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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.

Per request from the Dai Token Ichi thread, here are photos of the blade I bought last November at the DTI from Tsuruginoya. It is a Fukuoka Ichimonji Chikafusa that has reached NBTHK Juyo Token. I apologize for my poor photo abilities. Capturing the intricacies of this blade is very difficult. To partially make up for that, here’s what Tanobe sensei said on the sayagaki (credit to @SteveM for the translation): Designated Important Sword (Jūyō) at the 67th Jūyō Session Bizen-no-kuni Fukuoka Ichimonji Chikafusa Shortened a bit (machi-okuri), with a two-character name purposefully inscribed with a thick chisel into the tang which has been slightly cut off. The sword has a dignified shape, with a standard width, a deep koshi-zori, and the tip of the sword ending in inokubi style. The forging pattern is koitame, with a clear midare utsuri present, and a lustrous chōji midare with “fukuro chōji” showing as double-chōji in the hamon. There are ashi and yo in abundance, giving great beauty and a rich variety. This sword displays the elements of this school at its peak in the mid-Kamakura era. There are several swordsmiths with this name appearing in the indexes, which dates this sword circa Kenchō (1249-1256). This excellent sword is both a classic example of this school, as well as an outstanding item. Length 2 shaku, 3 sun, 2 bu (70.30cm) An auspicious day in November, 2024 Recorded by Tanzan (monogram) Interestingly, the NBTHK Juyo setsumei says, in part: “According to the swordsmith indexes, Chikafusa was a Fukuoka Ichimonji swordsmith, circa Jōkyū (1219-1222).” So there is a slight difference of opinion on which Chikafusa made this blade. In any event, I am quite happy with it. It was registered March 13, 1951.

As most of you know, I've been recovering from 2 surgeries for a perianal (embarrassing area) abscess that spread rapidly and they had to slice and dice me to remove necrotic tissue. Spent 8 days in hospital, and have been recovering at home the last 10. Slow recovery that makes sitting, standing and walking very difficult. At the same time I (finally) got diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. I always pretty much knew I had it, but was stupid enough to wait for them to tell me. Anyways, it just makes everything more difficult, but I'll deal with it ok and am just lumping it into everything. That said, I think I am making some progress. Likely will be off until early Jan, and haven't been able to participate here as much as usual. But am monitoring and following everything. So...A big thanks to you guys for generally behaving yourselves and have seen some fascinating discussion, lots of sales and lots of good info and translations. I appreciate you guys removing some of the stress I anticipated, and am really happy with the way things carry on without micro managing. At the same time, I really do have to send a HUGE thanks to those of you who have supported the forum by renewing Gold memberships or sending some contributions for sales done etc. I was a little stressed about paying fees etc while I was laid up, but you supporters have really pulled though for me and taken a lot of that stress too. We have some great members here, and a bunch of new faces too, giving good questions and answers. And of course the old faces that are the heart of the forum that maintain the flow and strength of this place. So whether you didn't even know about the health issues and just carried on as you usually do, or whether you just participate with questions, answers or discussion, or whether you have supported us with subscriptions or donations..or whether you just lurk and read the forum....a huge thanks to you all. This is as good a time as any to wish you all a wonderful Festive Season and a prosperous New Year. Thanks to all of you, even the instigators who (in their own way) stoke debate and analysis. I'm here, just taking it slow and steady. Best to all. - B -

I just got informed that the tsuba I sent for this year's NBTHK contest got awarded Nyusen 1st! This is a great result for me as I ranked 6 positions higher than last year. I will keep practicing to improve my skills and hopefully get an higher rank next year.

There are questions about collecting that come up (or worse do not come up but are present) which are, unfortunately, not covered in any of the books. So I wrote a guide which answers at least some of them: papers, polish, etc.. It is a directly phrased document which I am planning to put it in my signature since unfortunately I don't have time anymore to manage my website. cert.pdf

