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As an example of Yamashiro-den, this is one of the Shintogo Kunimitsu I own. Although he was called the founder of Soshu-den, Shintogo was said to have roots in the Awataguchi.

Pure Camelia oil is readily available on ebay. The spray bottle will last for years.

Exciting News! We’re thrilled to announce that Markus Sesko—one of the world’s leading Nihonto scholars and authors—will be offering mei assessments at the Orlando Japanese Sword Show on Saturday, June 21st! Got a sword or tsuba with a signature you're unsure about? Wondering if it’s worth submitting for shinsa? Don’t risk your hard-earned money—Markus will be on hand to help separate the genuine from the gimei. 📅 Show Dates: Friday, June 20 through Sunday, June 22 📍 Just minutes from Orlando International Airport, with easy access to Florida’s top theme parks. This year’s show features: 40+ vendors with swords, fittings, and antiques for sale Demonstrations and workshops, including an immersive session on Japanese calligraphy, oshigata-making, and tsuka-maki Bonsai and ikebana displays Tsuba show & tell And now, mei checks by Markus! Markus will also give a special talk during our Yamashiro sword exhibition and will be happy to sign exhibition catalogs and copies of his books. So, whether you're a seasoned collector or just starting your Nihonto journey, there’s something for everyone. For more information about attending, booking a room, or reserving a table, please contact organizer Mark Ceskavich at: 📧 orlandoswordshow@yahoo.com NO FOMO! Don’t miss this incredible weekend. We look forward to seeing you in Orlando!

I found myself a blade by Akiyoshi which didn’t surface on this forum before (I believe). It has quite an active Hamon, lots of activity, clusters of nie, lots to study though taking good pictures is a challenge. The numbering might be interesting for @Bruce Pennington.

Memos from MAKFORCE in November 1945 on allocation and ballot of swords to officers and men, along with numbers of swords in Celebes Island. Note mention of "good swords", and that the Commanding Officers of Infantry battalions receive a sword. 6 November 20 November

Dear All I hope this finds everyone doing well? 48 hours ago I was greeted with the wondaful news that the NBTHK Japan has given us permission to share the English Versions of the NBTHK magazines from series #1 to #58 (ONLY) here on the NMB for educational purposes. Conditions are: - The Magazines cannot be sold to the public or board members. They must remain as free educational material. No profiting under any circumstances. - There must be a stable record of how many members are downloading the magazines (we already track the download numbers) - These are for the English magazines from the late 1970's and only numbers 1 - 58. - The NBTHK Japan must be acknowledged as the original publishers. This has been weeks in the making with 2 close contacts in Japan lobbying on our behalf and they really have come through for us so I have a lot of making up to do for them when I am next in Japan. I shall send everything to @Brian and allow him to upload them when he has time. Thank you for your patience everyone and I hope that the materials will help your education and collecting journey as much as it has helped so many in the past.

A fine Bizen Yukikage wakizashi with a deep sori and slender, graceful sugata that resembles a kodachi. Tokubetsu Hozon and published in the famous Fujishiro Toko Jiten. YUKIKAGE (幸景), Chōroku (長禄, 1457-1460), Bizen – “Bishū Osafune Yukikage” (備州長船幸景), “Bizen no Kuni-jūnin Fujiwara Shinbei no Jō Yukikage saku” (備前国住人藤原新兵衛尉幸景作), “Bishū Osafune Shinbei no Jō Yukikage” (備州長船新兵衛幸景), first name Shinbei (新兵衛), gunome-midare or suguha in nioi-deki, chūjō- saku - Markus Sesko $7,250.00 + shipping

It is a modern Chinese made sword. Nothing fake about it and not meant to deceive. A very nice gift indeed. 友澤作 = made by Yǒuzé. 利長磨 = polished by Lì zhǎng. 丙申年 = 2016. 己亥月 = November (more or less). Sources consulted in the translation above. An absolute beauty of a Longquan Katana. Sexagenary cycle

For the nakago, IF you must prevent red rust, put a drop or 2 on your fingertips, and lightly massage it onto the nakago. One or 2 drops is more than enough. Some say do nothing, but sometimes I feel the nakago can use just a little oil.

So, i learned what i could quickly from some friendly folks and yes i got it wrong as a newbie. So did the seller in Japan so he canceled my order and then we worked out a much cheaper price in line with a modern display piece. Then I went to Nihonto Art and bought a real Edo menpo from Nick C.

