Mark Green

Yes, I would say paul chen for sure as well. Mark G

Great news on that Boshi. It can likely be fixed. LOTS of Masahiro!!!! The sword looks Shinto to me. MG

Hi again, Did a bit more digging http://www.geocities.com/alchemyst/sharp.htm If only 200 or so swords were tested according to the KK, than I would think the whole thing is just fluff. As always, it would depend on the sword in question. It sounds like they tried to use swords of about the same size and weight, but I would think, that unless many hundreds of swords were tested, under the same conditions. The results would be very much in question. Which once again brings me back to the money question. If your sword making smith/school could get the best ranking, your swords would sell for more. Who was paying the testers? Who sponsored the tests? MOST nihonto will take your arm off like butter. I would think it would be very tough to say who's swords were sharper all the time, without some type of uniform test. What do you think??? Does anyone here have these books? Mark G More http://www.nihontocraft.com/Suishinshi_Masahide.html

Hi guys, I wasn't speaking of cutting tests. I was speaking of the Ratings that came out, conducted by ???, that made a smith Wazamono or not. Cutting tests were a whole different thing. Anyone may have wanted to test their swords down at the local jail. That was very common. I'm talking about the Man yen value placed on swords according to the 'Nihonto Wazamono Nyumon' 1974, based on the 'Kaiho Kenjaku 1797', and the KKB of 1830. These books established the first Wazamono rankings, and also assigned 'Man Yen' values. I was just wondering if anyone here had seen these books, or has them, and could fill us in on the science behind the tests. Or was it just the sword dealers of the time getting together to say what was what. How many swords were tested, and just how was the control done? Were the blade edges all sharpened up by the same person? were the cuts all made by the same person, or group of people? What was the test material? If there was no controlled science, behind the tests, than they were iffy at best.

Great job Brian, I was seeing the boshi as that other shadow, outside your line by quite a bit. KInda where the edge in your ps pic is. I sure hope Im wrong. More pics in other light may help. MG

With the discussion of wazamono going on on the other thread, I thought I would start one just for this topic. My 'feeling' about the whole Wazamono things, is that it was mostly about money. Because of this, I'm not too sure how scientific the methods were. I do not have the good books on this though, so my opionion is based on a gut feeling, and my knowledge of human nature. Because a money value was placed on the ranking, I'm sure the big sword dealers of the time may have had a big say in the testing. Most GREAT old swords were left out??? Likely they were afraid of damage. For you guys out there with the good books on this, What was the method of scientific research used in these tests? What do YOU think? Mark G

Great looking sword. I think it may be a close call on the boshi though. It looks to me, like the kissaki would not be able to keep it's original shape. Hard to tell from that pic though. Could you get a few more pics of the Kissaki area? With that Bo-hi so far towards the point, the reshaped Kissaki would be very restricted. JMHO Mark G

Great get CJ, So, why is it you want new paper on this sword??????? Another educated guess by other eyes, may or may not change a thing, but money. Your sword looks great. It looks in good polish. It HAS papers. Why??? Mark G

Hey Shan, You sure that is a Koto sword??? It looks very much like one of my suriaged swords to me. Maybe he will pay that 5g's, for a 500$ sword. Just a thought. Mark G

I feel, that without a doubt, the Mongols would have been on the beach to stay, if the storms had not wrecked the fleet. They may have swept Kyushu in short order. Maybe all of Japan, although I feel the Bakafu would have quickly adapted, and Japan is so wonderfully easy to defend. Their bigest problem of the time, was that they had no navy. This seems crazy to me, for an island nation. I doubt that the Mongols had much cav. with them. Horses are way too hard to transport by sea. But lets remember, the Mongol army had pounded through everyone! Their commanders were well trained by real war. Most young Samurai of the day, had seen little or no, real combat. Believe me, there is a very big difference. As said above, the Samurai way, was hero combat. The Mongol way, was high density inf. tatics. With lots of great toys. Like things that explode. Their wars vs the Chinese were hard fought, and mostly siege. I do feel that the Samurai would have learned, and in a short time would have given the Mongols fits. It would have been very tough for the mongols to stay in supply. Had the Bakafu gone to a scorched earth policy. It is a war that could have lasted for decades, had devine intervention not happened, (TWICE!!!!) Just think of what Japan would have become if they had embraced the power of a navy in the 13c. Look what they did in 50 yrs. when they finally got a clue. It is a sure thing that the equipment used by Samurai after the mongol invasion, were improved in a big way. Brian is way correct on this. :lol: Luv ya'll Mark G