Hello all, If this is in the wrong spot feel free move it Brian. I just thought I'd share this here and provide some insight into this remarkable man. Hate him or love him he was indeed a unique individual. This is my meager attempt to express my feelings toward my teacher and dear friend. Thank you all. Ford Hallam At this moment in time I feel it important to somehow try to express what a huge impact Ford Hallam had on me and my life. It is plainly obvious that many other people have been touched very deeply by his generosity compassion, drive, intellect, diligence, humour, insight and his amazing skill as an Artist and Craftsman. I feel incredibly and overwhelming fortunate to have been granted direct access to that well spring. I cannot speak for anyone but myself, but he taught me, not only the Craft I now make my living from ,but also how to elevate that work into something more than just carving, sawing and filing. In the early days of the Iron brush forum I was initiated into this way of "seeing". He would critique and offer truly honest assessments of the work offered up trying to guide and I believe coalesce his ideas around teaching his art. Paralleled with that was his approach to how he went about making, as well. The Do, or Way of how to make was something that fascinated him. We spent many hours discussing the philosophy of the work and what that meant to him. His development of a Way of working directly that shared his view of the world, and his artistic expressions of it, was something that he diligently forged and eventually succeeded at brilliantly. I recall him telling me once that he was surprised that anyone would be interested in how he worked? He had honed these ideas over many years of work at the bench. Many of those ideas surrounding the aesthetic that he so successfully synthesized. As he coined it "uncontrived contrivedness". An extremely difficult concept to grasp, but one he was very passionate about. Some of the ideas were about ergonomics and the physical side of craft and came from his early training as a Goldsmith ,but also later from the first bout with his illness and ways to overcome it. He had a way of describing it all that was alluring and almost metaphysical, almost Zen to use a very overused term. It was this idea of working by hand directly and intimately with the material, that he and I shared a deep connection and mutual interest in. The Art itself would seem obviously the most important, but in my mind these ideas to him were one and the same. The Art and the Art of the Art, as it were. I think this conception and his actions upon it defined him as an Artist more than any other. These "hand conversations" with his chosen material allowed him to create things that almost defied human endeavor. He had his heroes and saw first hand under magnification what they were capable of. I always felt that this drove him to follow that path, because he saw that it was not only possible, but also possible to bring it forward and to have real relevance in the modern world. He saw that and wanted to share that vision with the world. Despite some of his own misgivings about this, I believe he succeeded. In these last decades, he more than anyone in the world, has shone a bright spotlight on the art of Japanese metalwork and generated a mini Renaissance surrounding it. His ripples have also stretched much further outward from that into many different areas of metal work, and I believe will continue to do so for a long time. He had many isms or saying that will persist in my mind until it's my turn to follow him. One in particular referenced craft and the use of tools and ones eyes. He'd say "Marcus, it's all the same, it's all the same." It took me more than a few years to realize what he was saying, but I have thanks to him. Sawing, filing, carving, scraping, looking and depending on how philosophical you want to get, life itself is "all the same". Another one that comes up often for me is "just do the work!" I'd be stuck on something or floundering for inspiration and I'd bring it up to him and he'd tell me again" just sit down and do the work...it'll come. Even when you don't feel like it . In fact, mostly when you don't feel like it, sit down and do the work. And if you really feel you can't sit ,clean ,sharpen and take care of your tools and studio." I adhere to this advice the best I can everyday. It's always a struggle as any artist will tell you. In fact, he himself struggled with that very thing. when I'm working and if I question something I'll often ask myself (WWFD) what would Ford do? and I hear him in my head. I told him about it and joked with him about getting those wristbands made up like the ones for Jesus on a few occasions. Despite me taking the piss with him I was serious, (not about the wristbands) and still do it to this day. He had a gift for expressing himself in a way that made what he did infectious. He was a gifted teacher and deeply cared about his students and those around him. I think this was something that many people underestimated about him. He would freely give way more of himself than he should have for his own good. Even when his health would suffer, he would push himself, especially at classes and while teaching. Few knew how difficult it was for him just to do the day to day living. Such was his dedication to his Art and passion to pass that on to his students. He took that responsibility very seriously and I think that was the catalyst for a few of the folks who he rubbed the wrong way through the years.. I will truly miss the early morning Skype calls with a cuppa Yorkshire Gold in hand and a good bit of toast and cheese. In those precious months where he generously invited me into his home and studio to study and learn. I will cherish those late, late nights where we shared way to many bottles of New Zealand White Zinfandel from the Marlborough region. We talked of life, history, philosophy, science and of course our shared passion, classical Japanese metalwork. Looking over his shoulder while he worked and trying to soak up everything that I could. He was encyclopedically knowledgeable and had an almost photographic memory for names, dates, schools, styles and really almost anything dealing with Japanese arts. The amount of research he had done on his book alone would have easily gotten him a PhD twice over had he been in academia. I'd set myself challenges of finding information that he had not already found. In all those years that happened only a handful of times. I'd excitedly bring something to his attention and he would then list off the book and chapter where it was located. And when he didn't know he was extremely grateful to add it to his knowledge base. Or, if there was a particular tsuba or artist that I was interested in, he would instantly know where a reference photo was in his massive library. If he didn't have it there he would know where to look. Also, where, when and how they worked, and most if not all of the Masters for that school. It was truly astounding. There is just so much I'd like to say and I could go on and on. I'm really not sure where to stop with all of this... I have known him and been his student for a long time, through thick and thin. Our relationship was the most unique one I've shared with another human. He changed the course of my life dramatically and opened up a world I now inhabit. He's had more impact on my adult life than anyone I've ever known, save my wife and children. How do you say goodbye to someone like that. How do I move forward and carry on without that human safety net and wellspring of knowledge, understanding and kindness that he was to me. I can only think of one, and that's to ask myself, what would Ford do? I will miss you ole chap, my dear friend, my teacher. I do not have enough gratitude to repay you all that you have given me. 10,000 thanks will not suffice. All I can do is carry on with our work and do my best to make you and Hallam-ryu proud. All my love and respect, Marcus

Greetings to All, Recently, I acquired a rather rusty tsuba as part of a deal for a Washida tsuba with another collector. This piece was thrown into the arrangement by the seller to meet the requested price range. Despite its condition, it showed some promise. The tsuba is signed Kyozan Mitsunaka + (Kao) ({嚮山 光中(花押)}) in kin-zogan. Based on the pictures, it appeared to feature brass hira-zogan of peonies and arabesques. Despite the rust, none of the inlays seemed to be missing - testament to the craftsmanship. The subject and execution also align well with works by Washida Mitsunaka or the Washida school. Seeing its potential, I decided to accept the deal, and both tsuba landed on my desk. Believing the piece was worth restoring, I sent it to Manuel @C0D for restoration, and I wasn't disappointed. Manuel did an outstanding job removing the rust and re-patinating the brass. If Manuel would like to elaborate on the restoration process, I would welcome it. The gamble paid off, as the final result is quite pleasing. As you can see, the tsuba has been brought back to life: I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Regards, Luca P.S. I have to thank Manuel for allowing me to use the pictures he made.

