Interesting Pdf Articles And Links

Brian · March 22, 2016

These were all recently posted here on the NMB by various members, but for those of you who missed them, or didn't notice them, I thought it would be good to post a list of links to valuable articles and info found on the net.

We can add to this list as we find them. If you reply with a new link, I will add it to the list. Some of these are excellent books that are out of print and usually expensive. Please keep it to articles and .pdf's directly relating to Japan and Nihonto, and those that are without copyright or have permission to be posted.

Title: Legend in Japanese art; a description of historical episodes, legendary characters, folk-lore myths, religious symbolism by Henri Joly
Link: http://www.archive.o... ... 00jolyuoft

Title: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Japanese swords guards by Okabe-Kakuya
Link: http://www.archive.o... ... 00okabrich

Title: The Yoshihara Tradition (Article) by Paul Martin from the NMB archives
Link: http://www.militaria.co.za/articles/Yoshihara_Tradition.pdf

Title: Japanese chronological tables, showing the date, according to the Julian or Gregorian calendar, of the first day of each Japanese month : from Tai-kwa 1st year to Mei-ji 6th year (645 A.D. to 1873 A.D.) : with an introductory essay On Japanese chronology and calendars by William Bransen
Link: http://www.archive.o... ... 00bramuoft

Title: Tales of the Samurai; stories illustrating bushido, the moral principles of the Japanese knighthood. With 8 coloured illus. by a Japanese artist - Miyamori, Asataro, 1869-1952
Link: http://www.archive.o... ... 00miyauoft

Title: 6000 Chinese characters with Japanese pronunciation and Japanese and English renderings - J. Ira Jones
Link: http://www.archive.o... ... 00joneuoft

Title: Ono Yoshimitsu's World of Juka-Choji - Pursuing Koto Bizen/The Ayumi Chronology (Translation, Paul Martin)
Link: http://www.hayashiba... ... ndex3.html

Title: Technology for Digitalizing Pictorial Data of Japanese Swords - Various researchers,
Link: http://csdl.computer... ... 80102c.pdf

Title: Jūnishi, The Zodiac Animals - Article about Japanese Zodiac symbols and their use in Japanese art and dating cycles. - Guido Schiller
Link (A4 Format): http://www.nihontome...cles/zodiac.pdf
Link (Letter Format): http://www.nihontome... ... letter.pdf

Title: Suriage - From Token Sugita, written by Nobuo Nakahara. Translation by Paul Martin
Link: http://www.nihontome...les/Suriage.pdf

Title: The Japanese sword and its decoration by Helen Gunsaulus
Link: http://www.archive.o... ... 20guns.pdf

Title: Japanese sword-mounts in the collections of Field Museum by Helen Gunsaulus
Link: http://www.archive.o... ... 16guns.pdf

Title: A Muramasa Blade: A Story of Feudalism in Old Japan by Louis Wertheimber
Link: http://www.militaria...ramasablade.pdf

Title: Japanese names and how to read them : a manual for art-collectors and students
Link: http://www.archive.o... ... 00koopuoft

Title: Narrative of the expedition of an American squadron to the China Seas and Japan....
Link: http://www.archive.o...veofexped03perr

Brian · March 22, 2016

Title: Tsuba, and Japanese sword fittings in the collection of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum
Link: http://www.archive.o...seswo00coop.pdf

Title: Index of Signatures on Japanese Sword Mounts
Link: http://issuu.com/tom...on-sword-mounts

Title : Japanische Stichblätter und Schwertzieraten
Link : http://openlibrary.o... ... rtzieraten

Title : Japanese sword
Link : http://openlibrary.o... ... ese_swords

Title : Die Meister der japanischen Schwertzierathen
Link : http://ia700401.us.a... ... ragoog.pdf

Title: The Namban Group of Japanese Sword Guards: a Reappraisal
Link: http://etheses.dur.a...1/4129_1648.pdf

Title: A Study of the Works of Gassan Sadakazu in The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Link: http://resources.metmuseum.org/resources/metpublications/pdf/A_Study_of_the_Works_of_Gassan_Sadakazu_The_Metropolitan_Museum_Journal_v_5_1972.pdf

Brian · March 22, 2016

Thanks to Chris B, and some hard work from James in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=20946
I have been able to upload and share some of the Japanese books below.
Please don't rush to grab them, the links will be here for a long time and no need to overload the server.
I will add more as we discover and upload them. My thanks to those who found and shared the info.