Hi gang. While it is obvious that your swords was not expected to chop through steel armor, it sure would help if it could. Plus, you sure want to cut someone where the armor is less effective, but that doesn't mean you will have the chance. If my sword has a good chance to cut through your armor, and yours doesn't. Good luck!!! Yes, armor in Japan, as well as everywhere else in the world, followed missle weapon tec. In Japan that changed very little, until the gun came around, and then changed very little again due to peace breaking out, and the Samurai putting the gun away. The mongol armor gave the Samurai problems accross the board. The samurai bow was less than half as powerful as the Mongol bow. That was why the Mongol armor was better. Not long after the Mongol invasion, the Samurai, and sword makers got together with a new plan. Swords for war changed. Durring the Nambokucho wars, as durring all great periods of war the swords became much more stout. Swords made for war!!! But Japanese swords, are always made to be ready for war. And as large and powerful as Nambo era swords are, I would bet if you held 50 uncut swords of that era, next to 50 swords from the Shinshinto era, you would find a big weight defference. I feel this may have a bit to do with the armor of the time. While a few swords may have been made for 'gun slinger' Samurai, for unarmored combat I doubt that they were many. War could break out at any time, and most Samurai tried to stay ready for this. Plus, If I were a gun slinger duelist, I would want a sword that could chop the other guys sword in half, as long as I could move it fast. The sword that absorbs most of the kenetic energy, will be the one that breaks, or takes the huge chip. A bit of extra weight would help with this a bunch. I have a late period Korekazu that was made with a nice bulge in the Monouchi. I have never seen any other sword with this, but others may have been polished out. This is not a flaw, but was made that way. I would say the reason for this woud be added weight at the sweet spot. I can think of no other. An experiment? maybe, but it does make sence. So, I may be wrong about the weight and stoutness of swords due to armor change, but Im not sure. It most likely was due to the need for your sword to live through combat of the time???? Fun topic guys. Mark G

The fake sword tab does not seem to be working????? Mark g

Hi Mark, Sorry bro, looks like you have a chinese fake there. Click the fake sword tab above, and see what you think. From the mei, and Nakago, I would say fake for sure. Sorry for the bad news. Mark G

Now that is what I would call Boshi grande. Very sweet, and great pics!!!!!! Whats the wak?????? Mark G

We should likely take this off the list. I would be glad to tell all. email me at dgreen7@bellsouth.net Mark G

And I totaly agree with JJ, The sword was a last resort weapon. If you are close enough to kill someone with your sword, they are close enough to kill you!!! These swords are huge razor blades. You just get touched in an area with no armor, and you are opened up in a big way. So, Although there were many people killed by swords. The Yari is QUEEN of the big battle. I am a spear fighter in most big melee battles. I 'kill' 10 times as many people with my spear than I would if I was fighting with my sword and shield. Arrows do good work as well. Samurai armor was designed from the early times to be arrow defence. It changed very little in 400 yrs. Guns, made the armor change from leather, to steel. Hence the huge change in swords at about the same time. Shinto swords had to cut through much tougher armor. Shinshinto swords had to cut through steel. That is why the weight of swords nearly doubled. It is allways fun to let people hold my early 1500s wak in one hand, and my shinto Tomoyuki in the other. I just say, "before guns, after guns". Mark G

The sticker has my info. If I get knocked out, or killed, for real, they know who I am, and who to contact. Safety first!!!!! Mark G

This is me at war. Mark G

Yes!!!!! all REAL swords are just used for dressing after our non leathal battles. And I think that all arrows that could be found were reused in all Midieval battles. Mark G