Room 1 of 3. It's getting to be a bit much.

Relief!!!! All is ok, I have confirmation it is a case of severe technical issues!! @Spartancrest will be back in due course!! My mind is at ease, really been missing Dale!!

Here are some phone pics of my latest work, this is my 4th attempt at making tsuba. The bronze original is in the V&A London online collection. The details are as follows. The project took 7 months to complete including choosing the design to inlay of the mei. The material is iron(not mild steel) I sent some 100 year old relic parker brothers and other Damascus shotgun barrels to a blacksmith who returned them as 1/4" iron plate. I made a pen and ink drawing adding the kogai hitsu ana. The design was xerox copied and transferred to the plate. I then pieced with a jewelry saw and sculpted with hammer and chisel gravers. Polished with files and finishing stones. The color is heat blue patina.

Today I would like to introduce you to my Kurihara Akihide Subudai from 1945 I love the Hada

I just sent off a "new" book to the global distributors - Titled "Additional Early Articles for Tsuba Study II" It follows on "Early Articles for Tsuba Study 1880-1923 Enlarged Edition" & "Additional Early Articles for Tsuba Study" with more articles and catalogues/catalogs, this time mainly dealing with auction catalogues of some of the well known collections and many of the more obscure ones. I concentrated only on auctions with images available, nothing more frustrating than to have to imagine what the tsuba looked like in my opinion. The book is 322 pages with several hundred tsuba illustrated. With any luck the book should be listed within a month. The first book in the series [compact version] I just found listed on Catawiki, it is almost the same as the Enlarged Edition so you can check out the images https://www.catawiki...-period-1989-present [I don't recall giving anyone permission to show the pages, but that obviously doesn't stop Catawiki !! ]

Alive and well - but it would certainly be easier being dead! The modern digital age is really trying to eliminate the older generation. Did you know if you don't have a phone you no longer exist? When did it become mandatory to even have a phone? I must have missed that memo. Don't get me started with the internet connections! When companies refuse to accept debit cards [ie. actual on hand money] and only do business with credit cards [ie. not real money] they must like people being in debt? Not to mention they won't take money in advance payment for say a years "service"- after all how could they increase their costs at a whim if they did that! Thank you all for the concern for my welfare - it was a nice touch to get a knock at the door at 11.30pm from the police checking in on me I did notice that in the two months I have been out of contact my three children didn't even notice!

Hi! This is an update to my previous post. This is a thank you to all the amazing people in the message board who contributed to helping me find more about my heritage. As a token of my appreciation I provided sword making in action photos (including his face) below. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. I’ll update you guys (on this post probably in 2 weeks) if I get more photos of him/more photos of swords created.

Hello everyone, I miss everyday being able to go on Yuhindo.com to gaze at magnificent blades, it used to be a "Zen" website where one could just linger surrounded by beauty and knowledge. I memory of my friend Darcy, I started a Substack project where I plan to publish articles when time allows, with in-depth with high-quality research, with the help of friends such as Markus, Ted and others. In the long run, it'll form the basis of a book. My plan to focus on swords that "have stories to tell" and delve on often overlooked topics such as provenance and discussions on attributions. The content is aimed at intermediate-level enthusiasts, but with the help of AI tools it should be understandable by everyone, new or experienced, in the hobby. Here is the first article of the series: https://hoshido.substack.com/p/the-falling-leaf?r=bw6e8 I hope you enjoy. Best, Hoshi

The last thing that I would want to do is discourage an incoming new enthusiast, so please don't take this in a discouraging way, however there is no final authority who can give an answer that conveys absolute truth. If a piece is not signed, then there is always some degree of uncertainty on an attribution. In the sword world, there are attributions which change from one level of paperwork to another. With fittings and swords both, there is some degree of bucketing where an item may receive a safe attribution if the answer is not entirely clear. Collecting Japanese swords and fittings needs to come with some acceptance of the fact that there may be no absolutes and that sometimes it's enough to own a masterfully made object even if you'll never know with certainty who made it.

I have some good news to share today! I received a call from the supervisor at my local USPS office to say that they "found" my sword after 4 days of it going missing, and I've just picked it up and have verified that it's undamaged. I assume that the USPS theft report an the police report that I filed helped get the necessary attention, and the USPS supervisor will also be looking into the matter of the fake delivery attempt by his delivery person. Thanks again to everyone for their helpful suggestions on addressing the situation!

