Clive Sinclaire

Ron I have a sword by this man and have written about him. If you go to http://www.To-ken.com and follow the Rescourses to the UK Sword Register, you will see he is listed, disussed and illustrated with oshigata. Clive Sinclaire

John If you follow the link to Resources / Sword Register on http://www.To-ken Society.com website you will see an oshigata and full discription of the sword. The mei is simply Ju Ichi Mago on this sword, but the very narrow suguha hamon certainly resembles that of Sue Tegai workmanship, but I do not recall ever seeing a shinto example of Tegai work. Regards Clive Sinclaire

Gentlemen At the Thomas Del Mar sale in London last wek. I purchased a sword by Shinano (no) Kami Hirokane who claimed to be the 11th generation descendant from Tegai Kanenaga, founder of the Yamato Tegai school. I believe that this swordsmith has been briefly discussed on this forum in the past but I have put my write up on http://www.To-ken.com. If you go to the Sword Register you will see it. Actually after buying it and debriefing in a convenient local hostelry, I learnt the name of the previous owner who I was familiar with. He died a few years ago whilst practising kendo in his full armour at a London dojo - that's the way to go!!! Regards Clive Sinclaire

Gentlemen I have just heard tha Amada Akitsugu, the Ningen Kokuho, died yesterday morning in his home in Nigata. I was fortunate enough to meet him on several occasions and visit him at his home. I was alaways amazed that such a frail looking man made such powerful looking swords. He often made his own tamehagane and I greatly enjoyed his swords. His funeral will be 3rd July. Clive Sinclaire

Gentlemen We have just put the latest part of Diary of the restoration of a Japanese Armour onto our website at http://www.To-ken.com. The project is nearing completion and I am very pleased with the results so far. Any of your comments would be most welcome. Regards Clive

James I stand corrected on this detail, thanks for pointing it out. Clive Sinclaire

Well done Andrew and Ford. I have met Andrew a couple of times at D T I and he kindly translates my occasional correspondence with Sasaki sensei. I guess with a teacher of Sasaki's quality and character, you have a very good chance of success. Best wishes Clive Sinclaire

Gentlemen I understand that these tsuba were in a sale at CHRISTIE'S South Kensington about a year ago. I was at that sale and these tsuba made high prices but, I have been informed, the American buyer defaulted on payment! Whatever the arrangement between Christie's and Bonhams, the tsuba on Monday are in a Chinese Art Sale! Clive Sinclaire

Brian I have just rechecked my Fukuro-yari mei which actually reads MINAMOTO NOBUKUNI KANETSUGU who worked around the Kanbun era in Chikuzen. The standard theory is that the manufacture of Fukuro-yari was greatly encouraged by Kuroda Nagamasa who considered their poles to be easily replaced in battle should they break, which was not the case with normal yari that had nakago. This may have been especially true on his battles on the Korean penninsula but others disagreed believing them to be weaker than those yari with nakago. Kuroda Nagamasa employed the Nobukuni line of swordsmiths from Chikuzen province at this time and it seems that the majority of fukuro-yari continued to be made in the Fukuoka area. I apologise if you are already in possesion of this knowledge. Regards Clive PS I have no pics that I can find but it is illustrated in my unworthy book Samurai Swords a Collector's Guide

Gentlemen I have always considered my short fukuro yari (signed on the socket Chikuzen Ju Nobukuni Kanetsugu) to be a "makura yari". It has a short intact red lacquered and ribbed pole, with the normal iron hirumaki at its end. Unfortunately the blade is not in such a good condition. Regards Clive Sinclaire

Gentlemen Slightly off the thread but I viewed Bonham's sale in London yesterday where there are a few interesting armours, including a women's armour and a red "monkey" armour. The sale is next week and I believe they are all imported from Japan for sale in London. Christie's has similar Lots. Worth viewing if not buying. Regards Clive Sinclaire

Gentlemen Last year I saw an osaraku at Kamakura where it was a kantei piece. It was actually by Kiyomaro but I initialy thought it was by Kiyondo who was known to favour this sugata. I seem to also remember that the one I drew an oshigata of, originally had a doubtful Kotetsu mei. Again, I thought this sword was by Kiyondo. Clive Sinclaire

After the fall of Osaka castle I beieve C

Strangely enough, I am off today to do a presentation at a "Budo Workshop" on a similar subject, ie Collecting Japanese Swords and how they came to the West in the Bakamatsu era and some of the big collectors such as Bigelow, Festing, Bowden etc. I had originally put this together for a seminar at Royal Armouries some years ago that was cancelled! Wish me luck! Clive Sinclaire

Adrian There are no "gajin" restrictions on attending Dai Token Ichi or buying swords there. In the past I have bought expensive swords at Dai Token Ichi and have arranged that the seller arranges all export details and sends it to me directly he has received full payment (some allow you to leave a small deposit so that you can transfer the balance when you return home). In this case it has only taken a few sdays to go (FedEx) from Tokyo to London - no problems. Also, as Mike mentioned, over the same weekend, the NBTHK Token Taikai will also take place at the Keio Plaza Hotel in Shinjuku. Whilst it is not a commercial affair, I cannot imagine a sword collector being in Tokyo and not attending it! There are some 200-300 swords to view hands-on, including top quality swords such as Masamune, Ichimonji eic etc. If for no other reason, it is worth joining the NBTHK simply to gain this access. How can you not? Clive Sinclaire

