @Scogg Sam, do you want me to try and fill out the contact form? Please let me know.

I was in a bit of a hurry last Friday and didn't have time to resize some better images in Photoshop for upload to NMB. All these things take time, and I was busy doing three or four things at one time on Friday evening. Here are some better photos that I hope you like and find helpful for your study. The iron of the separate applied rim and plate of this tsuba itself feels genuinely nice in hand. Something that cannot be captured in photos very well. The plate (ji 地) of the tsuba has a fine hammered texture (tsuchime-ji 槌目地) and retains some of the original black lacquer (kurourushi 黒漆) that was applied to the surface after the tsuba was made. The first photos of the raised rim nicely and the surface of the tsuba nicely. The second photos show the tsuba in a custom box with a nice but unsigned hakogaki.

Since you might find this helpful, I will share. Attached is a NBTHK Hozon paper of the undecorated tsuba. The paper states: "素文図鐔 (somon no zu tsuba)". The tsuba is plain and lacks any design or decorative pattern.

I have a published and NBTHK paper undecorated tsuba in my collection. @ROKUJURO Jean C., would it be helpful for me to share my photos of it and the NBTHK paper? I like iron and the age of this tsuba and it came from the collection of one of my Japanese art sword teachers and artist who have passed away.

@Okan All original first period Yagu tsuba date no earlier than the time of Yagyû Ren'yasai Yoshikane the 5th master of the Yagyû Shinkage Ryû Heihō school of swordsmanship circa 1625 – 1694 CE of Owari Province. If you disagree with me must duel with me until discomfort with a fukuro-shinai at sunrise at Ichijoji. I think it is someplace near Kyoto...

@Scogg Sam S., sounds like a great idea and I love the name of the group. I would not bother with a Facebook group if I were you. I personally really hate the setup and design of Facebooks discussion groups regardless of the subject. Having an in-person meeting in a hotel meeting room or some such place in the local community near many collectors would be a great idea. I know a few high-end collectors in Washington State. Feel free to PM if you want their names and contact information.

The current show held each year in Maryland, USA is the Baltimore Antique Arms Show (Baltimore Antique Arms Show) at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium, MD. The Pikesville Show was I think the predecessor to this current show. All of these are suburbs of the city of Balimore. I had great fun last Saturday at this show.

Less is often more when it comes to restoration of Japanese sword fittings that are many hundreds of years old. This needs to be remembered especially by all collectors, not just the novice collectors. I have read his article a few years ago in the JSSUS Newsletter republished shortly after his death. I was friends with Arnold Frenzel during the last few years of his long life. I remember sitting and talking to him about tsuba at table holders' dinner at the old Tampa show. I remember him later talking about recommending me to Nick to join the KTK. This was on the top floor of the Tampa Airport Marriot Hotel, and the room would rotate while you ate showing a panoramic view of the airfield. I also fondly remember the gourmet food and drinks as well at the dinner.