Really hate to even mention this. But many of the hosting and software bills have just come up for renewal and had to lay out a chunk of change. Although we are still ok with the current reserves, there has been more going out than coming in. I know times are tough, and therefore any contributions will always be voluntary and not expected. But it's mainly the Gold memberships and dealer subscriptions that keep us going, and we have a lot of unrenewed memberships due to people coming and going through this complex collecting field of ours. I just want to ask those who are able, to consider a membership if you are able. I feel for $5/month, we offer a ton of info here...over 15 years of it. You get far more pm's, less time between searches and other benefits mentioned here: https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/subscriptions/ Or at least please consider renewing if you membership is expiring. We accept Paypal, and if you send me a pm, I can send a CC request through a secure payment processor too. Donations for sales done here are also a huge help, but of course are also voluntary. If you would like to see any other benefits for Gold membership that are within the scope of the software, feel free to ask. Would love to add more plugins that offer more features and themes, but most come at a price, and a 6 or 12 month renewal period. Anyways, just a mention, and of course a huge thanks to those who are always stepping up with contributions, memberships or just info and assistance to members. From the guys who answer newbie questions, to those who give their time and knowledge with translations and expertise. Thank you all. Couldn't do any of this without you. Brian

I'd like to announce and thank our members who are going to be assisting us with moderating certain sections. I think it will benefit us all to have more eyes on the forum, and these people have graciously offered to assist with this task. I'll still be looking for one or 2 people to assist with the Izakaya, but finding impartial and fair people who won't take a side is understandably difficult. It's also not something I wish on anyone, but we do need one or 2 people there. Jean will continue to moderate over all sections as before, being the main moderator. The following sections will be assisted with moderation by the following members: General Nihonto Related Discussion: @Scogg (Sam) Translation Assistance: @Ray Singer and @Bugyotsuji (Piers) Auctions and Online Sales: @Scogg Nihonto: @Scogg Tosogu: @Curran Katchu: @uwe Military Swords: @Bruce Pennington and @Scogg Tanegashima: @Bugyotsuji Other Japanese Arts: @Bugyotsuji Sword Shows and Community News: @Mark For Sale/WTB: @Scogg Izakaya: TBA Thanks to these members, please grant them respect, thanks and best wishes.

I should post most of my collection, but i selected a few pieces: Ko-tosho, big, early and unaltered Onin, big and unaltered without much loss of zogan And my pride, tensho koshirae from late Muromachi with its original blade still inside. All lacquered black, simple iron tsuba with most of urushi still in place

From my own collection - the nanako is minute and the design wraps around the nanako mimi - not done in shakudo as one would expect, but shibuichi.

Thought these may be of some interest to collectors: New Guinea: regarding distribution of swords to soldiers Dutch Borneo: brief summary of the Japanese sword from RAAF intelligence. Interesting they note "jeepspring sinister" swords in 1945.

Ubu Tachi This is an Ubu Tachi from the end of the Nambokucho or early Oei. 78.75 cm in length. The sori on this really shows what the O Suriage Tachi looked like before being shortened. It is suggested it may be early Uda or Kai Mihara school , it is unpapered and in old polish and Shira saya I am learning lot from this piece. Many thanks to Mike Yamasaki for selling this to me.

Paul was incredibly generous, and would often invite friends to examine his treasures in hand. He was also generous about loaning pieces for sword study events. With a collection like his, it was a considerable effort to pull out all his amazing pieces to share. I was fortunate to be invited to his home, and to bring a Japanese American engineer friend. On that occasion also present was the late Professor Arnold F, among the kindest and most sophisticated men in this field, who with Paul's permission brought another friend. Paul had prepared for this visit by having all his best pieces laid out, including his impressive matchlock collection. He and his wife hosted us all for dinner. They went to a great deal of effort to create this opportunity for us. Paul spent a lifetime carefully studying nihonto, honestly and generously sharing what he knew and what he found. Hearing Paul describe the process of purchasing the Norishige tanto, with other interested parties trying to convince him it was a gimei piece he was crazy to throw his money at, was by itself a fascinating treat. He trusted his own judgment, while at the same time realizing his judgment was fallible. Also memorable was how Paul would happily admit to being much impressed with some swords that Tanobe Michihiro would dismiss as completely unworthy of a man with Paul's exceptional collection. Paul never lost his enthusiasm for nihonto, or his generous spirit towards others who shared his interest. Paul's loss is a great loss for all who were fortunate to know him, and to our field of interest. He was an amazing and modest man, who patiently built a truly incredible collection. We can only hope that some of his treasures are acquired by people who possess Paul's generous spirit of sharing this art.

Hello everyone and thank you for all your support ! Finally the sword was delivered in "express" service after being sent to Limour (600km from home). The pack have suffered a little but the adress was very clearly wroten and unmystakable... Must important : the sword is fine, the sayagaki and the habaki were split a little probably by rude handling during this so long a journey... I am realy relived... and at the same time still angry : I had to wrote 2 times to the president and director of the group to have someone doing something... without telling SAV harassement and going any day to complain to post office (thanks to Brian's insurectionnal war tactics !). Thank you to all of you members, I wasn't alone and it was important ! Maybe admin could add SOLVED ! to the tittle, If I could help NMB or any member anyway: let me know (have an ID for NMB) sincerely yours, Eric V.

This is room 2 of 3. Mostly storage for swords but a Saotome armor and a lot of Tetsubin and books. I'm doing an exhibition now at the North Carolina Museum of art ( the making of a warrior ) from Oct 19 2025 to Feb 2 2025. You can see images on line. A lot is missing because it's there. The curator picked what she wanted so skipped over many of the Kamakura jidai swords.

2 more to keep this going Iwata Kaneyasu, Masayuki

I would like to present my most recent work accomplished with help from Spartancrest who chose the design, did the research to confirm dimensions from the collection curator at the V&A museum where the original is kept and provided the Kanji so I could have a proper mei. Dale and I did some careful planning to create this Utsushi and there are some details I wish to explain that make this work uncommon. As Dale describes it The spider is a problematic design done in this manner because it is difficult to place the legs in a way that make a usable tsuba. The design is based on the Legend of Watananbe who killed a great spider. The project took about six months to complete. All of the work was done by hand using only hand tools and finishing stones The eyes and stinger are Shakudo. The original of this piece is asymmetrical I went to great effort to make my work symmetrical as a way to distinguish the piece as a copy. Funny thing is though despite all the effort my piece ended up asymmetrical as well as if fate or karma predestines this design to be that way.

I came across a picture of this beauty! Isn’t this pure art?

I had the pleasure of meeting Manazu Hitoaki today and watching him work in his home in Osaka. It was a fascinating experience that significantly deepened my understanding of the sword polishing process. Despite his immense skill, he is very humble and spoke only a little English. Fortunately, his apprentices were more than happy to translate and quickly mentioned that he is one of the finest sword polishers in Japan. Some interesting facts stood out during the visit: Hitoaki learned the art of polishing from his father at the age of 15 and has been improving his craft for 58 years. Hundreds, if not thousands, of blades have passed through his hands. Currently, the demand for his services is so high that customers face a two-year wait. He works diligently, more than 10 hours a day, to complete each sword on time. His rate is 20,000 JPY per sun (1.3 inches/3 cm). One of his apprentices eagerly explained the process and the stones used. He has been training under Hitoaki for eight years but still considers himself a beginner. He mentioned that he wouldn't charge more than 8,000 JPY for the same polish as his master. As an amateur knife sharpener myself, I was curious about how they maintain the niku of the blade during polishing. They explained that they work on a very narrow section of the blade at a time, gradually transitioning down the convex surface toward the edge in small increments. Each section is completed before moving on, rather than working in long sweeping motions. Their ability to assess a blade with such precision is astounding. The apprentice handed me a blade and asked me to hold it to the light, pointing out that it was uneven. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't see any imperfections. It really highlights the incredible attention to detail required in this craft. Much of their skill is visual; they don’t count their strokes on the stone but continuously check the blade until they are satisfied with the result. It’s quite remarkable. Hitoaki shared that, despite his best efforts, he has never delivered a sword with a perfect polish, there’s always something he feels could have been improved. He also mentioned that, though the old grandmasters are long gone, he continues to learn from them by studying the swords they polished. This is a vital part of his work, as he strives to adapt his polish to each blade, taking into account its era and style. If the current polish is good, he aims to replicate it in the same way. A very interesting experience that I won't forget.

Interesting photos of the official Japanese surrender of the weapons in Batavia on 15 May 1946. The allied representative is Major P.A.A. Haining of the Allied H.Q. The Japanese representative is Major-General Nishimura. .

This one of the first times I saw Ford and his infamous meeting at his old house. He invited me down as a newbie collector and he liked some of things I’d said and posted on the NMB. Possibly along with his other 'victims' Justin and myself walked back to our digs absolutely hammered, what a night The following year I popped down to see Ford with over a hundred tsuba and he explained their good and bad points. What an experience! He repatinated around 8 of my tsuba and these are a couple of the reworks This was the most challenging. Reworked by Ford Hallam and Kevin Adams This tsuba posed a few interesting questions when it came to us, the first and foremost being the large patches of thick, black material on the front and back. It was almost certainly a fire scale, and it took quite some time to remove – Ford suggested that the piece may have been in house fire, accounting for the thickness and randomness of the coverage. After a test patina, the inlaid elements were found to be more sophisticated than first thought. The monkey's face is a mixture of shibuichi and copper, with shakudo eyes. The implements are shakudo, and after polishing a portion of the rim we discovered that the copper has a lovely grain structure. However, the fire damage that produced the oxide layer affected the surface of the tsuba and created a "gritty" surface texture. We decided that it might be worth our while to polish the surface of the tsuba and apply a tsurikomi finish to the plate. Patinating the piece went more or less as expected, although we had some challenges getting the grey colour to patinate properly – most likely happened is whatever caused that black oxide layer also affected the top layers of the shibuichi and leached out the silver. All in all, a piece with an interesting story behind it. These were a couple he particularly liked This one was his favourite and was the best example of mokume work he had seen and it was used as his screen saver for a few months. I felt so proud! Finally, two of his early tsuba from the Birmingham museum. Who knew that from these early tsuba he would produce such stunning works of art I’ll let this post speak for it’s self Grev

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

Hello all, I’d like to share the latest addition to my collection, which recently arrived. Exhibited at the NBTHK Museum in 2014 and published in the exhibition book "Kurogane no Hana."

