The DTI and IV NMB party 26th October 2007.

[Henry Wilson]

The DTI or Dai Token Ichi is held every year in Tokyo not too far from Shimbashi station on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the last weekend of October. For those who don’t know Dai Token Ichi means “large sword market†and that is what it is. It is a convention of sorts were lots of sword and fitting dealers in Japan gather and sell their goods. On sale are a vast array of items from swords to fittings to armour, sword safes, sword stands, matlock guns etc and there was also a display on mei chiseling and a museum-type section, which displayed wonderful armour. This year was my third time going and as usual it was a feast for the eyes. Unfortunately the weather was far from good as a typhoon blew across Honshu Island resulting in the streets of Shimbashi being hard to navigate with soggy feet and a mis-behaving umbrella. It kept the numbers down which was good for the shopper but not so good for the dealers.

 

I met Steve Miller, another NMB (Nihonto Message Board) party regular and we spent a few hours walking around looking at everything that caught our fancy. The highlights for me were seeing a lot of same (shark skin) koshirae of various quality and saw a lovely daisho set with, if I remember correctly, a Rai blade as the dai and another nice quality Yamashiro as the sho. Bumped into Fred Weissberg of Nihonto.com http://www.nihonto.com and thanked him for the lovely tsuba he sold me as part of his past super sale. Nice guy and a great site with nice stuff. Saw a very nice Yamakichbei tsuba of the classic kurama (wheel) design with a few of the sukashi openings filled with shakudo. The iron was very very nice and I am sorry to say that I did not buy it. I am a little disappointed with that but the good news is it has helped me decide the direction of my collecting. I love the melted finish that is characteristic of Yamakichibei as well as Kanayama as well as others as it gives a lovely shiny lumpy metal so I think future efforts will go into studying them.

 

Steve and I met up with Guido Schiller, Erol “Ichi†Ishikawa and a few others over at the Robert Hughes table at around 5:30 pm ready for the party that the two gentlemen, Mr. Hughes (left) and Mr. Schiller (right), pictured below, both organized. Mr Kenji Mishina is the gentleman in the middle. Robert Hughes is the owner of http://www.keichodo.com and at the DTI he had a lovely Aoe katana and a very nice koto Soshu wakizashi blade with all the bells and whistles associated with the Soshu school for sale. He had some very nice armour and tsuba too and I would recommend checking him out.

 

A few of us walked through the ever-strengthening typhoon to the pre-booked isakaya for the party. The streets of Tokyo, usually swarming on a Saturday evening were very quiet as I think everyone was at home staying out of the typhoon. The parties that have been organized in the past for the NMB were usually small affairs with about 10 people max attending and the last one, back in spring, was quite large when Brian Robinson (our dear administrator) and his girlfriend were in Japan for a few weeks. This meeting however turned into a monster. At least 30 people attended and what a line up we had. Panpipe players from South America, a performing elephant, Led Zeppelin dropped in and the late Winston Churchill made a few appearances and would not go home…. Just kidding.

 

I was there of course. (Henry Wilson from Ireland), Guido Schiller, Robert Hughes, Richard Turner http://tosogu.blogspot.com/, Steve Miller, Justin Orr, Erol “Ichi†Ishikawa, Mr. Moriyama, Kenji Mishina (Mukansa polisher) http://www007.upp.so-net.ne.jp/m-kenji/, the president and former secretary of the Token Society of Great Britain, the artist Brian Snoddy and his wife http://www.snellsoftware.com/briansnoddyart/ (nice art work on historical items Brian) (he can paint your treasures for a reasonable price), representatives from the Kokusai Tosogu Kai http://fraziermuseum.org/u_newsletter/F ... 202005.pdf, European collectors from Germany and Belgium, a lot of American collectors too…. The list goes on and the people above have not been listed in any particular order. I have not mentioned many names as I know people are shy, but I think you can all get an idea of the vast number of well-informed and enthusiastic sword / samurai art collectors and academics who were there.

 

Guido had a nice papered Bushu tsuba with dragons and a nice zogan on the mimi. I brought my usual bits and pieces of tsuba including a very nice signed Jirohachi tsuba from Fred Weissberg. Richard Turner brought the iron tsuba that is part of the banner on his tosogu forum, as well as his Jinbei tsuba and a nice kogai he had just bought which if I remember correctly was late Goto. No dragons in a dragon matching a dragon theme but extremely nice all the same. Saw some very nice shakudo tsuba including a lovely large one with lots of chrysanthemums that folded around the mimi that is going to make some lucky person very happy. Very nice items were being past around and I am glad people braved bringing their treasures through the rain as it is the treasures that keep us together. Heard a funny joke about a poor wee Leprechaun, an Irish fairy http://scriptsforschools.com/180.html , debated the future of sword collecting….. Someone had an accident…. Someone phoned a European country…. A few announcements were made…. And the night went on like this over lashings of beer, sake, Chile red wine, diet coke, miso soup, soy sauce and sashimi until about 12 midnight. The restaurant was completely empty except for us and I went to the toilet three times incase any one wants to know so it could have been me that had an accident. After leaving the restaurant the streets were nice and calm as the typhoon had passed and I had not really noticed it too much as I was so busy rubbing shoulders with a superb group of men and women.

