Clive Sinclaire

Gentlemen I knew Cmdr Alex Newman very well and in fact, the core of my tsuba collection came from him during the 1970's. I have a signed copy of the book which he actually signed for my wife, for whom he had a bit of a thing (as did I!!) but this allowed me to buy some good tsuba at very advantageous prices, whilst his attention was otherwise engaged. He had a few weird ideas concering restoration, which are best ignored (his is the charpter on restoration in Robinson's Arts of the Japanese Sword) and unfortunately, on his death the rump of his tsuba collection disapeared into the vaults of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, never to see the light of day again, shame on them. Regards Clive Sinclaire

Gentlemen On the Owari tsuba, I have heard one interpretation that says that such "partially eclipsed" kiku, in some cases, may indicate royalist sympaphies and covetly represents the shogunate eclipsing and limiting the Imperial powers. Clive Sinclaire

Gentlemen There are a few literal errors in the piece and for some reason the formatting seems to have gon awry. I hope it has not detracted too much and I am trying to correct it asap. Clive Sinclaire

Gentlemen I have just appraised and drawn an oshigata of an interesting tanto by Nobuhide. This sword was exhibited at Niigata Museum in 1984 and was also featured (and illustrated by oshigata) in the book entitled NOBUHIDE KENKYU which was published in 1976 by the NBTHK, Niigata chapter. Of particular ionterest was the rare and unusual horimono. I would be grateful if you visited http://www.To-ken.com and went to Sword Register, no. 121 which refers to this blade. The subject of Bakamatsu period horimono in general is touched upon and I would be grateful for any comments or criticisms you may care to make. Regards Clive Sinclaire

Gentlemen I attended last Wednesday's Christie's sale in London and there were a number of surprises, maybe the biggest was Lot 152, a group pf 9 yari saya that had a surprisingly high estimate of £10k - £15k which was actually exceeded as the hammer price was an astounding £22K which I estimate was in excess of £26K to clear the room - these were just saya - no blades! Further, a group of ten tsuba, Lot 218, estimated at £700-£900 was knocked down for £13K and similar Lots repeated this huge under-estimate. Maybe the most unusual thing was that some 23 Lots were withdrawn from the sale as they were all stolen property! Exciting times in west London sales these days. Clive Sinclaire

Gentlemen I have now written up my Amahide and it may b found at http://www.To-ken.com under UK Sword Register No. 120. I have included an oshigata and a picture of the tsuba and tsuka, which are a little unusual. Your comments would be most welcome. Clive Sinclaire

Gentlemn A bit off the thread, but I have just up-dated http://www.To-ken.com under Meetings with a report on our last meeting. There is a picture of a large Yanone which I believe is a kabuki prop. Clive Sinclaire

Thanks for that Mr Morita. I have seen this oshigata before as it is also in Gregory and Fuller's book "Swordsmiths of Japan 1926-1945" but had not realised that Suzuki Shoun was a Tokyo Sword dealer. Regards Clive Sinclaire

Gentlemen I am interested in the details of Fukumoto Amahide. I understand that he had a gunto making factory in Seki during the war. I do, of course, have Slough's book and so am aware of all the details contained therin, but would like to know, for instance, who was his teacher, did the factory make gunto koshirae including tsuba?? etc. etc. This is not my normal area of sword study so any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Clive Sinclire

Hi Brian Sorry to duplicate a previous posting - its been a long day! Clive

Gentlemen There will be an exhibition called "Samurai" at the Frazier Museum, 829 Main Street West, Louiville, Kentucky USA from May 12 to Sept 30, 2012. This show is co-hosted by the Kokusai Tosogu Kai (International Tosogu Society) of which I am a member. It promises to be a very interesting exhibition and I am sorry not to be able to go. However, more info may ne found at Frazier.Museum.org. Regards Clive Sinclaire

Peter I believe you are refering to Fred Stride. I was there on Saturday morning and actually bought a gendai-to! Clive Sinclaire

Ian That's great as Robert is bringing up a kabuto for me, so see you there! Clive

Andre Isn't that a nice concept and design?, what a pity about the condition though. Do you think it refers to a Otoguisu (nightingale) in the plum verse, representing the 2nd lunar month? I think you may be correct that it is Nara work, but I doubt it is pre Edo. Clive Sinclaire

HIi Ian I'll be popping in threre for a flying visit on Sat morning. Do you have a table there? Clive Sinclaire

Gentlemen I am a bit late catching up on this thread so please forgive the sin if I am repeating anything already said. I have always considered that the modern so-called "shinken", a live blade used in Iai-do, to be the equivilant of a modern kazu-uichi-mono, that is to say of inferior artistic quality but very practical as a weapon. There is rather a long and rambling article that I wrote for the British Kendo Assoc some years ago, explaining this. It is rather wordy and lengthy but the essence of it is explained in the following paragraphed quoted from it:- To summarise, it is probably not a good idea to ask a Japanese sword collector his opinion on most Shinken. You have bought your Shinken, not for its artistic merits such as Hamon, Jihada, Nie etc., but for other considerations entirely such as balance, weight, length etc., which will not necessarily be appreciated by most collectors. It is also unwise to enquire about prices from sword collectors. They will only tell you what they would pay for it as an art-sword and as we have previously discussed, Shinken are seldom art-swords of great quality. I do appreciate how much Shinken cost to buy and have written several insurance valuations for Iaido practitioners that reflect a replacement value. It is, however, not within my remit to say whether these prices represent good value or not, this can only be determined by the prospective purchaser, his requirements and his personal financial situation, but they should not be under the impression, when buying a new or recently made Shinken, that they are buying good quality Japanese art-swords - it is 'only' a sword for Iaido that is being offered. I am sure they paid little heed to my words. Regards Clive Sinclaire