Dear All. Very pleased to have received this one in the post today, much better in hand than the rather sketchy photographs would indicate. The patina appeared washed out in the photographs but is a lovely deep brown, there are scattered silver and shakudo inlays of shells on the carved wave background and the obligatory dragons and sacred gems. I have long fancied to add one like this to my collection but assumed they would be forever out of reach. Somehow this one slipped through the auction net and is now mine, just wanted to share it with you as I know some here are interested in this school. Enjoy! All the best.

I think I may have solved a mystery that caused the late Ford Hallam to "recreate" a "lost tsuba" - I believe I found that lost tsuba in Hawley's "TSUBAS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA" Page 301 of that picture book. In the book there is an odd view of the ura side of a guard which should have been flipped over - to me it is obviously the same tsuba that was "missing" or so close to it that it makes no difference. Remember the book was published in 1973 so it is impossible for the image to be of the utsushi made by Ford. See this blog from 2009 https://followingthe...-cat-out-of-bag.html What do you think? Was Hallam looking on the wrong continent and the tiger was in California all along? There is a signature on the Hawley image but it is not clear enough to read, Ford may have assumed that the small guard he had access to was made and signed by the same maker as the larger piece, but he did not have the ura view to back this up. Anyone know a collector from California by the name of "Stoehr" ? He may know of the whereabouts of the lost guard. [PS. Ever notice the title of Hawley's picture book is WRONG - no such thing as tsubas surely he knew the plural of tsuba was still tsuba!]

Hi, I am still new to this forum but i want to share with everyone a unique piece, that is my absolute favorite among our vast collection, from the military history institute museum I work at as restorer/conservator. As the title, possibly somewhat confuzingly states, It is a amalgamation of a Japanese blade and Austrian officer navy fittings. I will post some photos but I just found out that the are not great, i can and will take better photos of the blade around monday next week. I will write everything we know about it plus some history toward the style of fittings it is housed in, and the blade was not removed from the handle yet, I have to get to it and find out if it is signed. I will write some history here: Austrian naval officer were issued navy sabers first in 1827, later in 1837 it was changed to more archaic straight blade "kord" or small sword in english. In 1846 new style of saber was adopted again, this model was based on frech navy saber. This model was used during revolution years of 1848-1849 by officers who joined the rebels. After their surrender loyal navy officers requested new type of saber since previous one was, as a symbol of the emeror, disrespected and loyal officers refuzed to wear it. New model 1850 was created with elaborate carving on the handguard, anchor and mermaids, and later in 1871 hangers were added to the scabbard. for refference i have link to our museum website with example: https://www.vhu.cz/e...rnictva-vzor-185071/ Ownership of thissSaber with katana blade was by previous museum staff attributed to heir to the Heir to the throne of Austro-Hungarian empire Franz Ferdinand d´Este. It would be plausible given the quality of the workmanship on the golden fittings and the blade it self. Heir could have acquired it as a gift from Japan during his travels around the world between years 1892 and 1893. There is also some archival evidence (not sure if we have any photo evidence as well) that he admired the swordsmanship while visiting Japan beign avid and quite skilled swordsman himself, although proficient in saber combat only. Visited some showcases of sword combat and possibly participated in some form of friendly sparring. Unortunately this acquisition story is not supported by evidence and place of discovery. Current research by our curator of arms states that this saber belonged to one Hieronymus (Jeroným) VIII. Colloredo Mannsfeld (1870-1942) There are two pieces of information that suppor that it belonged to him, First: he held rank of Corvette Captain and was for quite some time stationed in Tokyo, later he became naval attaché in Berlin. He was overseeing Mansfeld holdings in Bhoemian lands including castle in town Zbiroh where this very saber was found, which is evidence number two. Either way, now to the saber itself: https://www.vhu.cz/e...ictva-vzor-185071-2/ Speaking about the condition, only damage is to kissaki, some light scratches and wear, possibly due to sheating and unsheating of the blade, othervise it is in great condition. This is the few photos i have so far, I hastily took some because there was not time to fiddle with it, we were close to opening the museum after years of renovations, so I had to put it back on display fast. What I will do next week is to get quality pictures of the blade so that everything can be viewed clearly. I know that Japan had many military swords that bore influence from European sabers of the time that were standart issue up until the return of the katana style of blades before Second World war, but i think this is very unique in that it is standart naval officer saber fittings fitted with nihonto. Photos may not speak to its quality but in person the quiality is amazing. I post this here as a curiosity and subject of research i plan to do with this blade, I plan to take it out of its fittings, probably will be first time since its creation. I hope you like my post here, would be nice if this could spark some good conversation or posibly any ideas of its origin, but I understand that without closeup of the nakago and quality photos of the blade it could prove very difficult. Maybye we can follow up at later date. Anyway thank you for reading this far, In near future I will take this off of the display and do some closeup exmination and share what I found. Cheers

#3

I was just going through my book covers - not all are included. The things you can waste your time on in retirement!