 

I would like to conclude with a great big word of thanks to Mr. Guido Schiller and Mr. Robert Hughes for their outstanding generosity and organizing skills as well as patience, as the party would not have been such a successful event with out them. Also thank you to Brian Robinson, and the two previous owners of the NMB who are Richard Turner and Dr. Richard Stein, as if it was not for the NMB the night probably would not have happened. So on that note please support the NMB by checking out the raffle page and make a donation, by either or both buying a ticket or giving a prize. Also thank you to everyone who attended the NMB IV night out, it was nice to meet you all, hope to see you soon and what the wee Leprechaun would say about the night in general, “The craic was powerfulâ€.

[Brian]

Wow..I really do miss the big ones, don't I? :D

That sounds like an amazing day/night, and a great write-up Henry! Had me laughing in front of my pc, which has my work colleagues looking at me funny.

I must send out a huge thanks to Guido and Mr Hughes to taking such great care of the NMB members and other Nihonto enthusiasts there. Guido always goes far out of his way, and his generosity is amazing.

Sounds like a great bunch of guys met again this year. What a turnout. Looks like this is the time of the year to visit Toyko (typhoon excluded) I'll definitely be looking at doing it next year if I am able.

Looking forward to hearing who walked home, who stumbled home, and who doesn't remember going home at all :D

Also hope there are a few other pics that people can post (even if some faces have to be edited out to preserve anonymity or dignity )

 

Thanks Henry.

 

Brian

[Guido]

Henry, thanks for the kudos, and for taking the time to write up on the DTI and the party. A very informative and witty post (as usual) for those who weren't there, and hilarious for those who were! In that light I'll even forgive you the unflattering (to all three of us) photo. But I wonder why my leprechaun story still haunts you ....

 

***

 

As Henry already mentioned, we had quite a few scholars, high-end collectors, craftsmen and artists from all over the world among the guests, and some of them prefer to remain anonymous. In any case, here are two more pics (also courtesy of Henry who mailed them to me): guess the names (or identify yourself)!

[Guido]

P.S.: Not only unflattering (well, what do you expect after retail-sized bottles of beer and saké), but I just realized that Bob has a leprechaun sized Gordon Robson hanging on to his back! :lol:

[Rich T]

ahahahahaha, that is funny.

 

So I will fill in what I can for those who don't know.

 

Photo 1:, left to right. Moriyama Koichi, Erol “Ichi†Ishikawa, myself, Justin Orr and half of Clive Sinclair (he'd had a bit to drink LOL) and I am not sure of the woman there.

 

Photo 2: left to right. umm, sorry, Robert Hughes, Erol Ishikawa, Zenon Van Damm (spelling, I hope it is ok Zenon), umm, sorry not introduced, Guido "that man who loves the camera" Schiller and in the back ground, I am sorry, I have forgotten. I feel a fool.

 

Someone will help me I am sure

 

Rich

[Brian]

Maybe he's trying to reach the little leprechaun-sized shirt that is sitting on Bob's head?? :D :D :D

Also..who is that attempting to make an escape attempt over the back wall? (No doubt after seeing the amount of alcohol on the table) :lol:

 

Brian

[Ichi]

Nice job, Henry. It was a great night seeing you all and thanks for the arrangements, Robert and Guido. Appreciated it.

Kindest regards,

 

P.S. Henry, by the way...when did you finished washing dishes that night?

[Henry Wilson]

Helping Rich above .. .. The gentleman to the far left is called Mr Karl Heinz Peuker and is a dealer based in Germany. http://www.japanklingen.de and http://www.tsuba-art.de

 

I remember getting home quite well which is a change as the last time with Brian I was in a right state and was hung over for about two days.... The Leprechaun joke :lol: :lol: . Waiting for the right time to tell that to the wife. Someday I will share the potato joke with everyone when the time is right. Take care all and I am still at those dishes Ichi. Winston Churchill was going to help but he had other things to do....

[Jean]

Henry, Ichi, Rich, Guido,

 

Thanks a lot to have us shared this party by proxy.

 

I am so glad to see the reason why Zenon was not able to attend our last Kyokusai Token Kai meeting :lol: :lol: :lol: