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Hello: At the junction of Late Koto/Early Shinto, perhaps Shimada group, Sukemune or someone close??? Arnold F.

Hello: Interesting question Peter! It is however an empirical question and I think the question has to be restricted to distinguish between persons who have collections, and those who are active collectors. I wouldn't dare to guess a number , but if we were to restrict it to blade collectors who are active, and if we had the co-operation of the leading clubs such as the JSS/US, NBTHK/AB, the California and similar regional groups, and perhaps dealer's lists to provide numbers, and then delete for double counting, there would be a starting number. Then the issue would by what factor to multiply that number? The range would be at least 2 - 10 I would guess. Just "thinking" out loud. Arnold F.

Hello: Terrific story Curran, shades of Casablanca too. Arnold F.

Hello: My post yesterday evening was a quick reply to a straight forward question about total historical output and residual numbers. The information provide was taken from a 14 page article within the KTK catalog as prepared by Nick Nakamura. It is my understanding that he used several research assistants in its preparation and there is considerably more information to be found in the piece, which is a useful read in its entirety. The numbers game will always be based on incomplete information and is open to alternative assumptions at the start. My first encounter with an estimate was in John Yumoto's, The Samurai Sword: A Handbook (1958). Other intervening estimates can also be found, but Nakamura's is one of the more complete and interesting that you will find. Arnold F.

Hello: In the 11th Kokusai Tosogu Kai catalog, in an article titled "Q & A on NIHONTO's HISTORICAL STRUCTURE and VALUE" 2015, Nick Nakamura offers the following: 1. How many swordsmiths over the last 1.000 years in Japan? About 70,000. 2. How many Nihonto were made during the last 1,000 years in Japan? About 30,000,000. 3. How many exist in Japan now? About 3,000,000. 4. How many are currently registered in Japan? About 2,500,000. 5. How many Nihonto exit outside of Japan today? About 1,000,000. Considerable research is said to have gone into those estimates and the considerable text that follows. Arnold F.

Hello: Yes and eye catcher and at about $21,000 USD for a Juyo with Tanobe sayagaki and koshirae, while the latter isn't much to look at, is reasonable if there isn't a fight at the auction. What would bother some is that it appears to have had a fair amount of some notation, perhaps a kinzogan mei, removed from the nakago. It is also atypical, Aoi mentioning Aoe similarities and the dog teeth ashi don't fit, if it had utsuri one would think Unji perhaps, and as Ray said, the hamon is wide. I would guess that those factors might exclude Chin-Cho and such, yet it isn't designated as "Den" though Tanobe sensei might not have been at the Juyo shinsa. Arnold F.

Hello: I am really not qualified to comment on so called "Court Tachi" as there are collectors of koshirae who I hope will chip in, however it is clear that at coronations samurai and other qualified persons, right down at least to the Taisho Emperor, would wear special tachi, the mounting referred to a Efu-tachi koshirae equipped with tsuba referred to as shitogi tsuba, looking nothing like the disc-like tsuba we commonly refer to as such. One sees Meiji and later versions of such mounting appear from time to time for sale at leading auctions. Considerably rarer versions from earlier times are illustrated in various books, but we should remember that early mountings are very much rarer than swords of the same period. I seem to recall seeing Efu-tachi with bird's heads illustrated, but compared to the huge one you show, they are canaries. I believe the one you illustrate is the sort of thing turned out in Meiji and later times for export to the West and they wouldn't get with a mile of any coronation, but I could stand corrected. The saya does show the ho-ho bird seen on the real thing, but that doesn't make it "the real thing." Arnold F.

Hello: Quite frankly the blade looks like something in the Horikawa group, rather like Kunimichi, but the kinzogan mei probably wouldn't fit. Perhaps Late Nanbokucho Shidzu??? Arnold F.

Hello: With the primacy of sugata and jihada being foremost in kantei, a focus oriented towards yakiba, if that is your intention, leads to a lot of misdirection. Arnold F.

Hello: Just to add what might not be obvious from the context of question and answer, the genuine Minatogawa swords are true Nihonto in every sense of the term, are rarer than Yasukuni swords for reasons both of less total production at that Shrine and the devastation of Japanese Naval forces for whom they were made. If you have one treasure it and if you haven't acquired Herman Wallinga's monograph on those swords, by all means do. Arnold F.

Hello: The reference referred to by Joe Pierre repeats the gross error that the Minatogawa kiku-sui is a "stamp". It is not, it is engraved and everyone is thus very slightly different. Arnold F.

Hello: Franco's discussion of a habaki being made to fit over a nakago thicker than the blade above and yet fitting well when in place is not magic; its correctness relies on the fact that while the nakago might be thicker, the habaki is only meant to grasp the blade at the ha and mune, thus it can be slightly wider relative to the nakago sides and yet fit properly when seated in its proper place. This of course assumes that the nakago isn't substantially wider than the blade at initial machi and mune. A master habaki maker such as Brian Tschernega can readily fit such pieces. From time to time you see ugly friction scratching on the sides of a blade where a poorly made or substituted habaki has been placed, and that looks awful. I suspect it is common practice in Japan for a dealer to substitute a not quite right habaki for a better one when on the way to market, particularly to a Western market, with the tell tale evidence to be seen. Arnold F.

Hello: I second all of the above! Arnold F.