Folks, an interesting but undocumented Seki swordsmith. Be good to find out who he was. I have compiled what I could find and tried to make some sense of it. Would welcome comments, corrections and ideas. Following are my notes and pics. UNJOSAI KATSUNAGA 雲上斎 勝永 An apparent mystery with wartime Seki swordsmiths is Unjosai KATSUNAGA, who produced a wide range of blades, but for whom no records were found (so he is reported as “undocumented”). He is not in the 1940 Seki City lists and is not in the Seki swordsmith registration list from 1939. His blades look to be both Showato and gendaito, most are mounted as Army shingunto in various fittings, there are some Naval kaigunto and at least one in wartime civilian mounts. A number are in post-war shirasaya or have been mounted for iaido. He has a number of mei, which may reflect types of swords produced. Katsunaga 勝永 (H, O) Unjosai Katsunaga 雲上斎勝永 (B, C, D?, E, F, G, M) Seki Unjosai Katsunaga 関雲上斎勝永 (A, J, K) Unjosai Katsunaga saku 雲上斎勝永作 (L) Unjosai Katsunaga kitaeru kore 雲上斎勝永鍛之 (I, P) Katsunaga saku 勝永作 (N) In regard to his mei, “Katsunaga” is his swordsmith name, however, “Unjosai” is probably not a family name and more likely is a “go” or pseuydonym/penname. “Katsunaga” is said to be a masculine name and there were several noted samurai of the Edo period with it. There was also a samurai in the 1800’s, Sagae Chuzaemon Katsunaga (1806-1864) who became a swordsmith in Edo Tokyo and was of the Mito Domain, Ibaraki. So what would be this Katsunaga’s family name? He signs as katana mei, but with variations. Showato blades are signed on the shinogi-ji with a “chippy” cut style (nakirishi mei) that reflects mass production work. Those with well cut mei reflect custom work and are larger characters and centrally located over the nakago shinogi. Mei on custom blades have both a neat formal style, and an artistic cursive style; one variation is of vertical “squarish” characters that are deeply cut using “interpretive” kanji (N and O). Possibly the custom blades are signed by the tosho (shoshi mei). Only one blade (J) of the examples found has a stamp reported, which is the large “Seki”. One example (A), has a bohi-hi kaki-toshi groove through the nakago; this blade is both neatly finished and signed and could be semi-traditional. The shape of the nakago also varies, with different amounts of taper and several styles of kiri tip; some with ha-agari Seki type, others slightly angular. The yasurime filing is angled sujikai, with varying degrees of neatness; on some blades there is a criss-cross hagaki section (but possibly just rough work). Differing hamon were found. The Showato examples tend to be more of a Seki style midare-gunome (A, D, F, H, J, M) some are slightly notare. It appears that the better made and custom blades have suguha hamon (G, I) some with nie-deki (I). No images were found of the other custom made blades. The typical blade has an average nagasa of 63.0 cm (61.7 to 64.5 cm) and small sori of 1.0 to 1.2 cm. Several blades vary from this: C: this is a custom blade of 67.4 cm length and sori of 1.8 cm. D: this is a longer blade which is shortened around 10 cm to 52.7 cm (wakizashi length) with the mune moved and a new nakago ana drilled; the mei is also shortened. The blade has been remounted in shorter shingunto koshirae. I: this blade has a nagasa of 64.3 cm, however, it has two mekugi ana and is probably shortened by around 7-8 cm. The mei is below the lower hole and kiri nakago tip indicates the shortening. The suguha hamon on this sug-gests water quenching. Of note, it is in wartime civilian mounts. Basically there appears to be three types of swords: (a) Showato oil quenched Seki work suggesting some form of mass production. (b) quality Seki work possibly semi-traditional with hand forging/folding and neat finish. (c) top end custom orders, traditionally made and on request with name of client. Of interest is sword K which has a label on the saya of “The Seki Cutlery Manufacturers’ Association” and “Seki Gifu Japan”. The label shows “Passed” presumably approved for sale. The nakago of sword K is a little rough, no stamp is obvious; these labels look to be used mid to late war, however, are mostly found on “budget” swords with basic wooden saya. The mei of sword J is the same as that of K, both stating “Seki”, and possibly has a similar hamon. Nagasa for these are K of 61 cm and J of 62.8 cm. Overall, production of Katsunaga blades suggests a smaller workshop, or several workshops, linked to a sales outlet, with a number of craftsmen involved; the various styles of mei are likely by different people. The examples here show Katsunaga was a Seki smith, and he does look to have some training as a tosho, however, he is not in the Seki registration list. But who was he and what was his name. There must be a record somewhere. Malcolm Cox, 2025

Colleagues I have updated a new version of Japanese Naval Swords WW2 Swordsmiths & Workshops Part 1. This 2024 paper is an upgrade of the 2021 version, it is reorganised with appreciably more examples but with some significant corrections. Of note is the issue of Naval arsenal stamps and some long held, but incorrect views, in particular in regard to the Toyokawa Arsenal in Aichi (this arsenal did not produce swords). If you have the 2021 version, please delete it and use this one. It was outdated and I hope any errors addressed. Part 2, is likewise being upgraded and will soon be uploaded. I found it all a rather challenging topic. cheers Mal

Another weakness of mine…..

