2016 Tampa Sword Show

[Stephen]

boooo

[Curran]

What was to be a restful weekend in Tampa turned into crazy few days with house showings and hours of last minute work audit/pre-tax work with our auditors on the annual audit.

Helping junior staff of the auditor understand variable dividend accruals and variable rates of foreign withholding tax is always fun way to spend the evening rather than talking and drinking with the Nihonto crowd.

 

I'm sure I look quite deranged in the photo. My wife calls it my crazy white guy look.

Curious to see the photo myself.

 

________________________________________________

Sold a few things and did one trade just for the fun of it.

It was slow Friday. Picked up Saturday, but I had to leave for house/work reasons.

Couldn't get back for Sunday, so didn't get to do the usual Sunday last minute bargaining games that usually happens. That is when a dealer or two usually pick an item off me.

 

Curran

[b.hennick]

Here is a group photo taken with my camera by someone who didn't want me in the photo. I'm the one in the back row whose face is partially hidden.
Front row starting on the left side.
Boris Markhasin, Mark Jones, Ed Marshall, Andy Pereira, Ray Singer
Second row starting on the left side
Grey Doffin, Barry Hennick, Curran, Jon Healy, Peter Klein

There were other active NMB members in attendance but they did not answer the call to come forward for a picture.

[QuangD]

^{It was a great show and was great to see some of the board members attended the show. I did not realize we have a group picture. I missed it.}

 

^Quang

[Jean]

At last, OK nobody will be banned

[seattle1]

Hello:

 The above posts primarily discuss what was to be the forthcoming Tampa show and the get together of NMB folk once there, so what follows tries to describe for those not attending what the show and shinsa was like. I hope Chris Bowen, who organized and wrangled the shinsa to the point of fatigue,will pitch in with further clarification of the shinsa outcome and highlights.

 The Tampa show was terrific, held as usual at the airport Marriott, a favorite for fly in folks on logisitic grounds. It was well attended with quite a few local visitors on Saturday The usual US dealers were there with many real treasures on view and for sale. I didn't see any dealers from Japan who were set up, but Mr. Ando, a major Japanese dealer, was there walking around for several days, saying hello to his many friends and probably taking some nice stuff back home. The show was promoted by Bill Green, it featured the usual auction as well as educational demonstrations by Japanese archery practitioners, a cutting session by Bob Elder with hands on tries by show attendees, and a terrific display by the NBTHK, American Branch, of off the wall things actually carried by samurai such as outsized fittings on koshirae, hidden compartments in saya, a concealed telescope in a saya, and the like. On display there was a wakizashi koshirae from the Muromachi era. It looked ordinary at first glance but stood out for its rarity as such things are far rarer than blades of the same era, being that koshirae were regularly replaced as time past and fashions and techniques changed, and the old koshirae were discarded.

 The shinsa was busy from Thursday morning through Sunday. It was conducted by the NTHK (NPO) with Miyano sensei as sword judge and Ohashi sensei as judge of tosogu and koshirae. As far as I could tell the quality of things presented at the shinsa were better than in past shinsa and the points awarded tended to be higher in proportion. A designation of 78 points and above was an implicit invitation to send the item to Japan for consideration for the organizations coveted Yushu designation. Attendees were happy to see that Miyano sensei was able to come as his health has not been well. He is a renowned sword judge and has won more NBTHK judging contest than anyone in Japan according to Chris Bowen.

