Mark

can you post a picture?

when i go to google and type "minamoto rai nobuyoshi" i get page after page of info including a page from Markus book on Shinto smiths. Not sure why you are not finding anything. I would not worry about adding a sword by this maker to my collection, i would worry if the blade was genuine, there are a lot of fakes as he is a well known maker

Henry carpet is similar throughout the hotel. Here is a picture of the bar and lobby area. check out some of their pictures http://schaumburg.regency.hyatt.com/en/hotel/social-gallery.html The hotel staff treats us well, they enjoy having the show

he is a well known smith. Not sure about your library but he is in a lot of books. He used Takai before his title at times. If you google him there is a lot of info out there, we have discussed him here on NMB before. I have a 30" blade by him but i guess he could have made blades of any length. He worked late 1600's and i think longer katana were more common then

here are some pictures. The show seemed to go smoothly. I saw a person bring in a kabuto for sale, someone brought in a 28" katana with cutting test and sold it, a tanto by Satsuma Motohira (these were off the street, out of the woodwork so no papers), some nice military swords came in, a navy with shagreen saya that was very clean, a number of army swords, not sure what types of blades, there seemed a steady flow of traffic and at 3pm sunday (closing time) there were still quite a few exhibitors still open and doing business. There were a number of Juyo swords at the show, some available for sale some for display. I heard from a number of exhibitors who were very happy with some items they found, nice large ko-kinko tsuba, a potential kamakura daito found on a table. A lot of table holders are local so you only see their items at this show as they do not travel. Hopefully some other NMB members will comment on their thoughts when they return home and are settled, my view is from the perspective of the promoter.

missed a number of guys as i get a bit busy and distracted but here are a couple of others, Ron H, Mike Y, Joe K, Oleg, Pete K

here are a couple of pictures form the reception. Everyone enjoyed having a drink on Brian. A number of NMB had to leave Saturday before the reception, i think if we get together next year we will have to try something earlier. But it was a lot of fun

I just had one exhibitor with an emergency illness..... So if anyone wants a last minute tables let me know. I have had peope request tables Friday at the show so if you want one let me know right away. See you all there soon

Mike no plans at present for a shinsa, there was one in Tampa this year so usually only every couple of years and then usually at different locations to serve a variety of areas

Tom, John and Morita-san Thank you I appreciate the help, it was way beyond my ability to work it out.

John Thanks! I deleted the pictures and added ones with no reflection. Hope that helps, i appreciate the help. I think i see Meiji 8th year 10th month but that is all i can make out

Can someone please help me with the sayagaki. I can make out a Meiji date but that is about it Thanks

Joe I have no problem with you stopping by with your son, i will have soft drinks and i doubt we will be too rowdy of you come early. If there are some who will not be able to attend maybe we can also take a picture of those during the show on Saturday. Someone can organize that if they can.

This is an invitation to any NMB members attending the Chicago show this coming weekend. There will be a NMB Reception at Chicago Sword Show Saturday 4/30/2016 at 9pm (show closes at 9pm) Hyatt room 2321. Enjoy a glass of wine, beer , soft drink, or a glass of single malt (courtesy of NMB, thanks Brian) . To find room Room 2321 from the show it is up the stairs, turn right, left at the short set of stairs and room on the left. There is an elevator if needed. Ask me, Grey or my family if you need more information. Please make sure we mention this to any NMB members at the show who may have missed the announcement. We will take a few pictures, so anyone with a camera bring it, if not i can use my phone. Maybe we can encourage more people to join the board. See you there!

Ryan for details of the show check www.chicagoswordshow.com.

i am not positive but it looks like a Chinese copy

plan to come to the Chicago show, you are not that far away. You will see and learn a lot and can show your sword to polishers in person and get an opinion. You can see and compare hundreds of swords in one place

Murray There are a couple of clubs in the UK and some members of this group are in the UK. Hopefully some "up north" will see this. Here is a link to one site http://www.Japanese-swords.co.uk/clive_sinclaire.php

Dear Mjsh, or Mr Mjsh forum guidelines require signing your posts with a name, sorry not sure if i have your name correct. Where are you located? Maybe there is a sword show or club near you. One of us could assist you and remove the tsuka carefully

second picture is blurry on my screen, has the look of a genuine late war blade but hard to see anything in the picture

All presentations are on Saturday. Grey will do a presentation on etiquette and handling at 10am, there is an aikido demonstration at about noon. Mike Y is organizing the NBTHK-AB presentation, he may add a comment but last i spoke with him there may be two presentations, if so one wlll be about 2pm and the other 4pm. A couple of exhibitors are planning on displaying some interesting items, one display will be some very nice old iron tsuba.

Brian, I always take care of all the "refreshments", and am happy to do so. This year i am having an "Exhibitor Welcome reception" Friday after the show and so thought i could do a NMB reception Saturday. If you would like me to offer a special bottle from you i could do that.

If all NMB are at the show Saturday at closing time (9:00) we could go up to my room and enjoy a brew, glass of wine, or single malt and get a group picture in a more relaxed atmosphere. If members will not be there at that time someone can arrange a get together for a picture, i am sure i will be around anytime.

occasionally due to change of tsuka, maybe made as katana but then mounted as tachi, blade length the same but hole in different spot. I have seen some Hizen blades where the original hole is closer to the machi that normal and a later one was put in lower on the tang. Probably a variety of reasons but suriage is most common

with help of Markus Sesko's book Nihon-shinshinto-shi - The History of the shinshinto Era of Japanese Swords i found the meaning of the poem and some additional information. So i will have to compare the sword to some in books and try and determine if it is shoshin or a later copy