book recommendations

[Guest kaien]

I'm looking for members opinions and suggestions for a good beginner book that adequately covers fundamentals of collecting Nihonto. Info such as terminology, although I have some great sources and know much of this already, different schools from each period and the styles associated with that period. also the properties of an valuable blade, in other words what collectors or appraisers may look for when assigning value to a blade. And perhaps most important is the cost of the book, I don't want to spend a great deal, I'm hoping to go not much over $50 usd. I really appreciate any help that you may be able to give.

[Guest Simon Rowson]

Hi Loren,

 

The book I (and I'm sure a lot of the the other members) started with was John Yumoto's "The Samurai Sword" but this venerable title contains quite a few errors and it sounds like you are well beyond it in knowledge already.

 

I'd probably recommend Nagayama's "The Connoisseurs Book of Japanese Swords" from Kodansha Publishing as this gives a very solid grounding in most aspects of Nihonto.

 

All the best,

Simon

[kaien]

very good, thank you for the suggestion. I will check out amazon right now to see if they have it.

 

 

update - Amazon is crazy, or I should say the people selling used on Amazon are crazy. Most of the used books were charging more than the new version was. I found a good copy on ebay though and look forward to reading it. Thanks again for the suggestion.

[Stephen]

if you have not bought your books yet PM ME

posting four Sunday n Ebay.

[kaien]

if you have not bought your books yet PM ME

posting four Sunday n Ebay.

 

damn!!! I always have to be so impetuous.

[Brian]

Jeez...Stephen had those up for sale for a long time, and now that he removes them...someone needs them,

 

Loren, check with Stephen what others he has. It he still has Craft of the Japanese Sword..that one is also very well worth getting.

 

Brian

[kaien]

Jeez...Stephen had those up for sale for a long time, and now that he removes them...someone needs them,

 

Loren, check with Stephen what others he has. It he still has Craft of the Japanese Sword..that one is also very well worth getting.

 

Brian

 

I am trying to build up the courage to ask the wife if I can get another book, and if I am able I was between either the craft, or the comprehensive guide by Sato. I was leaning towards the comprehensive guide by sato, but you think the Craft of the JS would be the better choice?

[Brian]

If you have Connoisseurs on order, then I would say you have the best book on the basics up to mid-level info and schools etc. Connoisseurs is a year's worth of reading and even then there is still info to learn. Sato is also worth getting, and I think Stephen had that too possibly. Pm him, as the prices were dirt cheap. I really enjoy The Craft...it allows you a much better understanding of the whole process.

 

Brian

[Stephen]

the Craft of the Japanese sword by Kapp and Yoshihara cover price is 45.00

 

The Japanese sword a comprehensive guide by Sato cover 40.00

 

Samurai the wepons and spirit of the Japanese warrior by the big guy in the UK clive Slinclare 30.00

 

the latter is a great start up/intro book and covers alot

of Samurai background + Armour

id sell the lot at 100.00 + shipping

.>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<.

 

this is what i have left and PM'd Loran such, he has first dibs, all will go on ebay sunday night, really want to sell as a lot as it will save so much ebay/paypal fees, and time :lol:

 

oh also as a bouns Exbition pamplet OSHIGATA: Sword rubbings of the Shitahara School about twenty five plates of oshigata most yasushige, about twenty four hours and counting...good day

[Guest Simon Rowson]

After my comment about John Yumoto's book containing "quite a few errors", one of the NMB members very politely PM'd me and asked me to point out what they were.

 

I spent so long typing a reply that I hope he (and the other readers of this thread) won't mind if I duplicate it below:

 

 

Whilst still believing that Yumoto's book is a good read for a beginner, the main problem I have with him is his dating system - he sometimes seems to pluck dates out of thin air and often contradicts himself.

 

For example:

 

Yumoto gives the Kamakura period as 1192 - 1336 on page 22 and as 1192 - 1335 on page 91.

However, Yoritomo moved Japan's capital to Kamakura in 1185 - the historically accepted start of this period.

 

He gives the Azuchi-Momoyama period as 1574 - 1602 on page 23 and as 1575 -1605 on page 91.

The Momoyama period is named after Toyotomi Hideyoshi's castle and actually ended with his death in 1598.

 

He gives the Edo (Tokugawa) period as 1603 - 1867 on page 24 and as 1606 -1868 on page 91.

The Edo period commenced with Tokugawa Ieyasu's decisive victory at Sekigahara in 1600 and, even if one chooses 1615 (when Ieyasu destroyed Hideyoshi's heir and remaining supporters at the siege of Osaka Castle) as a more acceptable date, it still doesn't explain Yumoto's totally contradictory dates of 1603 and 1606.

