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Posted

Hi,

 

there is this book "The Yasukuni Swords: Rare Weapons of Japan, 1933-1945" by Tom Kishida about the swords made at the Yasukuni shrine.

 

Is there a similar book about the Minatogawa blades? Not just text but including oshigata and photos like the above book...

 

Thanks.

Posted

Tobias,

 

The only work I know of in english is by Herman Wallinga; Gendaito Made at the Minatogawa Shrine, September 2000, 35 pages. It's an informally printed soft cover book. It does have some oshigatas, images, and photos, as well as some background info. Information is not as abundant on Minatogawa because most records were lost or destroyed, and it was a smaller operation than the Yasukuni forge, so a work as comprehensive as what has been done on Yasukuni will likely be impossible unless new information surfaces in the future.

 

Maybe Grey has or can hunt down a copy for you.

 

Hope this helps.

  • 10 months later...
Posted

Some of my reading has brought me to these smiths. It has been a year since the last post on this subject, have you guys seen any new books on the subject? I am really liking the navy WW2 swords and these are supposed to be the premo of the bunch.

 

Thanks Jason

Posted

Hello all,

 

The book just came in the mail today. Although not on par with Tom Kishida's Yasukuni book it is still a good read. It seems like Minotogawa shrine smiths had a much smaller production with shorter number of years in production and fewer smiths. The book is well written and it has a bunch of photos and oshigata. For $5 plus $7.95 for shipping you can't go wrong. I'd love to see someone expand on this research. Sadly it seems like all of the smiths who worked at the shrine have passed away.

 

Best regards,

Chris

Posted

Mr. Bowen I can understand that. It seems like the production quality at Minatogawa shrine was very high indeed. My only complaint about this book is the lack of photos of the blades. The oshigata are nice to have as references though. I would love to see some about these sword on par with the Kishida Yasukuni book. Even if we just had more comprehensive photos on better paper it would be worth it!

  • 3 weeks later...
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