New Member Introductions

[James C]

Hello everybody.

 

I am just taking an interest in Nihonto after going to the Florida Token Kai show this past weekend in Tampa with an old sword I have.

 

So I know nothing about Nihonto, yet. But the show was inspiration to learn. I'm going to try to combine this learning with an interest in photography.

 

In so doing I made my first personal discovery about my only Nihonto. It is shiny. The only decent picture I've taken so far is of the Nakago. (edited)

 

More pics after I work out some physics and some geometry to reduce glare and hotspots on the blade.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamescollins/

 

If anyone wants to proofread my photo captions that would be awesome. I'm just working off what I learned at the show and from the internet.

[Goldy]

G'day James,

 

Mate, loved the pics on your site and couldn't see anything wrong at all, I especially liked Buccaneer competitor #131.....

 

Oh, and its 'nakago' not 'nakaga'.

 

Welcome, and keep up the good work....

 

All the best,

[ShuShinKan]

Hi,

now I have been active at this forum almost 5 days and managed to get a lot of feelings expressed from you guys - both kinds!

I am glad about that - you tell what you are going for and you have my confidence.

 

My name is Gunther Schmidt, originally from germany and had an odd way during my life and finally arrived in central Sweden (geographically) in the middle of nowhere, as my friends say.

My wife is doing research on wildlife brownbears and thats why I am placed here. I am actually engineer for laser technologies and image processing but now i work part time as tourist guide and mainly as software developer.

 

My way to nihonto is alike zigzag as the rest of my life, and in the base, I fall for the craftmanship, that I will never in any way will be able to do myself.

I do not know anything by now and the further I read, the more I understand how little I really know( and that is mich less than I expected).

 

So far my life,

Cheers on a good future!

Gunther

[Amon]

Hello everybody!

 

My name is John Amon and lives in Sweden with my family and runs

my own company.

 

I've been practicing kendo and iai for many years now and for the last three

years I took a new path and started to collect Nihonto and study them.

I have been at this forum almost a year now and though I havent't post much I have

learnt so much more, thank you all for that.

This is a very friendly place and a great forum so thanks Brian and all of you

that makes this interesting.

 

Best regards // John Amon

[gumanthon]

Hi Barry, Hello everybody Nice to see you here I agree with your points about collecting yes it is nice to write an introduction I should have done the same when I joined but it is difficult for me because I am dyslexic. I am sure I will put one together at one point better late than never. Regards John.

[JGC]

Hello.

 

My name is James, and I've been reading this board for a while, I finally thought I would sign up and say hello.

 

I'll be honest, i've never studied Kendo, but i'm not trying to be a back yard Ninja either. i've studied quite a number of martial arts, and the one thing i've learned from them has been "Respect Weapons."

 

I've always been obsessed with swords, as i'm sure a lot of people here have been. I was even apprenticed to a European style Armor/Weapon smith for a number of years. But Nihonto have always been an obsession of mine, though i always figured i'd never run across one.

 

now that i have, i've done a great deal of research, and realized that i know little to nothing about them aside from that they are, in fact, swords... so i figured i'd come and ask a whole bunch of obvious questions of people that know what they're talking about! (i'd like to ad the first thing i looked up was how to properly store it and how not to totally destroy it. i've worked with a lot of antique weapons, and know they all require very specific care and maintenance.)

 

I hope that I don't annoy you all with what will likely be completely obvious questions, I just want to make sure I do things right.

 

thanks for your time.

James.

[Guido]

Welcome, James, and please do indeed not shy away from asking "stupid" questions, as there are none. There might, however, be stupid answers, and it possibly takes some time to being able to sort them out.

[Stephen]

As we approach our 1K member id like to point out the latest, none other than Sir Clive Sinclaire. A honor to have you aboard Sir.

[Guido]

Wow, Clive, you got knighted ? Possibly due to your outstanding research into roadkill-dragon-Horimono? Or the impersonation you can do with a comb under your nose???

[Brian]

Clive!

