New Member Introductions

[roger dundas]

First of all- am I onboard (?)and if so here is a little about me. By the way I have a few tsubas that I would welcome clarification about but am yet to post (hopefully soon).

First of all I'm getting on a bit, nudging 80 (in 6 weeks), am not very adept with the computer else I would have done this a while ago.

Have collected guns and swords for many years, was attracted to Japanese swords because as an Australian we happened to be allied to the nation most responsible for the defeat of Japan( the U.S.A and thank God for that fact) , so instead of having Japanese swords in our country being worn by a conquering host, we had them here as trophies of war and plenty of them at that.

That said, I found the identification of what constituted a worthwhile blade eluded me- still does to large degree so I continued collecting in another direction.

But tsubas, that is another matter. Even though having only a shallow knowledge of the history of makers and schools I can buy what I like and enjoy the design, the metals and the often enough, brilliant skills of the maker. And they're sometimes quite cheap to buy.Bought the first one in 2011.

One more thing which may not be relevant but talking about the Japanese war, my mother had 3 brothers who all served with one shot down and kille, my father and 2 of his 3 brothers seved, the one who didn't had a small engineering business. Me- I haven't served.

 

Roger Dundas

Western Victoria,  Australia

[Bazza]

Hello and welcome Roger mate,

 

Good to see you "here" at last.

 

Best regards,

BaZZa

aka Barry Thomas.

[Ken-Hawaii]

Welcome aboard, Roger. Looking forward to seeing what you've collected, & what you're still interested in.

[Brian]

Welcome Roger. I think you won't even be the eldest here
And we have lots of Aussies here. The New Zealanders we tolerate too, in spite of what they did to my South Africa in the rugby

[kissakai]

The journey starts here - Welcome

 

 

Grev

[roger dundas]

Thank you all for your welcome and I probably overdid my contribution.

Ken I hope I haven't misrepresented my small collection which has only about 30 pieces- I never intended to collect tsubas but just thought I would get a few representative examples but how on earth can one do that- the range is endless.

Maybe about 20 might be of interest- I have gone through a lot of your NMB posts and have seen some mouth watering pieces . I don't have anything like that, instead they are a group that I can enjoy and  admire the artists work -that's the nice thing about these works of sometime genius.

BaZZa has seen them and didn't tell me to put them in the rubbish.

One more thing. I won't ever get to meet any of you men but I enjoy your banter, your commentary and advice and the way you deal with grumpy contributers.

It might be an age thing, but good manners are a delightful thing to see. And I've been not the best behaved in earlier days.

That's about it from me except for the postings.

 

Roger D

[Ken-Hawaii]

I haven't quite caught up with you age-wise, Roger (I turned 73 last month), & there are quite a few of us in the same bracket. 30 tsuba is a pretty nice collection. Wife & I have a few more than that, mostly Heianjo/Onin/Yoshiro, although I'm known for picking up gorgeous tsuba, no matter what the school. Figuring out how best to view & enjoy them is an ongoing topic, as it is for swords, & everything else. And what to eventually DO with our collection is a never-ending source of discussion. You can feel free to jump in & comment on any & all, as fresh ideas are always welcome.

 

Yes, Brian does a damn good job of keeping us "mannerly," & the really rancorous ones get blocked, or banned if they get loud enough. It's a real pleasure to have a discussion, without someone jumping down your throat, as trolls don't last long on NMB, thank goodness. And it's not just us guys here, either - ladies like Yurie have a lot to say, & they say it very well.

[Greg F]

G'day Roger and welcome from another Victorian. Bazza is a great guy to know and we are lucky to have him on board.

Looking forward to seeing your posts.

 

Greg

[HyakkiHei]

Hello and nice to meet you guys,

I got referred here from the SBG forum, was looking for places with Japanese sword collectors, enthusiasts and the like.

 

I'm generally more of a lurker on forums, so I can't say for sure how much I'll post, but I'll do a bunch of reading at least!

 

 

Ludo

[Ken-Hawaii]

Aloha, Ludo. This is an excllent place to learn, so please feel free to ask questions. Welcome!

[Srevens]

Good day honourable people of NMB! I'm Brandon and I'm very new/novice to Nihontos. I also feel like I started pretty young, 19 as of this post so please excuse my inexperience. Throughout my education I've had a passion for history and this eventually centered on Japanese history, my main focuses are the Sengoku Jidai and Meiji Restoration as they both peaked my interests. Although I only studied this casually (a video here and a wiki page there, as well as anything I can find in my University library), I'm always ready to learn more as a student of history. 

This inevitably led me down the path of Nihonto. I recently received my first Nihonto as a gift and my fascination skyrocketed to research more about it. I look forward from learning the nuances of Nihonto, I'll be in your care fellas.  .

