Justin Grant

Brain- I am of no use in contacting Bry, but should you need to traverse the path of replacement, I would be glad to offer a Tsuba or $ to help. If of interest, let me know. Justin

For what it is worth, I was flipping through the Fuller/Gregory 1868-1945 book, and in the back, the oshigata section, had a blade with katagana on it. Said it was made during the war in Sumatra at a Japanese factory. Not sure if it is applicable here, but thought I would pass it along .

Peter, et al, These tsuba, and trying to see an image, are like the posters of the early 90's where you had to look at them to see some obscure image in them. I could never see what other saw.. Simple mind I have, I guess. Anyway, for us less gifted, would someone please highlight the "VOC" so I too can play along?

My uneducated guess ? RI I NA NO ? ?

Did this ever get figured out? I want to purchase a Kabuto and it will take 2-3 months. Any other options? Thanks Justin

Katakana has been around since the Heian Period. I am sure there are major changes but it has been around for a while. Grey, you can open your photos in Paint ( Microsoft Window Application ) and select. IMAGE from the tool bar and then select STRETCH/SKEW and in the Horizontal and Vertical boxes enter 50 and hit OK. It will reduce the images by 50% and you can use different numbers to change the %. But keep both numbers the same or it will skew the photo. Justin

Eric- That is great. Thanks for sharing. Justin

Here is my Gohonzon with the inscription as set forth by Nichiren.

Dakota- If you have convinced yourself that this is a rare and expensive "dagger", then I don't see why you posted your question. You have some of the best and brightest minds in the business and they all agree that this is not a national treasure, and more than likely, not Japanese. I get the feeling you wanted someone to support your opinion and since you did not get the answer you hoped for, you are sticking with your initial assumptions. I think once the reality hits that you don't have the next missing national treasure, you will then be in a position to start your journey. Until then, enjoy your purchase and I hope it brings you great joy. Justin

This one is listed as a 馬杓 Basyaku I have no idea if it applies to the topic at hand, just saw it today when browsing and remembered this thread. Justin

I was told October of 2011. Let's keep our fingers crossed! See the last post by Chris B. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9070

Thank you very much Moriyama-sama! I thought I read the seal properly, but my Japanese is not so good. You are correct when you say many English sites mislabel him. Here is one such site that sold the picture I now have long ago that attributes it to Kako Tsuji http://www.hanga.com/thumbs.cfm?ID=Tsuji&ID2=Kako . It does appear from what I read, Morita Kakô was an accomplished artist, and has works in several museums. Thank you again for taking the time to help me. My wife will be pleased.

I posted this before and received no response, and I really need some help. I purchased a woodblock print from a well-known shop in the US. It was listed as being painted by Morita Kako (1870-1931). It is called Beetle on Narcissus (Picture below). However, when I search for the name Morita Kako, I see several other pieces of his work, but very little in terms of personal information. My wife (this was her Christmas Present) started researching the artist and found that this work is also attributed to a Kako Tsuji and Tsuji Kako (1870-1931) with the same signature on the same work (found an old auction for the Beetle on Narcissus attributed to Kako Tsuji), and many other works in the same style with exactly the same signature. The Kako Tsuji and Tsuji Kako (either order) search produces a lot of information about him personally, but never ties the three names together. Here is a picture attributed to the Kako Tsuji, it is titled Grasshopper on Flowering Plant. To me, the signatures look identical, so I am asking if anyone can read these two and let me know what they actually read. I am not sure which of the 3 names is correct or if all three are correct. I don't know why I see 3 names for the same artist and no one in the art world (auction houses and galleries) seems to get this correct consistently. I am turning to you to see if someone can help translate the signatures into a reading. Thank you very much for your time and consideration. I appreciate it! Justin

I have a blade that is still in great polish, and have not touched it in several months, other than to make sure it is not rusting once in a while. I want to oil it now, and this is the first time since having it that I will undertake this process with a polished blade. I don't want to put fine scratches in the polish and wondered what is the best, readily available cloth you can use to clean the blade of old oil before applying new oil? Will microfiber or other eye glasses cloth work? Will the use of rubbing alcohol aid this process? I have seen so many different processes listed, I honestly don't know. On my other blade, it is in need of a polish so I don't worry so much, but I don't want to accelerate the need for a new polish on this Wakizashi. Again, my main concern is putting scratches in the new polish so I want to know what the best material is to use to clear the old oil before applying the new oil. Thanks Justin

Jason- I think Moss and xxlotus8xx asked an honest question, and the response you gave was a bit childish. Your right to not answer, but you also disservice the polisher by acting in such a manner, unless you are hiding something. Your purchase, your decision, but you ask for opinions on here and expect a reply, I think you should reciprocate.