Brian

Nihon Toko Jiten 日本刀工辞典 (Fujishiro), Koto Hen
Nihon Toko Jiten 日本刀工辞典 (Fujishiro), Shinto Hen
Shinto Shu, Hamon to Meiji 新刀集-刃文と銘字 (Fujishiro)
Kinko Kantai Hikketsu 金工鑑定秘訣 (Yoshiaki)
Nihon Soken Kinkoshi 日本装剣金工史 (Kuwabara)
Nihon Soken Kinkoshi Main Part (Kuwabara)
Nihon Tsuba toko roku 日本鐔刀工録 (Soemon)
Senso to Tsuba 戦争と鐔 (Nagaoka)
Soken Kinko Zufu 装剣金工図譜 (Wada)
Tagane no Hana Goto Ichijo 鏨迺花
 Tagane no Hana Main Book 鏨迺花
 Tagane no Hana Nara Toshihisa 鏨迺花
 Tagane no Hana Otsuki Mitsuoki 鏨迺花
 Toban Shokan Kotetsu 刀盤賞鑑口訣 (Kanzan)
Tsuba 100 shi Kougei zuan 鐔百姿 - 工芸図案 (Okuma)
Yokoya Somin 横谷宗珉 (Soemon)
Choshu Tsuba 長州鐔 (Soemon)
Akasaka Tsubako Roku 赤坂鐔工録
 Higo Kinko Roku 肥後金工録 (Nagaya)

Brian · March 22, 2016

I have recreated this old thread that contained a wealth of info. I haven't checked all the links yet, but will fix them as we come across any dead ones.
Enjoy!

Fuuten · March 22, 2016

Brian,

The third link redirects me to: "Oops....there seems to be a temporary glitch and you don't have access to perform this action. Please try again in a few minutes, or notify the admin and we will do our best to rectify the issue. We are currently working on this problem and hope to have a solution soon. Apologies to all. Admin"

Brian · March 22, 2016

Fixed the link

AndyMcK · March 22, 2016

Excellent information and lot of material to go through. As a sidenote, does someone have electronic version of the Fujishiro translations? My Japanese talent is way too inept.

Antti

Grey Doffin · March 23, 2016

Hi Antti,

Harry Watson will sell you a digital copy of his translations of Fujishiro for $100 (afu at suddenlink.net). This is a bargain and getting it from someone other than Harry is ripping him off.

Grey

AndyMcK · March 25, 2016

Thank you Grey!

Will contact him!

Antti

XavY · March 29, 2016

Hello Brian,

lots of interesting things on this forum and in this thread, thanks a lot everyone!

Title: A Study of the Works of Gassan Sadakazu in The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Link: http://www.metmuseum... ... nnered.pdf

Seems this link is dead ...

Brian · March 29, 2016

Check the link in the post below that, I fixed it there. Will delete the top one.

Brian

BIG · April 3, 2016

Hi,

in research find the Ethel Mumford free pdf.

https://ia601603.us.archive.org/12/items/jstor-592894/592894.pdf

Best Regards

Darcy · April 3, 2016

Mumford book is interesting. There are a lot of transcription errors (Osafune becomes Nagafune, Oei becomes Aei, and others like this) so you need to keep your brain in gear while reading it. I'm about half through, this passage caught my interest...

(Edit: the board deleted everything I wrote under the quote during posting for some reason and I don't have the time to replace it now... will get to it "later" ...)