Excellent blogs by other people, first and foremost Markus, have inspired me to being releasing a newsletter. Three topics each issue, each something not well covered by books. In this one you can find articles about: Kyushu nihonto Saiha and yakinaoshi - same of different? The true meaning of NTHK scores https://www.historyswords.com/news1.pdf

Another KIRIDASHI from my forge:

Finally received my sword. I tried to take some photo but still an amateur in this game. So far im still trying to learn the name for hamon and the hada. I think it would take sometime before I can identify them correctly. Nagasa : 71.7cm Sori : 2.2cm

Here's what you tend to do Dan. You throw out some vague theory on a random tsuba, you make some unwarranted claim. Then when people dispute it and don't agree, you go "Well, prove I'm wrong. Unless we send it for testing, I guess we'll never know" and claim the "mystery" is unsolved. Except there is no mystery, aside from your throwing out a theory on that particular tsuba. No-one sees a cast tsuba there. But because you make a claim, it's up to us to prove it wrong? Simple fact...anything that can be done, will have been done at some point by someone. That's why you find swords with bizarre shapes and styles sometimes. There are always smiths who want to play with something new. No doubt there is someone or some small group out there that wanted to see if they could cast tsuba way back. However, using that as proof that cast tsuba were routinely done way back hundreds of years, and that the Japanese just mysteriously forgot to document it in their thousands of books is naive at best. We have books and manuscripts and documents from hundreds of years ago. You think they all got together to invent a conspiracy and hide the info? But you've gone beyond simply trying to find proof of cast tsuba. Now you just take random items posted by people, see what you want, and start a discussion around how that proves your theory. Forgetting that the item itself hasn't been determined to be cast, you act like it has been, and then proceed to use it as proof of your theory. The West isn't going to make some brand new discovery around Nihonto that the Japanese themselves haven't already investigated decades ago. But I think you're determined to somehow "leave your mark" and make some revelation that no-one else thought of. Throwing out theories about posted pics isn't going to do that. And it confuses the heck out of newcomers who come here to learn established facts.

In Japanese art there is a tradition of "utsushi" which translates as homage or emulation at its basic level. Popular designs were done over and over again but generally not as direct copies but as the new artists interpretation of the original design - at least in the best case senario. Copies have been made, some as "practice" by students/apprentices others as outright forgeries aimed at deceit. Yes there are also cast copies made in large numbers but these would not be called utsushi as they do not celebrate the art and are more about making fast money. From what I have seen almost every school of tsuba artist has had followers who make utsushi of their school or other schools master works. I would not be surprised if on some rare occasions some buyers might put in a request for some change or enhancement, there are rare signatures where the maker has included "made to the order of ... " Some schools were almost production lines producing the same pattern over and over again just to keep up with demand Kinai school was well known for it.

These readings are irregular. We just have to memorize them. 一日 - tsuitachi 二日 - futsuka 三日 - mikka 四日 - yokka 五日 - itsuka 六日 - muika 七日 - nanoka 八日 - youka 九日 - kokonoka 十日 – touka

Hi All, Greetings! I want to share with you all my most recent Gendaito purchase. Below are the specifications of the blade, please leave some comments, and ENJOY!!! BUSHIDO Akamatsu Taro Kaneyuki (Homemade Iron Forging) Nagasa Blade Length: 73.8cm Sori Curvature: 1.9cm Width at Hamachi: 3.37cm Width at tip: 2.45cm Moto Kasane: 0.74cm Sori Kasane: 0.42cm Blade weight: 770G 2013 Year of the Snake I love it, the balance is great. Right above the Handle. Should be great for Iai / Tameshigiri

This summary attempts to clarify the variation in kanji used for Showa period tosho namde KANEKUNI and the duplicate use of family name OGAWA by different Seki smiths. These variations can be confusing in the translated literature, especially the kanji for “Kuni”. Hopefully, there are no errors in this paper! Available in NMB Downloads:

This is an example from my collection made by the third Jingo master Nagatsugu but again in the round shape. Interesting as it uses brass inlay for the cord around the bobbin. hope you manage to find the example you are seeking. kind regards Michael

Just for clarity i was never a student of Ford, except watching his tutorial videos on Youtube i had no relationship with him, i'm pretty much self-taught