Great to have you here. Same Clive of the UK Token Society I hope.

Same one I still have photos of from the yakatabune in Tokyo? Same one that partied with me and Nix and Moriyama san and Kenji Mishina etc when Guido and others abandoned us after the Izakaya event?

Great to have you here if one and the same! :D

 

Brian

[Klop]

Hello members,

 

I 'm a bit ashamed to admit I just now stumbled across this thread...

 

So with a little delay, here's me:

My name is Eric Klop, age 36 and I live in The Netherlands. I've been lurking this site and especially the translation section for about the last year and I learned a lot in that period. And I intend to keep on doing so, as it's not only education but also fun with the humorous conversations going on.

 

I've always liked edged metal -weapons, knives, tools and started collecting with indonesian kerises. Inevitably this evolved into nihonto, with on the side some middle eastern daggers and one indian katar. My curse; I like everything; blades, mountings, spears, inro, netsuke etcetcetc. Luckily this is not an unhealthy addiction :D

 

So far for now, you'll see me some more in the future.

 

Best regards,

 

Eric.

[John A Stuart]

An addiction and fun too. John

[Clive Sinclaire]

Gentlemen,

I am happy to be here although I am afraid Her Majesty the Queen has not yet seen fit to enoble me, a temporary oversight I am sure. I am guilty of all tthe other things being said about me here. I am only just trying to find my way around this site so I hope this posts OK. By the way, Barry, I still have an oshigata of your Tadahiro. I have just seen a named blade (Mist Cutter) in London with a big mumei blade by Masao . Nice thing with nice koshirae.

Regards

Clive Sinclaire

[Brian]

Ah...good to have you here Clive, I really hope you will stick around and hope to hear more from you. I am sure the knighthood is only an oversight away :lol:

For those not familiar with him, Clive is the chairman of the UK To-Ken Society (http://www.to-ken.com/) and a very good source of information. Also a fun guy (No..not fungi) and with a wealth of experience.

 

Brian

[Jean]

on board Clive from France

[Brett]

NMB,

 

I am Brett from New South Wales, Australia. Last weekend I attended the NTHK Shinsa/Taikai that was in Sydney (After a tedious cardrive...) and it was easily one of the best days in my somewhat short (fourteen year) life. They nearly didn't let me in, but after the event organiser came downstairs to see me he gave me permission to enter.

 

It was an excellent day, lots of beautiful Nihonto. I got Roger Robertshaw's signature and some very useful advice from the all guys there, and they all seemed quite happy to have a younger person interested.

 

So I recently found NMB and I am signing up straight away to learn as much as I possibly can. If you will have me, I look forward to being a regular contributor to these forums.

 

Thanks,

-Brett

[reinhard]

Hi Brett,

Young blood and a fresh view on NihonTo are more than welcome. Enjoy your stay, feel free to ask or contribute and take all answers and reactions with reserve.

 

reinhard

[Jean]

on board Brett

[Sparky]

Hello to everyone!

I was given a recommendation to join this board because I was given a Kyu-gunto, and I know very little about swords :D . I was told that NMB is the place to go if I needed questions answered, and so far you all have come through wonderfully, so thanks.

 

Now on to me, my name is Rob and I am a husband to a wonderful wife of 15 years. I am also a father of five great kids, 13, 8, 6, 5, and 3 years old. I am an electrician by trade and have been for 25 years. I work in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. Interesting side note on being an electrician; in 1992 a man with my exact name and trade was killed on the job. So I got to read my own obituary, very weird.

 

I have had a fascination with edged weapons my whole life, so the gift of this sword has really tickled my fancy. I have especially been fond of the Katana, probably because of the whole Samurai thing . Seriously though I am intrigued by the craftsmanship that goes into the making of Katanas and the history that a blade can have. And after reading around on this site and others who knows what the Kyu-gunto I have could tell us if it could talk.

 

So thank you for your time,

Rob E.

