San Francisco Show / NTHK Shinsa Aug. 2nd - 4th

[Pete Klein]

http://www.ncjsc.org/SF_token_kai.htm

 

This is the finest show outside of Japan and Nihontophiles the world over attend. It is well worth the effort to visit.

[Art Torano]

You are so right, I am already out there and very much looking forward to it.

 

Art Torano

[Toryu2020]

All -

Online registrations for the 2013 West Coast Shinsa have now closed - If you are coming to the Taikai and you have swords for submission come see us in the shinsa room Friday after 1100 and we will see if we can squeeze you in.

 

Looking forward to seeing everyone there!

-t

[kaigunair]

Just a quick outsider's perspective/experience watching the NTHK Shinsa team in action. I was fortunate to be able to help at the registration table on Friday. Basically the sign-in/intake area. I arrived pretty early but the team had already been there for a while prior to my arrival. These professionals were ready to go!

 

On Friday, there was quite a number of pre-registers as well as good number of walk-ins. The team was split into nihonto and tosogu reviewers. There were a few times during the day when the 3-4 tables for blades awaiting review were full. Definitely much less tosogu on Friday. There were no breaks for the team in the morning until lunch, and after lunch only 1 or 2 quick stretch breaks. Got to speak with a few members on the team which was very enjoyable. Also, seeing old friends who submitted blades and catching a quick word was nice.

 

Although I had no chance to study any of them very intensely, it was an experience seeing and handling so many blades in one day. Definitely got in lots of practice with proper handling techniques. It was also enlightening to understand better what can and cannot be papered, and what white/red papers can and cannot say about an item.

 

What I really appreciated seeing was how Tom Helm handled questions about the certificates, both white and red papers. He wasn't on the eval team itself, but was handling the return of items and preliminary papers for the owners came to pick them up. In that capacity, he was acting as a final reviewer; if there were any questions regarding the papers, he would take the time to explain what was written, as well as go back to the team for verification or clarification. As might be expected, sometimes a red paper would cause some concern. I recall an instance where he spent a considerable amount of time and effort to explain a paper, pulling out multiple reference books and adding detailed explanations. It was really way above and beyond the call of duty. I recall thinking "I'm glad its not me"; frankly, I wouldn't have had the patience with such a person. Tom is often one of the speakers at the NCJSC meetings and it was made crystal clear that he has a genuine heart to educate people about all things nihonto.

 

Special thanks to Tom for the opportunity to see the inner workings of a shinsa team. Anyone lucky enough to be given a similar opportunity should jump at it. Well, one more day of the show to go.....

[Stephen]

Thank you for removel, kudos to all who put together the show and shinsa team, may the force be with you.

[Ken-Hawaii]

Photos, anyone?

 

Ken

[cspage]

Photos, please. For those of us not able to attend, photos would go a long way toward building incentive to attend next year. And even give faces to names that frequent the NMB. Thanks to anyone who posts pics.

 

Coliin

[Yoshimichi]

It was another great time for all in S.F. at this year's Token Kai. The members of the NCJSC did another stellar job. Kudos to Fred Weissberg, Mike Krause, Mike Yamazaki, Tom Helm, and everyone else who worked so hard to make this one of the best Japanese sword shows outside of Japan.

 

Tom Helm and the NTHK shinsa team ran a very smooth and top notch shinsa. By discussions with the folks running the shinsa, and polling people who submitted items for shinsa, it appears that there was a less than 50% pass rate.

 

There were a lot of great items for sale, and the prices seemed very reasonable. I was able to pick up a couple of really nice items to add to my collection, and I sold almost everything I brought to the show to sell. Everyone seemed willing to cut deals on items for sale, so there were definitely some bargains to be had.

 

Bravo to everyone who helped put on this year's show! Looking forward to next year's show.

 

Regards,

Bill E. Sheehan (Yoshimichi)

[Stephen]

got too see if others are aging as I. LOL

[Curran]

USA Shows = best place to buy these days.

 

Was determined to attend this year. In the end, could not.

I hear there was an excellent Higo presentation and am regretful many times over that I couldn't be there for it.

 

Still remember the Yagyu exhibit from years ago as the best I've ever seen.

[raiden]

we have posted a few pics of the show, as well as the lecture on our Facebook site (You don't have to be a member. I would have posted here, but didn't want any "flack" in case a sales items was in the pic.......

[runagmc]

Mike, You don't have to please everyone, all the time... and in fact, you can't :D Your posts are always educational and are appreciated by most of us, whenever you have the time to share something. I don't think most of us care whether you intend to sell the items of discussion at some point, or not.

 

Not looking to start an argument, just trying to keep the board as informative and entertaining as possible...

[Toryu2020]

Didn't have time to take a lot of snaps - very busy in the shinsa room

 

One of our customers lost his sword bag in the shinsa room - probably packed into another persons bag/box by mistake - below is pictured a very similar item - do contact us if you arrived home with an extra bag...

-t

[Toryu2020]

a few things that caught my eye...