I know this is not a nihonto related question, but hoping that some of you are also into woodblocks. Anyway, in order to keep the wife happy with my purchases of armor, tsuba, etc, I need to buy her woodblocks. Anyway, she has one coming to her for Christmas that I got her and I would like to be able to tell her about the artist. It is listed as Kako and I searched and found several spanning the 1920's. Can someone identify the signature and tell me what his full name is? I realize this is small, but the actual art is out being mounted in a frame. Thanks Justin EDIT: I think it is Morita Kako (1870-1931)

I am no expert, but if you compare the two tsuba on this thread, the one from Matt is by far "cleaner" in craftsmanship as compared to Jason's. To me, the entire look and "fitment" of the one Jason posted looks, well, almost rushed. The Nakago-ana, and mimi look crude. The craving in the waves is uneven and as Brian suggested, like someone had reservations about carving them. The one from Matt's look more fluid. Now, I am not passing a value judgment on either, for all I know, Matt's is the knockoff to Jason's multi-million dollar tsuba.. I am just pointing out what I see and what I would see as indicators of quality..

According to a friend that is good friends with the "Old Man", and he claims it is a 16th century sword and has it priced at 20K.

Moriyama-san and Mr. Bottomley Thank you for the information. I thought I was doing well to come up with the Shohei date... Hummmm. I knew it was not related to the date of my armor, just wondering the significance of it. My armor was purchased from this board viewtopic.php?f=4&t=8241 Thanks for the information, off to research this information!

I just purchased a Showa period O-Yori and in the fabric has a repeating date all over the armor. It reads Shohei 6 Year, 6 Month, 1 Day. The armor has the Maeda Mon on it, so not sure if that ties into the date or not. Any thoughts? Thanks Justin

I am not looking for any debate over who is better, so I am sorry if that will happen. I am looking for what one can expect to receive from NBTHK on a mumei wakizashi, will they only assign a Honzon paper, and if so, what would that do in terms of benefit to the sword in the long run? Trying to undersand what one receives for the money this costs. We all talk about the sword and the value of a polish and how to "recoup" the cost, etc, so how does papering a mumei blade fit into this type of thought? My Wakizashi is polished, at least 90+% of the polish remains. It has a few scuffs in the polish, but looks great. No flaws of any kind, it is a Koto Tachi that was cut down and mounted in early/mid Edo mounts/saya. Just wondering what the benefit would be... And by whom if I were to send it in. I was considering the NTHK-NPO for next year, but Bob Benson suggested that if I send it to NBTHK, I would only get Honzon papers. I don't know enough to understand the rational and best decision to make. Why only Honzon, is that the best one can get from a mumei blade? Again, I am not looking to start a heated discussion on who is better... Just trying to understand what my best options are and why. Thanks Justin (Lost in Papers) Grant

I am a little confused on the "paper" system. Let’s see if I can solicit some information from you on the various "groups" that paper mumei blades. What could one expect from the following organizations if they were to submit a mumei blade for papers? What could be listed on the papers, what value, if any, would it add to the blade, and usefulness of the paperwork in subsequent sales? What other value is the information on the paperwork? Let’s also assume for the sake of the arguments, the blade will "qualify" for papers. It is not sanded, buffed, rusted, etc. NBTHK NTHK NBSK NTHK-NPO The reason I ask is that I have a Wakizashi that has been stated several times that it needs to go to Shinsa, so I am trying to figure out what, why, when and by whom. I see posts that refer to some papers being useless, others that question the color of the paper, etc. Seems to be a lot of opinions, but I can’t find a single source that outlines the pros and cons of each paper and group. Thanks Justin

I think you did an outstanding job! I have been trying to capture images of my Wakizashi and to date; all I get is glare or junk photos! Well Done! Justin

Hi Guys- A friend of mine is a good friend to the family that owns the shop. Remember this is a "TV" show, and thus, they are looking for ratings. Austin... AKA Chumley, is an act.... Ever see the sword on the shelf in the show? It is a 17th Century Katana, they want 8K for it, and don't know much about it. Rick once purchased several "Fossil" Megaladon teeth (prehistoric Great White) for several hundred per tooth. I have thousands of dollars in them if that is the going rate! I called, no; he is not interested in them. RATINGS.... Ever see the American Pickers show where Mike Wolfe buys the “WWII Samurai” swords from Leland? He paid $200 for them and sold them for $400. Thought they hit the jackpot! Thanks Justin

Any leads to something that will match are welcome. Thanks!