Hello: Following Gordon Robson's preparation of Glossary of Japanese Sword Terms, JSS/US, p.72: "Shumai, Literally "red" signature and refers to a kantei mei done in red lacquer. These are also often accompanied by the name of a Honami appraiser and are typically done on blades that have an ubu nakago." That definition has some elasticity by use of terms like "often" and "typically," however it certainly is the standard definition. I also saw the Aoi posting this AM and wondered about it being placed on what looks like a substantially altered original nakago, but once again it reminds us of the worth of Nakahara's Facts and Fundamentals of Japanese Swords and all the amazing transformations, usually for deception at some point, that original sugata have undergone over the years. Arnold F.

Hello: I think we need an optometrist! Wouldn't the Tanobe recommendation be that if 3x is required to bring you to 20:20 or general vision capability, the presumptive starting point, then no more than an additional 3x!? Arnold F.

Hello: I wonder if the "gain" from magnification, particularly high magnification might not be net negative in the sense that one sees things outside the common and classic conventions for an examination and enjoyment of a sword? I wonder what the gain might be, except perhaps in seeing if the tiny ha-giri is real, though there are other ways to tell that. When Tanobe sensei gave his extended lecture at the Florida Token Kai a few years ago he stressed not using a glass greater than 3x! Arnold F.

Hello Bazza: A great tribute to a man who must have been a wonderful man and great collector. Arnold F.

Hello: My goodness what an overblown response to the rather straight forward suggestion that someone might want to actually try an empirical test on an otherwise valueless blade which still retains some polished surface, thereby seeing if it is a really such a "bad idea" to use a copper coin (one carefully specified by me and not just one "pulled from (a) pocket"). The mention of Schultz and Friedman was not intentioned to provoke some sort of ad hominum attack on either one, but merely to point out the chops of the person suggesting to Friedman that theory alone is not sufficient, and that was expressed by someone who is not unappreciative of trial and error to another who would agree fully. Beyond that the ramble of the post above seems dangerously strange by implication by several assertions made in it. If folks can substitute a steel nail, Mohs 4-4.5, for a correct copper coin, and not expect to scratch the adjacent polished surface, it would be more than surprising. As for steel wool, haven't we all seen many blades badly abraded from steel wool? The comments about economics are just silly and don't deserve a response, unless one believes economists cause recessions. Arnold F.

Hello: I promise (!?) that this is my last post on the benefits of a limited use of a British copper penny (to be safe one with the image of Queen Victoria, which can be bought for a few cents), carefully manipulated, pre-tested, it being no substitute for a professional polish by a skilled togi-shi, to remove a few specks of rust that stands proud on an otherwise polished Japanese sword blade. Darcy's reference to "not a good idea" and "a bad idea" reminds me of a famous ditty sung by George Schultz, former Dean of the Business School at the University of Chicago and former US Secretary of State, to the retired Nobel Laureate, Milton Friedman, a few years ago at a banquet for the latter: "A fact without a theory is like a ship without a sail...but if there's one thing worse in this universe, its a theory without a fact." A copper penny used on a sword to remove superficial rust spots might seem like a bad idea; an experiment on an otherwise ruined sword with such spots would show a surprising result if that rust is surrounded with the reasonable residual of a properly polished surface. The surrounding area will not be scratched up. I have collected swords for some years and have seen hundreds and hundreds of examples of some well intentioned use of a dental tool, a pocket knife, a nail, coarse steel wool, you name it, to remove a bit of rust. The resultant scratches are ugly, distracting and demanding of a professional polish. A copper penny, one that is almost entirely copper, will not make that spot seem to go away, but it will not leave adjacent scratch marks and the rust spot reduced in elevation and less distracting. Needless to say there is no need or call for extending the use of the penny beyond the rust spot. A polish may still be called for, but in the interim the blade will be easier to enjoy. Don't take my word for it; test it first, connect theory and fact. Arnold F.

Hello Franco: Is there some written guideline that expresses that NBTHK position if in fact that is their convention? Arnold F.

Hello: Stephen's first listed seems very nice to me. The combination of the daikon, mouse (?) and several Buddhist tama, if that is what they are, is nice and the nunome is in good order and characteristically Jingo as is the rest of piece. A shinsa might attempt to indicate the genreration. I saw it pop up for auction and am a little surprised it didn't sell. Arnold F.

Hello: Yes Marius you might well be right. Sometimes in the literature they seem to stress that and images sometimes show what looks like a standard sword blade with a long (!) tsuka. Again those with naginata-hi don't cross over in designation as best I can remember. Again I have seen blades called naginata that don't have the characteristic hi, and I have a Nanbokucho Naoe Shizu with standard hi, not the naginata-hi we think of, it being TH with Tanobe sensei sayagaki. I guess "the rule" is no binding rule. Arnold F.

Hello: Well Jean that might " in fact" be today's convention, I don't know, but I am now looking at the Juyo paper I have for a Nanbokucho nagamaki-naoshi, which clearly calls it just that, the paper being for Showa 46. It is that elastic standard that led me to add "slippery" in the above. Arnold F.

Hello: Interesting package for sure, but from what I can see on the sayagaki and NBTHK paper it is refereed to as a naginata-naoshi, not a nagamaki-naoshi. I don't think that has much material impact on value and the distinctions can be rather slippery anyway. Arnold F.

Thanks "Death-Ace": I used to give out those old good English coins at shows to unbelieving folks for nothing and they would often return with happy praise of the results. Of course everyone should try only on something where damage doesn't matter in any meaningful sense. One sees so many blades with a rust spot or two that someone has scratched away at with a knife blade or dental tool, which always leads to significant damage to a polished surrounding area. In any coin store, usually in a 25 cents "your choice" pail you can pick up such coins, 50 cents at the most. The process is not (!) meant to clean up a generally rusted blade as for that you need a professional polisher for sure; it is only for a few superficial, ie, above the surface, spots here and there. Regards, Arnold F.