Harry Watson

[Stephen]

Talked to nice lady at Wildflower florist in Cisco  TX, being their having ii in a community center we agreed to keep it small and something easily carried home, 

 

at the moment, money collected,  were in the Good category.  Red and Yellow instead of white, for  USMC

 

shooting for Better or even Best,  which means same arrangement but larger according to  cost.

 

[Stephen]

A fun photo for those who haven't seen it

 

[charlie1]

Sent $40 from me and Martin Z.

[Stephen]

Thanks Chuck i see the money but not who its from, were on to the better category! 

[SAS]

Sorry to hear about his passing, i did not know him, but his name was in the "respected" category. My condolences. eta: $20 paypal to you Stephen for wreath. Thanks.

[Stephen]

Thanks Steve!!

[echizento]

Very sad to hear. RIP Harry

[Stephen]

Bazz  in and two to come, were at BEST   thank you all

[Bazza]

Thank you Stephen for organising a tribute on behalf us all.  Harry Watson was a huge influence on my collecting with his translation of Fujishiro's two books and later the Koza.  I had some correspondence with him at the time and I remember a very helpful gentleman.  I remember some critiques of his work, but he was a major trailblazer for those of us who weren't so clued up on Japanese language.  If nothing else, his work gave me an immense psychological boost.  In later years I had occasional email exchanges with Harry and in more recent years his work on Fujishiro's translations enabled me to identify a particularly rare smith in an auction and to bid with confidence.  I must say, though, it was Willis Hawley's book that allowed me to identify the smith and pointed to Fujishiro's Shinto Hen.  The smith, for interest, was JOSHU RAI NORIMICHI:

http://www.samuraisword.com/nihontodisplay/other/NORIMICHI/index.htm
http://www.samuraisword.com/nihontodisplay/other/NORIMICHI/norimichi_3.htm
http://www.samuraisword.com/nihontodisplay/other/NORIMICHI/norimichi_4.htm
Apart from the sword in Fujishiro this is the only other NORIMICHI I have been able to find.  I think of Harry every time I look at the sword.

 

VALE Harry.  RIP.

 

Barry Thomas

aka BaZZa.

[Stephen]

We have gone over the best mark, ill ad a bit and get a pointsetta also...Thanks to all and your remembrance.

[Gordon Sanders]

this is an amazing world that we live in.  Members from around the globe are able to contribute electronically, and honor someone that most of us have never met in a Physical sense (Meat Space).   From what everyone has said, I can tell that Harry made a huge impact and impression, I am glad that we have this.

[Fred Geyer]

Wow just read this thread, I remember Harry telling me about the 45 trade he told me it was cool !!

 

A great man..... hired him many times to translate tsuba books for me then he would not take my money and just had to buy him dinner or a night of drinks at a sword show

 

He went to a Jesuit school by us he would tell me about a lot. Cheers Harry

 

Fred Geyer    

[Greg F]

RIP

 

Greg

[Stephen]

Bill R added as well looks like were going for two...maybe a red white in blue...Harry would have liked that!

[mecox]

His translations came at a crucial time for many of us.  Massive amount of valuable work.

 

Thanks

Mal

[kusunokimasahige]

Very sad news indeed.
My sincere condoleances.

[Ed]

http://www.kimbroughfh.com/notices/Harry-Watson

 

Harry was a good friend.  I will miss his visits on the way to Tampa.  

 

[Stephen]

 

First is for the family

 

And for service

 

[Pete Klein]

Thank you Stephen.  Well done.

[Surfson]

So sorry to hear this news.  He was a true gentleman and a scholar.  A very sweet guy and friend to all.  Harry will be missed.

[Brian]

Lovely arrangements. Thanks for arranging this Stephen.
With the average age of our members, sad that we can only do these threads after we have lost important people. One of these days we are going to have to consider "living obituaries" so that people know what they mean to us while they are still around. Sad thought, but very valid imho.

[lonely panet]

sad to hear,

 

yet another respected member of the nihonto world who has passed to the next.

 

my kind regards to the family and freinds

[Stephen]

Good idea B, a NMB Hall of Fame so to speak....Brilliant!

[SAS]

I nominate Stephen.

[Ray]

 

 

A Few More Words in Remembrance of Harry Watson

 

     Harry was placed in an orphanage with two of his three brothers at an early age due to his mother's serious illness. His father, a railroad worker, abandoned his family after his wife developed cancer. Harry's oldest brother was cared for by relatives. Many of us have heard the stories of how severely Harry was treated at the orphanage, leading him to run away. He was placed into foster care and into reform school, what we now call juvenile detention, due to his intransigence. This was a young man who wasn't given much growing up beyond the bare necessities of life.