[John A Stuart]

Hence, Sparky. Had to be an electrician or a radio op. When radio ops. were common in the shipping industry, they often had that nickname. John

[Austo1]

G'Day

I have been regularly looking at this site, enjoying reading the discussions and articles for probably the past 2 years. Today I decided that I should join and formally introduce myself instead of lurking in the background.

My name is Doug Austin, I am from Mackay, Queensland, Australia and have been a Collector of Japanese Swords for the past 35 years. My interest in Nihonto was awakened as a boy of about 10 years when I was shown my 1st samurai sword brought back from WW2 by a relative. From that moment on I was hooked, however I had to wait untill I was 17 and working before I could afford to buy my own 1st sword. During the 70's and 80's I would regularly advertise in the local paper of a weekend " Wanted to Buy-Japanese Samurai Swords"

These advertisements brought me countless new treasures from local Ex Serviceman. At the time, I think half the thrill was in the chase, and hearing How, When, and Where the swords were aquired.

My real break into understaning Nihonto came when I met a Japanese Collector from Cairns in Nth Queensland who had replied to one of my advertisements. It turned out that his brother-in-law was an executive member of the NTHK shinsa team under Sensei Yoshikawa. At every chance I would then drive the 750 klm to Cairns for the opportunity to study blades of varying quality in full Japanese polish. Having others willing to give their time, assistance, and knowledge, I found to be invalueable.

The Forum offers new collectors many of these opportunities, the chance to draw upon the wealth of knowledge out there, unselfishly offered by collectors who have paid their dues, and now freely offer that knowledge without having to leave the keyboard.

I commend those members.

Regards

Doug Austin

[Jean]

Warm welcome to you Doug :D

[walkabout]

Hello All,

 

I should have done this a few days ago, but didn't notice or register that this thread was here.

 

Right up-front, I will admit that I'm an antique dealer and that I'm not a collector of swords. I do have a couple and one or two are quite rare, but when one has a champagne appetite on a beer budget, one doesn't get too far. So I keep to areas I know and have more experience with. I collect many things and most of them are Japanese in origin. The 'antique dealer' part comes in to pay for my 'habit' - that of collecting and the 'rent'.

 

I've asked to be a member of the forum for the sake of research. I have one very good friend that was a collector of swords for many years and asked me to sell his collection of 600+ items. For about 7 years now I've my way through the collection and have come down to the ones that I couldn't readily research or identify and that appear to be quite good. It has taken so long because I still have to maintain myself and I am doing the liquidation of the collection as a favor - no compensation involved. The friend is 88 (today), but his health has been rapidly declining and his memory is about completely gone. I guess the foregoing is my way of saying that I'm not here to solicit the members, it truly is for information to give my friend (now, his family - wife) a reasonable return.

 

I promise to try and not be too much of a pain. It is good to see that there is such a forum as this as there are far too few knowledgeable sources for good information around.

 

Best regards,

 

walkabout

[cspage]

In “presenting” myself to the membership of this board, the first thing I would like to mention is how much I appreciate the helpfulness of the members, the humor (fun, playful, dry and caustic), the genuine appreciation of learning, the aesthetic standards, and the downright huge wealth of experience I’ve encountered here. I joined in March of this year.

 

Now that I’ve buttered you all up, here’s me. My name is Colin Scott Page, I’m 61 years old and I live in Portland, Oregon, USA. I’m trained and educated in fine arts with a degree in painting and 20 years in ceramics (although much of that has taken a back seat to earning a living in other areas). I’ve been collecting edged weapons since about the age of 20, but not avidly, more as opportunity presented itself (thus my signature “Take tarts when tarts are passing”*). Until recently I never paid attention to nihonto although I have owned a copy of Robinson’s Arts of the Japanese Sword (2nd edition) for about 35 years; I did not begin to read it until about 5 years ago, being really intimidated by the depth of the subject and being spread out in many other fields of interest. Needless to say, I got hooked. I attended the San Francisco Token Kai a few years ago, put pressure on my available credit and came home with a couple of very modest swords and a headache from all the impressions and info. Now I have more books than I have time to read, a handful of tsuba (most of which have been seen in the past few weeks here on the Board), and an insatiable lust for more of everything (tempered of course by a subsistence income).

