O koumori

Marc, I you've tried to find these characters in a table of Japanese kanji, consider well the reasons that they weren't there... Can you post a photo of the rest of the blade? Dan K.

Seems to me that overpolishing (too much or too many) could cause all of these conditions on any blade. Dan K.

According to Yumoto, these were popular during Muromachi. Dan K.

Rich, I wouldn't call them "glass-hard;" that sounds to brittle to me - but in order to hold the sharp edge, the higher carbon steel comprising the ha had to be quenched more rapidly tha the rest of the blade, making the steel here much harder than the rest of the blade. As I understand it, It has to do with the crystaline structure of the metal as a result of being relatively faster or slower cooled during the quenching process. This is due in part by the thinness of the metal here, but mainly to the thinner clay coating applied to the edge before the quench (the rest of the blade coating is thicker, causing slower cooling). Hope this helps Dan K.

Rich, IMHO when the hardened edge bends, curls, or burrs over, instead of chipping on impact, there may be an issue with the heat treatment. It is possible that this has been overly annealed by way of fire or improper re-temper. Just saying… You might ask David H. about the edge hardness, the subject of your post. Dan K.

Hey Steve, I have a Nio wak you can examine at the next Ozarks Token Kai meeting. Dan K.

"there was Japanese mafia shenanigans with papers being issued, generally for important smiths" So why is this all we hear about these presumably falsified papers? Are there any written acounts, articles, or analyses of these interesting events (in English)? Dan K.

Here's Rich's page: http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/measure.htm Dan K.

Tiffany, To attempt to answer your second question, you might try Samurai William, The Englishman who Opened Japan, by Giles Milton. (Compare this with Clavel's Shogun). A very good hisorical source to get a feel for the society through folklore is Tales of Old Japan by Lord Redesdasle. As for your first question, an excellent source for seeing blade changes over time is Teiryo Yoji by Honami Koson, translted by Yamanaka and Scott. It depicts hand-drawn illustrations that show the most representative traits of the smiths that are included, ranging from early koto through shin shinto. Hope this helps Dan K.

Hi Darcy, Will help via "patron copy" Dan K.

Clive, Yes, there is that. $150 would be a bit much for a worthless attribution! This was only the first shinsa for this blade, so I'll probably take Chris' advice and try once more... Thanks Dan K.

"As for the shinsa, I was suprised that a mumei blade had a rejection slip rather than an attribution. The paper said "this is a sword by a modern smith of recent manufacture and must be signed" - a new one on me and I understand there were others similar." Yes, I submitted a beautiful (in my mind, Shinshinto) blade from which I'd had an obvious gimei professionnaly removed and the nakago re-patinated. it was pinked "this is a modern made sword and should not be unsigned." If this is the start of a trend at Shinsa, it brings a new question for consideration: Submit with gimei and have it rejected, or have the false mei removed and have it rejected anyway - with, as Clive says, no attribution. Dan K.

Shinsa team attributed as Kyushu Kanewaka Den; 70 points. Dan K.

Sorry, Didn't take a single photo at the show - wife and I toured Wed & Thursday - wine country, historic city, Muir Woods - then the camera crapped out! Show was good, although being touted as the 'largest US show" didn't seem seem any larger than recent Chicago or Minneapolis ones to me. Great contacts & conversations! Shinsa seemed , well, 'tougher' than most - will wait to see the 'pass- rate;' mine was 2 out of 5. Dan K.

It might be a Thistle (Source of azami?) Dan K.

Gents, I see your concern of course. But there appears to be a nice bright nie line through most of the 'guchi;' not sure how you could do that with stones(?) In any event, I'll have this one with me in San Francisco; you are very welcome to examine it and help me learn Thanks! Dan K.

Thanks Ken, This one somehow seemed worth rescuing... I'll be taking it to Shinsa in a few weeks, so we'll see! The question for me is not whether these old soldiers can 'survive' another polish, it's whether or not their dignity can be restored without harm - if not, I let them rest in peace... Dan K.

Although it is amazing what a good polisher can do... Dan K.

Lee wrote: It could make for an interesting database if you could work this from photos supplied by board members but I imagine the time and work involved would be massive, not to mention the variables thrown in by our photography skills. One way to mitigate this variation might be to use a scanner, with a ruler next to the blade for dimensioning, regardless of the image's apparent scale. Dan K.

Ken, I think it's a great idea. I think many would be willing to contribute data. You might want to look into finding a copy of Thomas T. Hoopes dissertation "A study of Japanese Sword Blades," - 1931, New York University, in which he provides exhaustive dimensional analyses of 103 nihonto blades. He not only tabulated all the primary dimensions, but also measurements and derived quantities like center of gravity, center of percussion, and period of oscillation. Unfortunately, no illustrations of the blades themselves... Dan K.

Anyone have a CMM? It would be very cool to digitize & draw that way - and much more precise! D. Kedzie

Josh, You might also contact Ric Furrer in Sturgeon Bay. He may be interested. I'd jump on this myself, but recently moved from Sheboygan to NW Arkansas - too far for meetings . A couple of years back I put on a small exhibit at the Sheboygan Public Library. Anyway, Good luck! Hope your study group takes off... Dan K.

Justin, Nitrogen would probably work as well as Argon, and I'd imagine a lot cheaper - though Argon's probably more readily available as welding gas. Enjoy the journey - hope to see you at some future sword show marketing your priemere Nihonto dispolay cases! Regards, Dan K. Formerly of Ellettsville, Nashville, and Nineveh IN

Justin, For your cabinet, you might consider fabricating it out of thick acrylic. It is very easy to see through, and you can chemically "weld" it together to form air-tight seams. It is also much stronger than glass, if security is a problem -makes it very hard to "smash & grab." Also, there is no need to pull a vacuum; use an inlet and outlet valve on opposite ends of the case; open both and flood the cabinet with yout inert blanket gas, then close 'em. If you use wood to line the case for a humidity buffer, avoid oak, pine, walnut - anything acidic or resinous - poplar, alder, some cedars are probably a safe bet. Good luck, Dan K.

Barry, et al: Reverend Fuyura also published a pamphlet on an Exibition of swords from the Shitahara School that was held in December of 1995 in Los Angeles. it contains about 25 oshigata of swords and a couple of Jumanji-yari. Regards, Dan K.