Mariuszk, Thanks for the question. And I understand your concern. I have had more than a few lovers of Nihonto ask me this same question. I love my swords. I have many that live in my safe, they only come out for friends to see, and a once in a while display/class I do for the 'Society for Creative Anachronism'. If these swords have a spirit, it is a dark and lonely existence. However, for a lucky few, that are beat up, or dead from loss of boshi, or cracks, or that I just like too much, these get to go to war once again. I am a Knight in the SCA. This is not just a title, it is something I have earned through real full contact fighting, in full armor, with ratan weapons. These weapons will not cut you, but they will cave your head in, or break your bones, hence the full armor. A knight is like a 5th++++ deg. black belt, or a top level kendo dan. Full contact marshal art. So, Although these swords&yari, do not get to be used to kill people, they get to be part of modern Bushido in it's best form. I go to wars where many thousands of combatants fight every day, all day. Where else would a yari from the 1500s want to be???? So, I guess that while replicas may be better, it sure is cool to be able to pull out your 500yr old sword and show it to people that can understand just what it ment to live and die by the sword. I hope this has answered the question for you. Mark G aka Sir Marc d'Aubigny/ sir Tomoyuki

Hi Gang, After speaking with my other Samurai friends that have 'REAL' Nihonto That they carry to the field durring our events, I have found it to be quite a mixed bag of rust. These swords range from Koto to very new. I use choji oil on my swords, others do use the modern synthetic base oils on their SCA carry swords. I feel that the modern 'gun' oils may be a better choice for our use. The guys that have used the modern gun oils say they have had much less problems with rust than those of us that use only the pure choji. Some guys use a thin coat of grease. That seems the be the best bet. Their saya get messed up quick though. I am sure that in period, the Samurai, and other troops had learned what worked best to keep the rust off. It may in fact have been some form of oil/lard/vegi matter, that formed some sort of protectice coat on their weapons that would just dry on and remain until the campain was over, or until it was time to touch it up. They had hundreds of years to perfect this. I'm sure once someone found something that worked well, the word would spread fast, than everyone would be using it. I still believe that it mostly comes down to the individual sword, and it's steel. The very old Koto sword I use, the Gendi katana, the 3 late shinto yari, seem to have much less problem than does the early shinto wak that seems to be the worst, no matter what I do, in terms of amount of oil I put on it. I will do some experiments/research this year to see what helps the most. Mark G

I couldn't find the Mino book but from the Fujishiro, I would say that it does look close. The marks all seem to go the right way. With a few problems. I would get it looked at closer. I'm sure others will jump in on this when they have a chance. I would put it at possible. You never know, big name though. So, you allways have to wonder. Those with more books than I will chime in soon. Mark G

Stever, Great looking blade, and GREAT close up on the mei!!!!! I'm going to crack the books now. Mark G

I think many of us that have collected from places like ebay, have many horror stories to tell. I have a spectacular Jumonji yari that someone took a grinder to both sides of the tang. You can still just make out some of the Kanji marks, but not enough to make a read. I have spent over 200 hrs+++ in the polish of this yari, and that was after Louis had taken the big rust off. I know why most pro polishers will not do these. It has turned out to be the best one I have ever seen. I should have new pics soon. My nobusada spent 50+ years in some old ww2 vets back yard chopping weeds. It has some very permenant scars from that. Dana san had this nice old sword that someone had been using to split wood. There were hammer marks all along the mune, and it was bent up like a snake. I think that one was a fatality. It had cracks from the ha up through the sword. I think the good end became a nice Tanto though. on, and on, and on, I could go with horror stories. Mark G

Hi Carlo, I ment swordssss in the army as a whole were being polished every day. There would be no point in polishing each sword every day, as most would be starting to rust up in a few days. But if that sword had seen a bunch of action in a day it may well need some chip repair. Also, the kind of light polishing that would take place in the field, would not likely take much steel off. And, the light rust could be taken off with powder, or finger stones, until you got home. I have also found that for some strange reason, Yari are not as likely to rust as quickly as swords do. But I only have a few to judge this from. I believe that it has to do mostly with the steel of each sword/yari. My gendi sword that I carry to the field has rusted very little ever. The steel is very tight, compaired with the old beat up shinto wak that seems to be the worst rust bucket. Mark G