Hi all. So I ended up buying the sword you guys helped me to identify as real kai-gunto. I took some pause to cool off and think. Then I contacted the seller and negotiated the price down to USD 1500. Still sounds like a high price for such a sword, but I had reasons of my own to buy it. The main thing in a situation like this is to be happy with what you get. And so far I am happy. I believe I already mentioned that after three years of war I grew tired beyond measure and in the last months I feel myself completely burned out. Yet I still have work to do. Luckily, these days I have some time (not much though) I could spend on myself. And since I found out that Japanese blades have a magic in them that switches my mind in no time, I am in it. After the first failure (though I don't consider it as such) I decided to switch on simpler things like Navy dirks. And since for me the best way to study a subject is to have some objects of study at hand I acciered a pair of them. But I believe it may be a separate story, so let's return to the kai-gunto. Sword arrived and as expected: the blade had some corrosion dotting and it barely had a place free from fingerprints. And as you guys correctly noticed, nagasa was buffed. Fittings looked like they were in dire need of cleaning. At first glance the sword looked like an assembly: tsuba and seppas may be from one set but nakago-ana is too large for this blade. Luckily for me, I have some experience in polishing metals (though, not swords) so after looking at the blade I had a clear understanding that any kind of improper treatment will do no further good. So since its arrival I was only constantly oiling the blade and the most aggressive tool I used on the nagasa was a toothbrush with shortened bristles. However, I gently cleaned habaki, tsuba, seppas, fuchi, locking mechanism, kabuto-gane and sarute. I had no time for cleaning the elements of saya yet. Now kai-gunto looks like this. Process of cleaning was closely monitored by one of our cats. She likes to participate in all kinds of human activities. That's why some photos are more hairy than others:-))

Another great event and certainly exceeded last years, both in terms of number of dealers (several new faces in the booths from Japan and Australia) and range of blades, with a little more emphasis on Koto. Many Juyo papered blades were available for sale too. There was a booth demonstrating urushi polishing and a separate room featuring the work of a calligrapher. Yes, I would agree a few more lectures covering a wider variety of Japanese culture would encourage greater attendance by the lay person. Maybe a tea ceremony demo would be a nice idea. Its a shame the event is poorly attended by the NBTHK-EB members. The more support it gets the more likely it is to continue. Europe sorely needs the Japan Art Fair. Congrats to Henk and Daisuke san for organizing this annual 3 day expo which seems to grow in strength with increasing years. I plan to be there next year too. Did anyone get their blade(s) shinsa'ed on the Sunday? How did that go?

It does happen - and can even end up in a museum collection or being published.

I don't like to generalize, but these blue-background, cheap auction swords are very, very unlikely to provide you with a sword that is worthwhile to invest in restoration. Cheap swords like this are being sold at auction by dealers on eBay who know what they are selling, and are selling pieces cheaply for a reason. Like the "Original Old BIG Japanese Tachi Sword Signed Hamon Horimono" we discussed earlier, these are items which may look cheap on the surface, but if you look closely the underlying mess of issues makes it clear why the price is what it is and that these are not good candidates to invest in. You are much better off waiting and buying a kai-gunto which already has a blade in good quality Japanese restoration, and if you are patient you are likely to find one for less than it would cost to have a katana polished (along with new shirasaya and all the other restoration-related expenses).

It was a very nice edition, maybe the best till now! I met a lot of new JAS-members, and it was an honour to give a lecture for you all.

It is very likely that the sword is fatally damaged, the kissaki has been very crudely reshaped, the natural fukura (curvature of the kissaki) removed completely and most probably the boshi is gone at this point. I don't see any indication of a naginatanaoshi here, this appears to be a o-suriage mumei katana (Shinto or earlier) but with likely fatal issues due to the amateur reshaping of the kissaki combined with non-fatal forging flaws.

I think this is what you’re thinking of. It’s a web archive article, so scroll down a little for the content. https://web.archive.org/web/20201022000337/https://blog.yuhindo.com/hozon-is-a-test-juyo-is-a-competition/ For more Darcy artcles, Ray Singer generously put this together on his site, see below: https://swordsofjapan.com/nihonto-library/darcy-brockbank-articles/ Hope this is what you’re looking for, -Sam

Yes, its usually pointless to try to assign a mon to one specific family, unless you have a provenance for the sword (a surrender tag, etc...). Another site suggests this crest was used by the following families. Oddly enough, it lists neither Abe or Sakai as a possibility (but this list is not exhaustive); 佐野、金子、岡島、上原、梶、窪島、神、杉枝、中西、岩佐、貝瀬、大木、保科、中島、堀川、水上、原田、平山、山本、池原、小野、中山、田中、山本、中沢、有賀、梶川 https://irohakamon.com/kamon/kaji/marunitachikajinoha.html

信國吉種 - Nobukuni Yoshitane Ref. Sold at Auction: Nobukuni Yoshitane 信國吉種, long naginata Japanese Samurai sword, Muromachi period (1467-1469AD)

The blank of soft metal TSUBA is always cast with the exception of MOKUME GANE. Some are completely cast with decoration included, some of those are reworked then manually, and finished. A bunch of different techniques. Ford Hallam has often explained this.