 For me the most interesting event was held late Saturday when Miyano sensei delivered comments on a half dozen or so excellent blades which I believe had not been in the shinsa but were made available for his off the cuff comments without prior preparation, followed by a Q & A session open to any questions everything being interpreted by Chris Bowen. Miyano sensei pointed out that the Gokaden we are now so familiar with is a quite recent categorization system innovated by Hon'ami Koson about a hundred years ago and everything does not fall neatly within it. In the Q & A session he mention at least a half-dozen times that the key to identifying groups and smiths was the hamon, probably meaning the entire yakiba, and it has been his focus of daily study throughout the years. He linked that observation to the caution not to believe that book study alone is sufficient, and by implication I took that to mean that when he stressed his study of hamon each day that he meant with blade examples actually in hand. He pointed out that judgments about who made a mumei blade were just opinions and those judgments could vary viewer to viewer, but good assessment required the blades to be in a good state of polish. Interestingly he urged us to participate in kantei contests as published regularly by the NBTHK in Token Bijutsu, and by the NTHK, and if we have questions to "send him a postcard!" When asked about his favorite smith he said he had no favorite, a wonderful blade is a wonderful blade, and like the comparison between two beautiful women, well its in the eye of the beholder. He did point out that for blade type he preferred the handling qualities of a rather straight Kanbun style sword and contrasted that with the more awkward kinetic feel of contemporary blades made in emulation of early koto tachi shapes, though he added that impression was derived from his own earlier participation in kendo. Had he been on a horse rather than on foot he might have felt differently I thought. When asked about gendai blade qualities he said he thought that gendai were better than shinshinto, however I believe he was expressing admiration for shinsakuto rather than gendai in its more narrow usage of blades made between the Haitorei and 1945. Perhaps Chris could clarify. Finally Miyano sensei was asked about the state of collecting in Japan today and in particular about the appreciation of swords by younger people. The answer was the expected observation about ageing older collectors and the lack of sufficient interest on the part of younger Japanese today. He said that women are getting interested in swords but that was driven by some passing media phenomenon.

 Arnold F.

[Stephen]

Nice report Arnold, leaves me wishing id popped for a entry.

[Ed]

Hi all, 

Just getting in.  Had a nice relaxing time, got to see old friends, made new friends and had a good time.  Had the opportunity to see a number of great swords along with some of that old gendaito stuff :-)  

 

NTHK had a sword exhibit and Miyano San gave a lecture Saturday night.  See Arnold's post for a much more thorough report.

 

Saturday afternoon, NBTHK had an exhibit of unusual fittings which consisted of O-Kozuka, O-Kogatana and a few other odds and ends, like a tsuba attributed to Miyamoto Musashi (see photo)

 

Bill Miller had a nice exhibit of Satsuma Teppo.

 

There was pottery, armor, scrolls and tons of fittings and swords.

 

The highlight of my show was the opportunity to see an absolutely incredible Awataguchi Kuniyoshi Tanto.   

 

Sorry, I didn't get more photos.

 

The group photo went well, there were a few who didn't make it out as already stated, like Arnold Frenzel, Robert Mormile, Mike Vinhout, Quang Doan, and Joe Kraninger.

 

I will re-post the photo since Barry was blocked in the other.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Brian]

Thanks Arnold for a great write-up, and to Ed for his, along with the group pic. It's really nice to be able to put a face to some of the names. Also good to see a range of ages there, so the future of collecting does have hope

Looks like a good and well organized show, along with a well done shinsa. I have no choice but to make an attempt to attend at least one US show/shinsa oneday. Not sure which one, but you all make it look so inviting...

[QuangD]

Hi Brain,

 

I hope the future collector might have hope but the main issue is the job market and money issues for almost everyone. The only way I know it is survive for sword collection if we print to each other an "IOU" with zero interest for a long time.

[obiwanknabbe]

Thanks for sharing...   The 5th photo down is a friend of mine, Kazuhiro Hayashi-San, of the NY Nihoto Owners Club.  I HIGHLY recommend anyone who is visiting the show to take the opportunity to talk to him. He is a great gentleman and scholar.  

 

Kurt K

[jlawson]

Looks like an entirely too social group of folks there in that pic.   Unfortunately I was right in the middle of someone buying a sword when you guys made the announcement so couldn't be in there. Next time. 

[Stephen]

Maybe next year have a dinner time NMB table, with a few libations and everyone wont look so so....whats the word?

[seattle1]

Hi Everyone:

 I emailed Chris Bowen, who is now probably totally exhausted, and asked him to add more comment about the shinsa when he can. It was great to see that Miyano sensei made it as up to a day before departure he had misplaced his passport and I believe he was also briefly hospitalized, but did not want to disappoint once again by having to cancel.

 Arnold F.

[Ed]

Forgot to add that I did find a beautiful little Shigaraki Chaire to give a home.  

 

[Stephen]

Stoic