Gentlemen I would draw your attention to 2 new articles on http://www.To-ken.com which is the website of To-ken Society of Great Brirtain. Under "Articles" there is Part 3 of my "Restoration of a Japanese Armour Diary" whilst there a shinshinto wakizashi signed Nagamitsu is to be found under "UK Sword Register 118. As always your comments are very valuable to me. Regards Clive Sinclaire

Gentlemen There is no doubt that auctioneer's buying premiums and selling commissions are very high and I know a couple of collectors who refuse to buy at auction because of this. I have said to them, that I think that the important thing is the price which you must pay for a Lot to "clear the room" as they say, not how this price is made up. I have seen, even in recent months, where prices realised have been very low indeed, even after accounting for auction fees. There is no doubt that we are in a slump as far as Japanese swords are concerned and that it is a good time to buy and opportunities should not be missed, even at auction. Finally, I would point out that, even if you only buy from dealers, it is very likely that their stock has been through auction at some stage. As has already been said, Japanese sword collecting is not a poor man's hobby and if price is the sole arbiter of what you collect, you are unlikely to accumulate any collection of note or improve your knowledge of Japanese sword culture. Finally, I am very lucky. Having seen and handled many very fine swords, including National Treasures, Masamune's etc etc. on numerous trips to Japan, I fully realise that I can never own such things but they are always there for me to enjoy and therefore, there is no need to actually own them although of course, I still buy swords. The point is. I suppose, that there is now no urgency about acquisition or ownership and price is of less importance. These viewing / study opportunities are there for everyone. I hope I make myself clear although I realise this may sound crass and rather silly to some, but there you are. Regards Clive Sinclaire

Gentlemen I was sort of involved in the fake Kanenori business. If you go to http://www.To-ken.com and look under Articles, the Sophisticated Forgery article deals with the subject abd illusrtrate the sword in question. Regards Clive Sinclaire

Gentlemen, NBTHK shinsa costs have actually just increased and are now: Torokusho: Yen 6,300 (not NBTHK, of course) Hozon: Yen 25,000 (Yen 10,000 if rejected) Tokubetsu Hozon: Yen 35,000 (must already have Hozon, Yen 10,000 if rejected) Hozon and Tokubetsu Hozon together Yen 55,000 Juyo Token: Yen 200,000 (Yen 21,000 if rejected) Tokubetsu Juyo: Yen 340,000 (Yen 35,000 if rejected) As Chris mentioned, it is usual to put swords into shinsa when they are already in Japan for poishing. Whilst no cheaper, it will already have Torokusho and there are certain economies of scale, such as only one shipping cost etc.. However, with the punishing rate of exchange with the yen against most currencies, it may be worth shelving the project for a year or two although, of course, I guess the rate could then get even worse! Clive Sinclaire PS: I have thoroughly depressed myself writing the above!

Pablo Welcome to the NMB and to England. I am also a few miles from London, whereabouts are you and do you have swords there that can be viewed, hands on as it were? Regards Clive

Gentlemen I have just put Sword no. 117 onto http://www.To-ken.com under the Sword Register section.It is a quite interesting mumei chisa-gatana by Kaga Kiyomitsu and you may find some of the background info of interest. Your comments and criticisemes (?spelling) would be most welcome. Regards Clive Sinclaire

Gentlemen I believe I first heard of this "contest" in David Bergamini's excellent but highly controversial book, "Japan's Imperial Conspiracy" which was published in 1971 and caused quite a stir at that time. Clive Sinclaire

Gentlemen I am not entirely convinced by the various posts, but I guess it is an unprovable thing anyway and can only ever be a speculative subject. But what about the abstract dragon hidden in the sudare-ba? Maybw I am the only one who can see it - Nurse, more medication immediately!!! Regards Clive Sinclaire

Gentlemen Thanks for indulging me with you answers, but please consider this:- 1) It may be true that the workmanship speaks for itself, but so does all the many thousands that are signed and this never stopped independent swordsmiths from signing their work. 2) If the smith was unsatisfied with his work, I think he would have scrapped it and started again rathe than completed it, right down to the yasurime and leave it unsigned. 3)Usually, if it were the work of a deshi it would have been dai-mei rather than left mumei. 4) I have never heard of a votive sword being left unsigned and I know of many that are signed. I am sure that a shrine would rather have a valuable sword signed by a current master swordsmith than be presented with a less valuable mumei piece. 5) If it were a special order of a samurai of rank, I think the same as 4) applies and indeed mnay swords are inscribed as specially made for so and so. None of the above really convinces me and, as Nakahara says, I can think of no good reason why a sword, especially one that is Ubu and shinto, should be mumei. What about my idea that the hamon may be a dragon in an abstarct form, chasing the tama in the same way that a semi-abstract kiku is certainly depicted ? or should I simply take more water with my medication? Clive Sinclaire