陸奥守綱宗 – Mutsu no kami Tsunamune A real daimyo who enjoyed making swords. Ref. Date Tsunamune - Wikipedia

Yes, we have to get used to the fact that when we say "arsenal" or "machine made" or Showato etc etc, we mean not 100% traditionally made, and likely oil quenched. They were still made by a smith, could be forged and hammered (power or otherwise) but not considered Gendaito. Handmade? You could say that. But on a mass production and fast basis, and oil quenched. When we say Gendaito, it used tamahagane, and was water quenched. Excluding those odd swords that fall somewhere in the middle. But this one is oil quenched, and the stamp is a clear indicator that it is not a Gendaito, whether it would paper or not.

Motte sabinai tetsu saku kore Kanenaga Kanenaga made this from stainless steel. （On the wood habaki it also seems to say Kanenaga)(?)

Probably…….

Slightly unusual in structure, so it's a bit hard to parse. Anyway, the vertical writing is 祝 (congratulations), 歓送 (congratulatory send-off) and then the word 近衛 (Konoe) which is a rather noble family name, but also a word used to describe a guardian of the court. I don't think its meant to be a name here. Maybe its use is intended to be patriotic, or invoke a martial spirit. But it seems slightly weird to me. Under that: 應集 (a word used to assemble a group, sort of like the military command to "fall in") 勇途 (another word to invoke a glorious send-off of a brave person). Then we have what should be the recipient's name, but I can't quite get it. Maybe 津寅之助 (Tsu Toranosuke)? Anyway, its somebody Toranosuke. Then on the left side is the writer's name (I think) Shimazu Hatamata, although I'm not 100% sure of this. The two kanji at the top of this name might be a location name (Sata? Yuta?).

This may be of interest to Spartan Quest as during my research l found this tsuba in his recent book, Additional Early Articles for Tsuba Study 2. This tsuba was published in the Marquis de Tressan's 1911 Bulletin of the Society Franco Japonaise, the Evolution of the Japanese sword hilt from the beginning if the 17th century to the present day. I purchased this at Bonham's Samurai Snow auction but at the time the auction house did not have details of provedance. It was only after researching an auction tag on another tsuba that led me to a site citing this tsuba came from Tressan's collection. The Marquis was killed during the First World War in 1914 but the tsuba was not auctioned until 1933. lt would be interesting to know who owned this tsuba from 1933 to 2024. There is a vary similar tsuba (number 218) in The Hartman Collection of Japanese Metalwork (1976), but this is described as a daisho set and the seppadai appears different. Neil B.

Here is one of Ford’s early works from my collection. I cannot recall when I bought this from him. It’s one of the most tactile tsuba I own and has beautiful and playful subject. Its made of iron but carved as finely as it it were soft metal as was his rare talent. best regards Michael

於江府長運齋綱俊 Oite Efu Chōunsai Tsunatoshi 弘化二年二月吉日 An auspicious day in February, 2nd year of Koka (1845) Edit: More information here: https://nihonto.com/tsunatoshi/

Kuchibeni - 口紅 - A speciality of the Suruga school [not the same school as the tsuba in question]. This school is known for 'kuchibeni' or copper sekigane at the top and bottom of the nakago-ana which were placed at time of creation and are not a sign of refitting (kantei point). These were also seen in the later Edo work of the Tanaka School. Those on Jason's example look untouched (rare) and an indication that this piece was fitted only once to it's original sword. As I hope you can see from this slightly grainy image the Kuchibeni were installed in the nakago-ana before it left the tsubaco. Kuchibeni are generally a mark of good quality pieces and like this image they were often fitted with no gaps or protrusions. I also agree with Justyn that the nanako-ji is far too good to be cast. https://jameelcentre.ashmolean.org/collection/7/10237/10353 Check the kuchibeni on many of these Suruga school pieces - they are often altered later to fit other blades. There are indeed many fake or "reproduction" tsuba with fake sekigane but very few with Kuchibeni - Why? well they want the sekigane 'noticed' and good Kuchibeni would be almost invisible if it were the same colour as the rest of the guard.

