saipan59

Good idea ( :-) )!. Around 30-some years ago I did an article for the JSSUS Newsletter that was titled something like "Translating Flags and Banners". It showed examples of the most common slogans, such as "BU UN CHOu KYUu", "HISSHOu", etc. Pete

Thank You everyone for your insights and helpful comments! Pete

Hi Jussi, Thanks for your comments! I agree with everything you said. I have not been an active collector for some years, and I no longer have my reference books, so I rely on Google... My wife (native Japanese, with a family background in literature and art) feels that 'X' is probably not KUNI. The bottom of that kanji may be missing, which would help clarify it. She read NAKAMURA as the more archaic CHUuSON, but perhaps in the Nihonto world NAKAMURA is more likely. As you know the actual reading of names and such is sometimes not certain, because it would require asking the person from that time. For example, I still have a blade by an obscure smith, GEN32 in Hawley's book, which Hawley read as GENJOu (an ONYOMI style of reading), but it could actually be HIROKIYO, or something else. Nobody can say for sure. I have chosen to call it HIROKIYO. About 30+ years ago, I am proud to say that I was the author of the "ToShoW" smith database program, which was well-known to the experienced Western collectors at that time, when there were no "online resources" and most of the reference books were in Japanese. ToShoW allowed doing searches for arbitrary strings such as "Izumo no kami" or "kinzaemon" -- that was a very valuable feature at that time, since every book was only indexed by the 'art name'. But if you couldn't read the art name, then you were stuck... The early version of Stan's Nihontoclub.com swordsmith database was based on my ToShoW data, but of course now it has gone far beyond. Pete

Thanks - that's a good suggestion. But *assuming* that the last visible kanji is the first half of the name, my wife doesn't think that anything matches. I suggested that it might be a 'fancy form' of ARI (i.e. ARIMITSU), but she thinks probably not... She also has doubts about the middle part of KINZAEMON - it's not quite clear enough. Pete

The reading of this seems to be IZUMO NO KUNI JUu CHUuSON KINZAEMON [?] . But those keywords are not leading me to anything. The last kanji is unknown to us (and perhaps not complete because of the SURIAGE). Thanks for any help! Pete

Hopefully it is all "civil discourse", but I think it's valuable for relative newbies to hear about the realities (my opinion?) of things like "expert", "best", kantei, kanteisho, polishing, legendary cutting ability, ninja, seppuku, "museum quality", etc. These are all things that are often distorted in various sources, especially online. This is why I was cynical about "top 10" in my reply at the beginning of this thread. Fortunately, this thread has included good info such as some proposed ways to measure "top 10". Pete

Well said. The Nihonto field (and perhaps other fine arts) includes a large dose of favoritism, money, politics, ego, bias, etc. The top experts would become mostly irrelevant if objective measurements were the criteria. The experts are good at kantei (I must assume), but there is never a way to PROVE that they're reliable, especially in the determination of shoshin vs gimei. Related: My first trip to Japan in 1985, I knew almost nothing about Nihonto, but I had a couple of blades. I brought a photo of the signed nakago of one. When I visited the NBTHK museum, I asked an attendant if there was someone I could show my photo to. She fetched a fellow from a back room. We had a big language barrier, but I asked him to write down in Japanese whatever he could tell me about my blade. After returning home, I would ask my Japanese language teacher what it said. He wrote a nice paragraph praising it, and said it was maybe 200 years old. Later on that same trip, I visited a dealer in Tokyo - he spoke some English, and I showed him my photo. He immediately said "Ah, Showa Kanewaka" - he was not impressed... A year or two later I had learned enough to know that he was correct, of course. So, the guy at NBTHK told me what he thought I wanted to hear, and even wrote it down. Pete

OK, that's reasonable. Given that, and without any further definition of "Top 10", here's some (with plenty of my opinions included :-) ): - Various Mishina-ke, such as the obvious Tanba Yoshimichi. Why? Because I like the flamboyant hamon style, and I used to own a couple from the Mishina group. - Hirokiyo (an obscure Kashuu smith, aka GEN32). Why? Because I have one, and it's always been my fav older blade, even though it's in rough condition. Perhaps my point here is that if I were still actively collecting, I would NOT care about what someone else thinks is a highly-rated smith. I WOULD highly value a specific blade with an interesting provenance (without regard to who made it), because I love the history aspect. If I could buy any blade I wanted, my choice would be one with a clear provenance to a famous historical figure (for example Sakamoto Ryoma). Smith rankings feels mostly irrelevant to me, other than the impact it has on resale value. Similar to folks that feel the need to "paper" their blades, even though they will learn little or nothing from the Kanteisho. Pete

IMO, It's so subjective and biased, I don't know how it could have any meaning. Your term "Top 10" needs a careful definition of what it means. And of course, the 'bias' part is rooted mostly in money, status, and politics. I would suggest modifying the question to something like "highest $$-value smiths based on actual sales over the last XX years". It's still pointless, but at least it might be measurable. Pete

Another approach: If you have a particular location in Japan that you know an object or family came from, and if you're able to visit in person, then go to cemeteries (and their associated temples) and ask around. Nihongo fluency is probably required... But like others said, if you don't have some provenance details to start with, matching a kamon with a name is very unlikely. Pete

Yep. I'll decline to repeat any compromising stories about his 'early period'. And his Dad (my brother Duncan) appreciates being called "God, the Father" . Pete

A new book that may interest some folks here. https://www.headstamppublishing.com/swords This video discusses the book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY1vH10e8yQ Full disclosure: I have NO financial interest in the book, author, or publisher; but my nephew Ian is one of the Principals of "Headstamp Publishing", and he is the one speaking in the YouTube video above. He also owns the forgottenweapons.com site, and is often referred to on social media as "Gun Jesus" . Pete

Thanks folks for all your comments. I have certainly learned not to use GSP to sell anything "sharp". I found a GSP info page that says Prohibited items include "Weapons (including firearms, knives, etc.)". The mystery (to me) is why they don't consistently block the GSP option up-front - it is so easy, when the listing title says "fighting knife" or "sword". It seems that the enforcement is manual and random, rather than a "change in policy" as I had first suspected. If they actually re-sell confiscated items, then that's a good thing at least. Grey wrote >I have never once written a weight on a customs form; the postal clerk writes the weight of the package and that is sufficient. My process has been to do the customs form online at home, which requires me to fill in all the details. It makes it quick and easy at the P.O. - I just hand them the form that I printed. But maybe that's not the best process... Pete

I would be interested to know an actual example of what GSP charges on a specific item to a specific country. As a seller, I can't see what the buyer is charged, beyond the U.S. shipping portion. I just know that nobody has complained (to me). Anyway, the point of my post was not really to debate the merits of GSP, but rather to point out that *maybe* they had recently had a policy change that would prevent swords from being listed with the GSP option (my Iaito and bayonet are possible examples of a "new" policy). Pete

Yes, Pitney Bowes handles the actual re-shipping out of Kentucky. Not so sure about the "anti-weapons" thing, since just in the last 2 weeks I shipped a bayonet to France, and large double-edged fighting knife to UK, via GSP. That knife should have caused a panic - just a 'weapon', not historic... All clearly described, of course. Maybe they just do random checks for things that they don't like? There are other online posts by people calling GSP a "scam", but when you look closer it's just that they don't like the extra shipping charges, when they found out that the Seller *could* have shipped it direct for less. And there was a post a few years ago where a guy claimed that GSP auctions off things that they confiscate, to recoup their losses. Pete