Book about Minatogawa swords?

[Drago]

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.

[Ted Tenold]

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.

[Tom Clancy]

Tobias

I think Ted is correct that the most comprehensive works on minatogawa gendaito is by Herman A Wallinga.

Here are a few pages of the text. Hope this is of some help.

 

Regards

Tom.

[Drago]

Thank you.

 

Is there only the print version, or is there a pdf version as well?

[patrick7813]

I found a copy at the Paragon Book Gallery (http://www.paragonbook.com) in Chicago, Ill and ordered one. Price was $5 and shipping $7.95. I’ll provide details when I receive it.

 

Cheers,

[Stephen]

i have a copy, make me a offer i cant refuse and send that to NMB and its yours.

offerr payment first

[LakeBum]

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

[SwordGuyJoe]

Nothing new that I am aware of. This (http://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.c ... n-wallinga) seems to be the best Minatogawa book out there.

[LakeBum]

Yah I'm not happy with myself for not seeing that. I just had an order with Grey last week lol. Thanks for pointing that out though.

 

Jason

[chris covington]

It looks like Paragon still has copies for sale for just $5. I just ordered one. Hey for $5 (plus $8 for shipping) I can't complain. I'll keep you posted if it actually arrives

[chris covington]

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

[cabowen]

It was a blade by a MInatogawa smith, Moriwaka Masataka, I saw at the Chicago sword show around 1987 that put me on the path to collect gendaito.

[chris covington]

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!

[LakeBum]

Well apparently they are sold out of the book now. I just tried to search it at paragon and found nothing .

[LakeBum]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Japanese-WWII-N ... 3387fc2a26

 

Just in case anyone wanted a copy they are on EBay now. Picked up a copy for Christmas myself. So many books I want and so few relatives to justify them with lol.