The simple answer Ken, is, as with Nihonto, you can tell at a glance, if you've spent any time with them in hand and studying with books. There are also websites dedicated to pointing out the differences. The difficult answer I will attempt to answer below. It is worth remembering that at any antiques fair you will find hundreds of NLO, but rarely a Netsuke with both fine quality of carving and serious age. There is some middle road with funky (民芸品 Mingei-hin) folkcraft netsuke used in everyday Edo-period life by ordinary people; these can have an old rustic charm of their own, and if you are lucky you can still find them at antques fairs, hiding within collections of more modern NLO pieces. As I said above, everything. The opaque white of the material reminds me strongly of resin 'netsuke' produced recently for museums, or in sweatshops in China, although it could be marine ivory. I cannot see clear Schreger lines, except possibly in the tail, but there are nerve-ending holes fore and aft. The strength and application of the stain. The casual hairstrokes, the crudeness of the carving of the paws underneath. The rough treatment of the himotoshi holes, and the final straw is the obligatory Japanese-looking Mei. All of these shout NLO. Having said that, I do not wish to shock the starter of this thread, as it is indeed a cute object, and many people collect these happily. Over on the International Netsuke site we get a steady steam of people who say their grandmother left them a precious collection and can we evaluate it. Well, sadly, no. (By the way, there are modern genius artisans who produce one-off works of supreme art. Such netsuke are another complete area of collecting, but they can justly be very expensive.)

My thoughts on these questions: Luc's talk on the evolution of the kabuto was an excellent concise and reasoned overview in the time allowed. The same goes for Simone's talk on the history of the Gassan school, both excellent and very interesting talks. As for the positioning of the blade, a picture says it all: All in all, a fantastic and very enjoyable happening, with a Tokubetsu Iga no Kami Fujiwara Sadatsugu keeping me company on the way home! Pierre

I add also had a great experience at Japan Art Fair, the three days wasn't too much to enjoy blades and people. I regret not having met our german fellows but I was caught up by time. I want to especially thanks the sellers for their kindness and availability, always ready to present theirs items. And off course a great thanks to the organizers. Giordy, I dreamed of this giant Ayanakoji friday night, very impressive and beautiful blade. By the way I didn't Shinsa'ed anything so can't express. I will come back next year. Can't say it better

Possibly Kanbun Shinto. Grey

The signature is indeed compatible with Shōami Kanenori. The shape is better described as kurikomi-aoi-mokkō-gata (刳込葵木瓜形).

Modern junk imho

Yes, this is a showa era blade by the 23rd generation Seki Kanefusa. https://www.google.com/search?q=Seki+23rd+kanefusa+site%3Awww.militaria.co.za&client=ms-android-google&sca_esv=a919800cb6345d20&sxsrf=AE3TifPU7yf-CDYn22HMLRmOtiL6qHEU7Q%3A1748896200549&ei=yAk-aIiVIciqwbkP09OJ0QM&oq=Seki+23rd+kanefusa+site%3Awww.militaria.co.za&gs_lp=EhNtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1zZXJwIitTZWtpIDIzcmQga2FuZWZ1c2Egc2l0ZTp3d3cubWlsaXRhcmlhLmNvLnphSOM0UKAPWPUncAB4AJABAJgBmAGgAacHqgEDMy41uAEDyAEA-AEBmAIAoAIAmAMAiAYBkgcAoAfoArIHALgHAMIHAMgHAA&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp

You're not going to find "tanto" made in any way that isn't subject to export laws, unless maybe the blade is less than 15cm. You may find short yari that aren't subject to export process, if the blade is shorter than 15cm. If you find a flea market sword that isn't registered or is just handed over, trying to take it out the country without paperwork is a serious risk, and subject to legal action. Honestly, you're going to struggle to find a sword under $1000 from a dealer there, since most of them dump them on eBay and to the West. And those are all going to need the export process. Best bet is look for a nice kozuka, or a yari in shirasaya. Yes, you'll see many fittings in second hand shops, and some blades. And shockingly, they seem to ask double to triple the market values. Every antique dealer there seems to think that sword-related antiques are treasures. Even tsuba in flea markets are a mix of copies, and overpriced average stuff. Best bet is contact a bunch of dealers beforehand, and see if they can source something before you go.

The Sukesada could easily be worth far more than a Nanbokucho blade, and the opposite could also easily be true. Is the Sukesada a kazuuchimono or a blade with zokumei and special order inscription? Far more information here is needed to give feedback. Both being Tokubetsu Hozon does not provide equivalency between the two swords. The Nanbokucho blade might, for example, have only been taken up to Hozon but be an exceedingly good tokuju candidate. Please share more details with us, and we can provide feedback (and the feedback you receive between a zaimei Sukesada and mumei Nanbokucho blade might also be influenced by individual preferences).

長谷部 - Hasebe 但大磨上無銘之 – However, Osuriage and mumei. 時代南北朝初期 – Period: early Nanbokucho 刃長貮尺貮寸九分有之 – Blade length is 2-shaku, 2-sun, 9-bu (= 69.4 cm). 昭和五拾年師走日 – Showa 50th year (1975), December 寒山誌 – Kanzan wrote.