Book title translation please

[Babu]

Hello. Could anyone please tell me what the title of this 1964 book is, who the author may be and what it says on the front and spine? I'll then move it into the for sale section.

Thank you Adam

[Jussi Ekholm]

I believe the book is Tōkō Soran by Kawaguchi Noboru / 刀工総覧 - 川口陟著 It is a swordsmith directory. The edition of yours has older version (刀工總覧) of the name as one of the kanji is modernized in more recent editions. I am not sure how many editions of the book have been published. On a quick search I found at least 1968 and 1972 editions in Japan.

[Babu]

If it had a date where would it be located?

Is it a useful book or not really?

Thank you for your translation BTW

[Jussi Ekholm]

You are correct on the date of this edition 昭和３９年. I checked and I believe first one might have been in 1962 + found out pretty much an edition every few years up to 1977.

 

I think these have suffered bit of a same fate as encyclopedias here in western world. While they were amazing resources at that particular time there are just more useful resources currently available. Of course for most in the west these are tricky to use too as they are completely in Japanese and you have to have an idea on how to read/search these.

[Babu]

Thank you.

 

Very much appreciated.