undermilkwood Posted August 10, 2008 Report Posted August 10, 2008 I had the pleasure of speaking to John about three years ago in Tokyo. Does anyone know if he's still there? He was talking about moving back to the states. Any info would be much appreciated. Joe
b.hennick Posted August 11, 2008 Report Posted August 11, 2008 Yes he is back in the States. He placed an ad in the last issue of the JSSUS Newsletter.
undermilkwood Posted August 11, 2008 Author Report Posted August 11, 2008 Thanks for the information Glad to hear he's well and still working, although I wont be able to visit him in Tokyo (on account of him being in a different place an all) Thanks again Mr Hennick! JoE :D
Chris Osborne Posted September 21, 2008 Report Posted September 21, 2008 Yes, as Mr. Hennick said he is indeed back in the States, Denver to be exact. If you would like to get in touch with him just shoot me a PM and I can give you his contact information.
Brian Posted September 22, 2008 Report Posted September 22, 2008 Thanks Chris, good to have you here, and a big welcome to Jon too, as I see he has registered. Perhaps you and Chris can use this thread to give a bit of background to your respective work? I see you do modern sword polishing (non-antiques) and I am unsure of Jon's speciality. I am sure we can learn a lot. Do you do windows on WW2 Shin gunto for those that need to see if a sword is maybe Gendaito or not? We have the occasional request here. Regards, Brian
Jon Bowhay Posted September 22, 2008 Report Posted September 22, 2008 Hello Brian and all. Well as some of you may know, I have been restoring Japanese swords for nearly 30 years. My field is the Hoami style of Japanese sword restoration. I was apprenticed for ten years and worked 10 to 14 hours a day during that time. It was a traditional apprenticeship, but as I was raised in Japan and have lived there for a total of about 53 years it was something that, while difficult, was something that I expected and considered a matter of course. Here in the US I have finally managed to be able to provide all the services that one would desire. From habaki, shirasaya, koshirae, lacquer, handle wrapping, and of course my restoration work. All this can be done here in the US and will be done in the quality that I would expect of the artisans whom I have worked with these many years in Japan. My speicalty has always been restoration of old blades. In Japan we do not have gunto as they cannot be registered. Of course some that have been traditionally made can be owned and I have restored some of these. I have, especially during my apprenticeship years ago, polished arami, that is the new blades. I used to do work for Yasuoki, who lived in Kunitachi. He was one of the original Yasukuni smiths. His blades were very hard indeed. Also the form was not so beautifully and completely done so I as a togishi had to do alot of work on them. In addition, many smiths of that era and sometimes today, did not namasu (draw the tempering) on the blades. This was to keep the brightness of the hamon. Unfortunately it caused the blades to be very hard and rather moroi (brittle). My teacher's father told me that he used to draw the temper of the hard blades by running them through bundles of glowing rushes. Also that it was considered a job of the togishi and that the smiths appreciated this. Today, I think that the smiths would...definiately....not appreciate this as it would be considered tampering with his work. But in the old days this was done as a matter of course. Mr. Igarashi also told me that Chiba Hirai the father of Mr. Hoami was a master of namasu. He could judge the heat of the rush bundles just by the colour and as the fire died down would run the blade through the rushes to draw the temper, but would not lessen the brillance of the hamon. Well at any rate I have written too much. At this I will say: Oyasuminasai, Gokigen yoroshyu. Jon
Chris Osborne Posted September 22, 2008 Report Posted September 22, 2008 Hi Brian and thanks for the welcome. As for my work, I started polishing about ten years ago as a hobby and started doing it full time a little over two years ago. I do polishing work on modern blades by many custom smiths here in the US as well as Gendaito. I would be more than glad to do a window for anyone that needed it. Chris
Brian Posted September 22, 2008 Report Posted September 22, 2008 Chris, I see for those interested, your website is http://www.swordpolish.net Jon, do you have a website yet, or should people contact you directly? I'll add the new links to the links page in the week. Regards, Brian Edit: Locked in favor of the thread here: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3872
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