Yesterday, I was at a militaria show. I had an appointment with a dealer to look at a Gunto sword he had for sale. The seller also had this beautiful kogai. I found it very attractive so I made the deal and bought both. Although the kogai is not signed the craftsmanship is above average. To share my excitement just a few pictures. Feel free to comment. Regards, Ed

Another Peony . The tsuba is tanto size so is enlarged and a little blurry. Ian Brooks

When I last spoke with Ford , about a week or so ago although clearly very poorly, he was in a positive frame of mind, impatient to get the medical procedures out of the way and resume his work in his studio. Today's dreadful news comes as a shock although sadly, in truth, not unexpected. I first ' met ' Ford on the NMB when he replied to a posting of mine. We got on together quite well and then after a while started to look at the tiger tsuba project together. Over the years we became friends and cooperated to build the basis of a collection that would be of good quality but above all informative and educational. My thoughts are with Bella and family, Joel, Kyle, Jo and all those who knew him over the years. Bob

Here is one from my collection, the blade by Suishinshi Masahide with an artistic horimono by Honjo Yoshitane. This type horimono was highlighted by Fujishiro and in other references. I also threw in the horimono on the other side of the blade as a bonus, even though it is not a dragon.

A few dragons. no. 1 Kunihide / Masahide joint work Wakizashi no. 2&3 Yoshitane horimono on Naotane blades No. 4 Sukashi horimono on a Naokatsu katana

I think what Jacques and Hamfish said above is fitting to traditional Japanese appreciation. It is much too complex for me to really understand and as I personally am not oriented on quality (and I cannot fully see and understand it) but items that personally speak to me. I actually wrote a post to this yesterday but ended up scrapping it as it is really punching above my weight class. In overall I think books tend to be focused on the highly appreciated schools so reading common references will give more and more exposure to high ranked schools. Aoe school has many very highly ranked smiths, and it does span for a long time from late Heian period into Muromachi. In general I do think Aoe is very highly respected in overall but I think the very late Aoe smiths of early Muromachi get pretty much no respect in sword appreciation. I do think sometimes following rankings might leave some amazing smiths and swords unchecked. Futarasan-jinja has for example amazing tachi by Aoe smith Yukitsugu (行次), amazing 87,2 cm ubu tachi from early Kamakura in great polish. Yet the sword is "only" prefecture Bunkazai, not national level. Also I think my favorite sword I saw at Tokyo National Museum was 86,0 cm tachi by Moritsugu (守次) that is dated 1356. The sword is Jūyō Bunkazai (of course extremely high rank) but I much preferred it over the 2 National treasures they had on display. I just cannot yet understand either the Yukimitsu Kokuhō tantō nor the Kikkō Sadamune Kokuhō. I saw several Sadamune that I preferred personally over the Kikkō Sadamune, still it is just my lack of understanding the fine details. Likewise I absolutely loved the unranked Ōmiya Morikage naginata that Tokyo National Museum had on display this year, I was so thrilled to see it as it has been very difficult to dig info of it. Crazy to say but I would prefer it over National treasures too... Awataguchi school has produced some amazing items and it is held in super high regard. I still remember seeing the Nakigitsune wakizashi by Awataguchi Kuniyoshi many years ago as it is super item. However now I've seen the Awataguchi Kuniyasu JūBi tachi of NBTHK two years in a row, and the worksmanship of it is to my eye not what usually is expected from Awataguchi. Similarily I remember seeing another signed Awataguchi that did not feature the super fine quality usually associated with the school. However as my memory is slightly fuzzy on this as years have passed I cannot say confidently which tantō it was. For Yamato tradition Taima is also often very highly valued. However with Taima the lack of signed items is to be noted. However there are many very fine mumei swords attributed as Taima. Personally I like Bizen a lot as there are so many schools within the tradition and so many of the items are signed making studying the works much easier than many others. However has Bizen is such a huge amount of items remaining you will have to slice it to much smaller pieces as there are just so many branches within. This summer I saw several amazing signed works by "lower ranked" Bizen smiths that without signature I believe would be attributed to much higher ranking smiths. That is for me exactly why I value the signatures so much as they give us reference points for the smith. I do agree with some of the things what I wrote 7 years ago to that thread but on some things my view on things has evolved a bit, perhaps I could say I know more stuff now than I did in 2017 and I think that is a good thing. Still I think I have 0 interest on the financial side of things as I cannot ever collect at that level, and I want to focus on the swords not the money.

As per the post here: https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/48912-mission-impossible/ I was lucky enough to pick up a shin gunto with an older blade yesterday. To find this in SA is quite a find. I have started the gentle cleaning, but thought I would share it here. Not pictured is the nice silver foiled habaki. Tsuka needs a rewrap, but that is fairly common. It has a plethora of seppa, and I'm pleased to see that everything including the locking catch and tsuba have matching assembly numbers of 29. I haven't wiped the seppa etc down yet, I'll be doing that gently to make them a little less dirty. Also, I'm very happy to have my first Gunto with a mon. Yay! Looks to be silver, and I cannot make out anything. My guess is it was defaced on surrender. But maybe there is a mon under there. Don't want to clean it though. Also, although the saya has some finish loss and bumps/dents, I am surprised to see what appears to be brass under the outer layer. This is apparent in quite a few places. Is this standard? Quality of the fittings looks decent. Condition isn't great, but a new find in South Africa really has me glowing. At the Koto/Shinto blade posted in the other thread makes this a real bonus. I'll put it all together this weekend and take better pics of the whole thing. Thanks all.