 

I am just beginning to recognize features and pieces that appeal to me more than others, such as sunagashi, wow, what a beautiful thing. Tempo tsuba and hot stamps, so easily regarded as simple and crude, but in truth subtle and full of “atmosphere.” This list is growing, every day something new shows up, something to suck me further into the deep morass of obsession. I love it.

 

Always alert for tarts*,

Colin

 

*No, no, not those kind of tarts…well, not always.

[Ted Tenold]

Hello Colin, and Welcome! I regularly attend the San Francisco show. Perhaps we'll meet.

[Ted Tenold]

Best regards,

 

walkabout

 

Welcome to the NMB. We like to share here, but it's easier (and required...hint hint) with a real name signed to your posts. You can modify your signature in your profile to include it.

[Ulmus]

Hello. My name is Gene and I stumbled onto theis site after doing a google search on the sword smith, Yasutuna Asai.

 

My grandfather gave me his Samaurai sword (WW-II era I believe) and i will be using this site to hopefully fix a few problems with the scabbard and such.

[M_F_Dumont]

Hello all,

My name's Matt, i am a chemistry PhD student at University of Florida. A couple year ago I bought a used version of the Japanese sword by Kanzan Sato. Since then i have been studying Nihonto and maybe one day i will be able to start a collection. I will be travelling to Japan in a couple of weeks and hope to see beautiful swords.

Thank you for thet message board, it is very useful for beginners like me to find useful informations.

best regards

Matt

[MJS]

Hello everyone,

 

My name is Mark Stoutjesdijk, I live in The Netherlands with my wife and two young sons. I'm a few months shy of 40 years old. I developed an interest in nihonto in a rather indirect way, so let me try to explain in a few words.

 

I've been practicing martial arts on and off for about two decades. During the late 90's and for the last year, I've been studying the bujinkan of soke Masaaki Hatsumi. Through an interest in the history of ninjutsu and its place in the Japanese society of days long past, I inevitably came to read about the samurai and their way of life. The subject of their famous blades was of course just a small step further. As I am sure the members of this Board will understand, I was immediately hooked on the incredible beauty, historical value and powerful presence of these weapons.

 

At this moment, my collection consists of only one tsuba (but a beautiful one, for sure -- thanks Martin, it arrived today ). I'm interested mostly in weapons (and fittings!) that have a relation to the Bujinkan, which unfortunately is pretty much anything. I will have to find a way to narrow it down a bit, but have no doubt that time will show me the way.

 

I'm very happy to have found this board, and am very impressed by the knowledge and friendliness that is found all over!

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

[firebee1976]

Hello... My name is Brian Todd and I'm pretty new to the Nihonto scene. I've always had an interest in martial arts, eastern philosophy and history, but I never thought I'd get this into Japanese arts and the arts of the samurai.

 

My involvement with nihonto happened purely by coincidence. One of my friends makes arrowheads and he wanted me to build a site for him. We got to talking about the site and as we talked... the premise for the site evolved into buying, selling and consigning "savage" artifacts, art and antiques from all over the world. I'm still in the process of setting up the site, but the initial setup should be complete pretty soon.

 

Anyhow... I live in Florence, Oregon... It's on the coast just west of Eugene. I live with my girlfriend and we have a baby boy on the way. I used to work in construction, but I've been laid off ever since the economy tanked this last January and good jobs are hard to come by in a small town. Now I'm creating my own venture with my friend and we're looking to develop our own business, which is, basically, going to be a brokerage of artifacts and antiques. I also work part time for a restaurant and a hotel, but that's that. Not very interesting or exciting. Otherwise, I'm interested in golf, MMA, the Seahawks, playing texas hold em' and pretty much anything else that's recreational or entertaining. That's about it for me... Nothing too exciting.