When Rai Kuniyuki was young he inscribed himself as 'Kunitoshi,' but after the birth of his son Magotaro, he gave this name to the latter, and signed himself Kuniyuki. In fear

Vol. xxvi.] The Japanese Book of the Ancient Sword. 353

lest his blades should be confounded with those of his father, Magotaro inscribed his name as Rai Kunitoshi after his thirty- eighth year, calling himself Rai Minamoto Kunitoshi from his sixty-second to his one hundred and fifth year. Notwithstand- ing this, there are two varieties of blade bearing the name of Kunitoshi, one being the early work of Kuniyuki, and the other the younger productions of Rai Kunitoshi. The secret details of this matter can be transmitted only orally.

Darcy · April 3, 2016

Will throw down another interesting snippet:

The price of the new sword increases as it becomes old; for instance, the works of Morimitsu and Yasumitsu which, a few years ago, were worth 30 ryo, are now selling at 50 ryo, and those of Sanemasa and Sukehiro have increased in value from 1 or 2, to 5 or 7 ryo.

Morimitsu and Yasumitsu are the Oei Bizen smiths no doubt. Interesting that they're "just becoming old" ... "Sanemasa" is a transliteration error (or change in custom since the time of the book), this is surely Inoue Shinkai. The process definitely continued because a Shinkai katana will in most cases cost you more than one from Morimitsu and Yasumitsu now.

Brian · April 3, 2016

Think you must have been posting at exactly the same time I was merging the solitary post into this topic, and moving it to the correct place

Brian · April 4, 2016

Thanks to Paul B, we have a nice new article in the articles section, on a Daido blade.

Brian · May 30, 2016

Very nice new article submitted by Tim Evans concerning the quality evaluation of iron tsuba. Catch it in the members area articles section. Thanks Tim!

Brian · July 23, 2016

A new article submitted by Paul Bowman added to the articles section (members section) comparing two swords. Thanks to Paul and those who submit articles.

Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini · November 15, 2016

Brian, this is for sure free. Don't know if it deserve to stay here cause is more an archeological study than an article on nihonto. You decide :-)

http://www.webalice.it/tsubame1/ZZZZZZ_ESSAY.htm

Brian · November 15, 2016

Carlo, always been an important part of our articles section
http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/forum/17-articles/

About halfway down the list. But your current link is very useful, and may change the link to your page rather.

BIG · April 1, 2017

Want to safe...

http://menadoc.bibliothek.uni-halle.de/download/pdf/150672?name=Old%20Japanese%20Sword%20Names%20and%20Stories%20Relating%20to%20Swords

Best Regards

Brian · March 30, 2018

Huge thanks to Timothy J. Evans, I have just uploaded a great article that he wrote on late Muromachi through Edo period sword mounts.
Check it out at the bottom of the articles section in the Izakaya.
A lot of decent info, well researched. Thanks Tim!

Brian · April 21, 2018

I have just uploaded a short story by Paul Bowman about a sword find and restoration. Thanks Paul, and to those that continue to contribute.

Brian · October 27, 2018

Another excellent article by Paul Bowman uploaded in the articles section. This one on the Gokaden, the 5 main schools of Japanese swords. Make sure you have a read.
Thanks again Paul.

Brian · November 27, 2018

And yet another excellent article submitted by Paul Bowman and uploaded in the articles section.
This one is on Kantei, and using it as a learning tool. It is a very good read, and we will be linking to it often when it comes to topics that relate.

Thanks as always Paul.

Brian · February 4, 2019

In our Articles section, I have just added a great write-up on tekkotsu in tsuba, written and submitted by Jean Collin.
Thanks Jean, good read.

Brian · March 3, 2019

Another informative article written and shared by Paul Bowman. This one on a Yamato Taima katana. Available in the articles section. Thanks as always Paul.

Brian · March 21, 2019

Today we have 2 great submissions to our articles section. One by Peter Bleed on Japanese swords in the style of European Smallswords, and the other by Ian Bottomley on reading Japanese signatures.
Both available in the articles section accessible to members. Thanks again for the submissions gents.