 

Moving on to the actual periods of sword production, Yumoto lists Koto as 900 - 1530, Shinto as 1530 - 1867 and Shin-shinto as 1868 to the present day (or at least to 1958 when "The Samurai Sword" was written).

This is very odd as most Japanese sources accept 1596 or 1600 as the transition between Koto and Shinto and 1781 as the approximate transition between Shinto and Shin-shinto. The Shin-shinto period itself ended in 1876 with the Haitori Edict banning sword-wearing and Yumoto completely ignores the term "gendaito" - simply incorporating this entire period into his rather strange dating of Shin-shinto.

 

 

Yumoto also makes several incorrect or absurd statements in his book:

 

On page 47, regarding wakizashi, he says "...good swords of this length are scarce". This is patently untrue as many fine swords under 2 shaku were commissioned by rich merchants and others outside the bushi caste who were not allowed to wear the longer katana.

 

On page 39, he states "Since that time (1868) and up to the present (1958), there has not been a single great swordsmith". This strangely disregards such highly respected Imperial craftsmen as Gassan Sadakazu (月山貞一, 1836–1918) and Gassan Sadakatsu (月山貞å‹, 1869–1943) who both, presumably, would have been known to Yumoto in 1958.

 

On pages 49/50 he says "Most of the officers who engaged in the Sino Japanese War (1895 to 1896) and the Russo Japanese War (1905 to 1906) used samurai swords in buke zukuri mountings". Apart from getting the dates wrong yet again (SJW = 1894-1895, RJW = 1904-1905), the statement itself is also completely incorrect - every photograph I have ever seen of Japanese officers engaged in these two conflicts show them to be wearing standard kyu-gunto.

 

Lastly, on page 12 he claims that "...the Excalibur blade of English literature could in no way compare with the workmanship and the quality of steel which went into the manufacture of the samurai sword". Er.... how could it compare as it's a fictional blade - hardly a subjective observation.

 

Maybe I'm just nit-picking but, whilst it's probably ok for someone like me (who's studied Japanese history) to simply take Yumoto's dates etc with a large pinch of salt, it would probably confuse the hell out of a complete beginner.

Simon

[Walter]

the Craft of the Japanese sword by Kapp and Yoshihara cover price is 45.00

 

The Japanese sword a comprehensive guide by Sato cover 40.00

 

Samurai the wepons and spirit of the Japanese warrior by the big guy in the UK clive Slinclare 30.00

 

the latter is a great start up/intro book and covers alot

of Samurai background + Armour

id sell the lot at 100.00 + shipping

.>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<.

 

this is what i have left and PM'd Loran such, he has first dibs, all will go on ebay sunday night, really want to sell as a lot as it will save so much ebay/paypal fees, and time :lol:

 

oh also as a bouns Exbition pamplet OSHIGATA: Sword rubbings of the Shitahara School about twenty five plates of oshigata most yasushige, about twenty four hours and counting...good day

 

Hello Stephen,

PM sent.

If you happen to have "The Connoisseurs Book of Japanese Swords" available, please count me in!

[Stephen]

Thanks Walt sold to you,answered your PM before i read this post yes i have it as well, ill pm you again.

 

Any Military collectors out there, I have a Fuller and Gregory MSoJ 1868-1945 100.00 plus shipping. last two i seen on Ebay sold for over 120.00$ cover has a fold but is in tack and the rest is in good shape.

[kaien]

I just wanted to thank everyone for their replies and help. I went with the connoisseurs to start with, and it sounds like it will last m for quite a while. The free time I have for activities such as reading goes first to learning Japanese. After my brain gets nice and mushy from repeating and memorizing enough Japanese terms I usually need a break before reading

[Guest reinhard]

Just an additional recommendation:

 

Japanese swords and sword furniture in the museum of fine arts Boston, by Ogawa Morihiro

 

Expensive and hard to find, but it is worth every cent. It contains a precise summary of the history of Japanese swords and a deep analysis of one of the most outstanding collections outside of Japan. Very well illustrated.

 

reinhard

[kaien]

reinhard, that sounds like an excellent book. I will absolutely keep an eye out for it, although sounds like it may be out of my price range for the time being. I can only imagine all of the great books out there that have yet to be translated, or perhaps ones out of print that never were and never will be translated. Are there many books out there you guys know of that are in Japanese only? If so, it's one more reason to keep plugging away at the Japanese.

[Brian]

Loren,

 

I think you could fill a book with just the names of the books in Japanese.

Check out http://www.japaneseswordbooks.com and http://www.satcho.com for just a few of them.

The suggested reading link at the top of the forum is a good place to start though.

 

Brian

[Stephen]

Grey also has some for sale in the For Sale section on this board

[kaien]

My book arrived today! I am very happy I got this book, it has so much of the info that I was looking for. This is certainly going to take a great deal of time to read, but I will enjoy every minute!