Dear ? and Ian I was shown these pics a few days ago and said similar to Ian. I hazzarded the guess that, from the workmanship, they looked like they could be made by Kinai tsuba makers from Echizen province, what do you think?. Clive Sinclaire

I see that clashes with the NBTHK To-ken Taikai on the same weekend at the Keio PLaza hotel in Shinjuku. That will be a busy few days to b sure! Clive S

Gentlemen With Hizen-to, I believe you will find the shingane feature to which you refer, is more often encountered in waki-Hizen-to rather than mainline Tadayoshi. It is also far more prevelant in Muromachi period Kazu-uichi-mono of course. I have a number of Hizen swords and only one (a shodai Tadakuni) displays small patches that have no pattern, or shingane on the surface. It is also quite difficult to see. Normally, I think this is refered to as "Tsukare" or "tired" as it certainly will not take another polish. We Hizen collectors prefer to call this Hizen Sumi-hada as this is less offensive! I have just gone into my sword room to count my Hizen-to and there are 12, only the one previously mentioned being guilty of displaying shingane. (A shodai Yukihiro has a couple of coarse spots in the Ji which may be one polish away from suni-hada) . As mentioned already, at shinsa a degree of shingane showing might be accepted in certain cases, depending on the severity of it. (By the way it took me ages to realise that TH referred to by several of you meant Tokubetsu Hozon, gentlemen, respect for the written word I think) Regards Clive Sinclaire

As always, Chris is quite on the money with his comments. Also, sashikomi is recommended with nioi-deki hamon and hadori in nie-deki. Also I believe that Muji-hada in shinshinto may be the result of less skilled polishing as all swords have a jihada but only the best polishers might be skilled enough to show the tight jihada in some shinshinto swords. Clive S

Gentlemen I had a very good Hizen sword that was out of polish and sent it to Japan for polishing. After I had new shira-saya and gold habaki made for it, the polisher told me that he had spotted ha-giri. I was devastated! Apparently he had just about finished the foundation work and was at the Uchigamori stage, which is quite late to spot the problem. It appears that swords that are nie-deki, especially if there is much nie within the hamon, ha-giri is very difficult to detect. Swords in nioi-deki are comparatively easy to spot at an early stage in the polishing. Of course, I told my togishi to stop work immediately and send the sword back to me. You are quite correct as there is no way, Sam, that it would pass shinsa and it is completely worthless, certainly the polisher would know this and I would not deal with them again. I would not try to hide or disguise the ha-giri as this would be simply dishonest and deceiteful. You cannot sell it or even give it away and the best to hope for is a full refund from the seller. You wiill still be out of pocket, but maybe a little wiser. Clive Sinclaire

Steady Steady Jean, Steady now and calm down dear boy! Actually I used to know Han Bing Siong quite well and bought a Hizen Tadakuni from him sometime in the 1970's which I still have. Some 20 years after I had bought if he asked me if I would like the koshirae for it, which I was unaware even existed! He gave me a fine kyu-gunto that is illustrated on the front cover of one of Richard Fuller's books on military swords. Apparently he now believed that I was unlikely to sell the blade for a quick profit and truely appreciated it. Clive Sinclaire

Gentlemen Some years ago, I had the mei removed "proffesionaly" from a tanto after it had been declared gimei at NBTHK shinsa in Japan. I then re-submitted it later to a shinsa outside of Japan and rather than any attribution to a maker, as I expected on a mumei blade, it received a pink paper, ie failed!. I was mystified how this could happen to an unsigned blade and was unable to obtain a clear explanation for this and still fail to comprehend. Shinsa panels work in a mysterious way, their wonders to perform. Clive Sinclaire

Ron I am confused. In my copy of Hizen Taikan, page 149 is a photograph of a su-yari, the signature of which reads "Hizen Kuni Musashi Daijo Fujiwara Tadahiro" (shodai Tadayoshi) + a date not Yoshinobu. Hizen Taikan only deals with the mainline Tadayoshi / Tadahiro smiths and does not list waki-Hizen-to smiths. However, there were skilled horimono-shi such as Munenaga (who Yoshiinobu was connected to) and Tadanaga who carved for other smiths. Tadamasa that you quote, signed variously as "Hizen Saga ju Fujiwara Tadamasa" as well as in the Junin manner. He seems to have used the personal name of "Genuemon" and 2 different characters for "Masa". He was a student of shodai Tadayoshi and worked around 1624. There was a second generation, circa Tenna era 1681. Any use? Clive Sinclaire

Ron There is a portrate of Masahide in the new Yoshihara / Kapp book "The Art of the Japanese Sword", page 84, but it is not a photograph. Regards Clive Sinclaire