     In 1952, at the age of 17, during the height of the Korean War and weighing a wirey 113 pounds, Harry secured his mother's permission to enlist in the United States Marine Corps. Harry received training in electronics and radio repair, and served in Korea. His time in Korea, and completing two tours of duty in Hawaii where two of his three daughters were born, offered important exposure to Asian cultures. Harry also served in Vietnam. Harry had a son who died at age 22 in a mysterious shooting that was ruled accidental. Due to his intellectual ability Harry was selected by the Marine Corps to receive intensive training in the Japanese language at a State Department school. That fortuitous experience is what eventually led Harry to provide the great services he did for the benefit of all of us who have an interest in Japanese swords.

     Our distinguished friend Professor Arnold F made a very important observation about Harry in speaking with me last week. Arnold of course has an extensive library, including many works in the English language related to Japanese swords, extending back into the 19th century. Arnold stated that he believes Harry Watson was the first researcher publishing in the English language to utilize the extensive and specialized Japanese vocabulary that had been developed to describe every aspect of the sword. That critical addition, of very detailed vocabulary, allowed students of this art throughout the world to describe, discuss and better understand what they were observing. That critical addition allowed for a very important advance in knowledge for non-Japanese students of this art all over the world. As had been the case throughout his life, Harry worked very hard to complete this work and profited only little. Yet, according to Harry's wife Flo, this translation work related to Japanese swords was Harry's proudest achievement.

     My Japanese American engineer friend Tom H, who left Japan after college, described to me last week how amazed he was with Harry upon getting to know him. Harry could sing in Japanese the martial songs dating back to Japan's struggles with China and Russia more than a century ago. Harry could also sing Japanese folk songs, some of which even native born Tom had never heard. There was no one at any Japanese sword show friendlier than Harry. Until the emergence of the remarkable scholar Markus Sesko, there was no non-Japanese person who could offer any comparable knowledge base to that Harry was able to offer. As Harry entered into his late seventies he still dutifully appeared at sword shows, but his attention had been drawn to a new challenge, that of playing the Chinese erhu, a two stringed violin. With his characteristic determination, Harry was able to meet this late challenge and master the instrument. 

     We are all one of a kind. The good Lord gave some of us more to start with, and some of us less. There are few among us interested in the Japanese sword who have done as much of benefit for the rest as Harry. As far as I am aware there is not one among us who has started with so little and offered so much. At the service celebrating Harry's life that took place yesterday in Cisco, Texas Harry's wife Flo had arranged some items that were meaningful to Harry. One of his volumes of Nihon To Koza was on the table that I failed to include in the corner of this picture. There was a wonderful portrait of Harry. I have never seen a broader smile on the face of any marine in such a portrait. He was the kind of man we could use a lot more of.

     Harry was a man who was grateful for what he had, and happy to share with others all he had learned. God bless Harry Watson.

[Ken-Hawaii]

I don't know who you are, Ray, but welcome to the forum, & thank you for this remembrance.

[charlie1]

Thank you Ray

[Ray]

Thank you Ken,

 

     I am a friend of Harry's of more than twenty years. I got to know Harry pretty well after he and his wife Flo moved to Cisco, about two and a-half hours from where I live in Dallas. Harry has been a guest in my home, and I have been a guest in his. I also would see Harry at the three shows here on the mainland that he and I attended regularly during most of that period. I feel very fortunate at having gotten to know Harry, in addition to having the benefit of the valuable information in the books he translated and the quarterly publication he authored.

     You are in Kaneohe I see. I lived there for three years when I was a kid. Part of that time Harry and Flo interestingly also lived in Kaneohe. During the early sixties my dad was a marine pilot, and commanded the Red Devil Squadron of F-8 Crusader jets there. I have had the privilege of getting back a number of times. It is a beautiful place. Flo remembered their time in Hawaii very fondly when I spoke with her yesterday at Harry's service. Harry had many family members at the service from as far away as Oregon and Missouri. It was a very nice service.

[Brian]

Thank you for those words Ray, they really add to the thoughts expressed by members here. I'm sorry I never had a chance to meet Harry. A man who, it seems, had a rough start but did not let that get him down and persevered.
He made a difference.

 

Brian

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

Merry Christmas AFU...