 

- Brandon L  

[SAS]

Good place to start; welcome Brandon.

[BIG]

Welcome all new members, Brandon please share your Nihonto...

 

Best

[Ken-Hawaii]

Welcome, Brandon. Glad to see a younger person interested in Nihonto, as most of us weren't smart enough to start that early. Feel free to ask questions, & to share your observations.

[DaveFarr]

Hello from Edson, Alberta Canada. I love cruising the for sale section here and once I get some scratch together will likely buy from this site- from what I can see the members are friendly, knowledgeable. Thanks for making me comfortable.

[b.hennick]

Welcome to a fellow Canadian.

[Ken-Hawaii]

Welcome, & please sign all of your posts with a first name, so we can address you correctly. Please visit Amazon to buy some reference books before you start spending your scratch. That's key to maximizing your rnjoyment.

[SAS]

^Mjoy your time here!

[DMNK]

Hello NMB members!

 

I've been enjoying the board silently for quite a long time now. I think it's about time to introduce myself. After buying my first katana in Japan a few years ago, i fell in love with collecting nihonto and we all know the rest of the story right? Today my collection consists of 4 blades (3 koto, 1 shinto). Studying the Japanese sword has been really rewarding for me and you guys were part of it. Thank you! Still i feel like i am just at the beginning of a lifetime journey of learning. Anyway let's have a good time studying/discussing/collecting/admiring Japanese swords and other arts together!

 

Dominik

[Stephen]

Herzlich Willkommen

Please share your swords as you like.

[BIG]

Hi Dominik, welcome "on" board. Please share your swords and tell us your collecting goal.

 

Best

[uwe]

Missed some newcomers.....so: High to all of you!

[Ken-Hawaii]

Welcome, Dominik. Please tell us what made you get started in swords.

[snort]

Dang! This might not be a good forum for me, I'm a little coarse and unrefined. And I'm not specifically a sword collector, edged weapons and weapons in general interest me. But, probably like some of you here, I have collections of many varied and interesting objects; from minerals to artwork and beyond.

 

Usually I peruse a forum for months, years even before I join, but I bought a Katana a few months ago and a brother on a forum suggest I come here when I started asking around if anyone could help me identify my new blade.

 

So here I am. After the torturous registration process I was about worn out. Then when I tried to post a photo the helpful forum decided that I wanted to throw away the last three paragraphs I just typed and it dumped me back to the main page. I hate it when things do that.

 

I'm over 70, retired and enjoying it every day the good Lord allows me to wake up to. Beauty can be found everywhere, and I often think we collectors collect beautiful things to relive the stresses we encounter in life. How often have you caressed one of your collection in order to calm yourself? Or just looked at them and just breathed.

 

OK, OK, enough of that philosophical BS — I'm George, how are ya'll this mornin'?

 

george

[Brian]

Hiya George. At 70, you won't even be the oldest here, quite a few older
And you don't have to have Japanese swords as a main interest, or even a passion. All are welcome here. You should be getting the hang of it soon. If you need help, just ask.
It's all fairly easy once you poke around a bit. Welcome, and hope we can assist.

Brian

[Stephen]

Welcome you old hoot.

Got a couple years on so i get to say that. Yep lots of ins and outs here.

But hey you signed with your name 90% better than most first timers...some never learn.

Looking forward to your show and tell of your blade. I hazard a guess its a Nagamitsu.

[Ken-Hawaii]

If you really want to relieve stress, learn how to use a sword by swinging it! Not using Nihonto, of course, but it's amazing how much better you feel after cutting down a few hundred virtual iaido opponents! I'm 73, & have been doing that for decades.

 

Welcome to the forum.

[snort]

Yeah, Ken, I want to try a few swings with it myself, looks like a damned good stress relief exercise. Where do you get condemned criminals to try it out? I'm kinda new at this. I thought rabbits would be a good test, but TETSUGENDO chastised me severely for mentioning it, so I guess rabbits are out. And I thought they would be really good practice too, what with them all hoppin around and such.

 

I have to get my sense of humor in alignment with the board here if I'm gonna stick around. <heh>

 

george

[Stephen]

i cant tell you to not swing your Nagamitsu.  I can ask Please don't swing your WW2 sword. plenty swords out there made for that. 

getting in check ...be a good idea. some humor only carries so far. 

[Grey Doffin]

Hi George,

I think that on another thread here you were looking for a pin to go in the hole in the handle (mekugi).  Don't swing the sword if the pin is deficient or missing; it is what secures the blade in the handle and prevents to blade from flying off.  Make a new pin if necessary, from a chopstick.  This is important.

Grey