Jesper

Sorry to bother you with my quest for this smith again There is a very late Edo period Masashige (1854?) listed in "Joshu Toko Zufu" by Sato Kanzan, NBTHK, and I think he may be the smith I am looking for, depending on his active period of production. I may also be completely wrong... I would be very gratefull if anyone could take a look in Sato´s publication and let me know what it says. Thanks in advance. Jesper

Hi all, I have posted this request under the Military Swords of Japan section earlier, which might have been wrong, since this is a traditionally made sword. I would be gratefull if anyone could give me any information on this Gendai smith. He signed Choshu no jo Masashige. I have enclosed a photo of a Fujishiro paper. Thanks again to Chris Bowen for sharing that this Masashige isn¨t listed in the Meikan, at least not under this mei. Does anyone have additional information about this smith? Thanks Jesper

Thank you. Jesper

Hi all, I would be gratefull if anyone could give me any information on this Gendai smith. He signed Choshu no jo Masashige. I have enclosed a photo of a Fujishiro paper. Thanks in advance. Jesper

Hi all, Thanks for the feedback! Just a note on the first edition: Yumoto mention in the bibliography section of his "The Japanese Sword" that the first edition was authored by Honnami, Homma, Iwasaki, Kanzu, Okonogi, Ogura, Tawara and others. Published in 1935, 25 volumes (the de-luxe edition had 16 volumes). Jesper

Thanks, but I mean Homma´s original Japanese publication, not AFU´s translation from the nineties.

Hi all, Does anyone know when volume 6 (Kodogu) of Homma´s Nihon To Koza was published? I know it is in the late sixties, but I would like to state the year in a reference list. I cannot find the year in the volume, but maybe I am not looking hard enough... Thanks in advance. Jesper

All swords and kodogu are in good condition. No scratches, damage to laquer, etc. It does not seem that the burglars were aiming at the collection but took what they found. Things could easily hae been damaged. A happy end indeed! This incident may remind us of the importance to keep an always uppdated documentation with good descriptions and photoes, which should of course be kept at a separate place. Jesper

Hi all, I am happy to inform you that almost everything has been located by the Danish police and returned to their rightful owner. All swords and almost all kodogu has been recovered in good condition. Items still missing are: A pair of gold menuki attributed to Goto Joshin. A shakudo fuchi/kashira by Nakamura with arrows inlaid in silver with box with sayagaki by Kanzan Sato. A kokatana by Mino Jumio. Thanks for your interest and concern. Jesper P.

I have enclosed a list with the information I have so far. The descriptions are very rude and oshigata and pictures are missing. I will update the list when I have more information. Jesper Stolen swords.pdf

I do not think we should speculate and point any fingers at anyone, inside or outside the nihonto community, at the moment, but leave the investigations to the proper authorities. I will post a list of the items on the NMB when I receive one, together with contact information to the responsible police department, etc. I know of the 2003 theft in Switzerland. As you correctly mentioned, the swords are still missing. Jesper

A friend of mine in Copenhagen, Denmark has had break-in in his appartment. Several high level swords and fittnings, incl. juyo papered pieces are missing. More information to follow. Jesper P.

Hi all, I am in Quebec in the beginning of November and have a day off on Sunday, Nov. 1st. Are there any museums displaying nihonto, etc. in the Quebec area? Thanks in advance Jesper

Hi all, It´s amazing how this thread developed the two days I have been off-line :D Thank you all for your input on my polishing question. Just some final words: I am fully aware that a very good polisher would be reluctant to polish a gendaito. As I said, I have just bought the sword last week for a very small amount. I do not collect gendaito and never considered giving the sword an expensive high quality polish, but just wanted to fix it up a little. However, it is not on the top of my priority list. All the best Jesper

I have picked up a gendai-to a few days ago. The blade is signed Seki MitsuNobu, dated march 1945. It is out of polish, but not too bad with no deep rust. It has a nice small gunome hamon with long Ashi. I think it is traditionally made and am considering to have it polished. I would normally consider a Japanese polisher for very good blades, but might for this one try a polisher in Europe. Thanks Jesper

Thank you Jacques and Brian, Do you know if the English polishers have websites? Jesper

Hi all, Does anyone know if there are there any polishers currently working in Europe? Thanks. Jesper

Now it makes sense. :D Thanks a lot! Jesper

Hi all, I have a question about a Shin-Gunto with late 1944 mounting I picked up a few days ago. I do not collect Shin-Gunto and know next to nothing about them, but it seems to be a traditionally made blade signed Seki MitsuNobu with a star stamp. There are also some other very small stamps which I cannot identify. The blade is in need of a polish, but the Hamon seems to be small Gunome with a lot of Ashi. The Boshi is not visible. However, the date on the Tang is strange. I translate it as Showa Ni-ju-ichi Nen San Gatsu Hi, a day in March 1946 (Showa 21). 1946 is after WWII, where no swords were made. It is not the traditional kanji for 20 (i.e. 2 and 10), but the one shown in B.W.Robinson, The Arts of the Japanese Sword, page 89. Am I reading the date wrong? One side of the Tang has written ”143” with black paint. The other side has some painted Kanji I cannot identify. Any help is much appriciated. Thanks in advance. Jesper

I always ask the seller to pack the tsuba outside the box. Even if carefully packed, the tsuba might act as a hammer to the peg holding it in place in the box or to the box itself and risk to be damaged. I once received a package where the box was completely demolished. I was very lucky that the tsuba wasn´t damaged from the small iron nails holding the peg in the box. Jesper

I suspect that it may be an old price tag. The number on the label is "51?", which could mean some value between 510 and 519 in JPY. Thank you. I figured out the "5" kanji, but not the rest. Jesper

Thank you. Here is a part of an old label on the box. Does it help in any way? Jesper

Hi all, I would greatly appriciate any help identifying the Mon on an Armour box. See photo. Thanks in advance. Jesper

Hi all, Just for comparision, here is an example of a nice Tosho tsuba. NBTHK paper. Jesper

Hi all, Here are seome pictures from the DTI. It was really nice meeting many of you in person. Jesper Sweden