Guido

Yoshinogawa? Just off of the back of my head ...

Yes, they often do the trick.

Dear Brian, the "peanut gallery" - as you chose to call it - conists of some of the most knowledgable and long standing members of this message board - people I highly respect (as do you, I'm sure), people who would have this forum running in circles if they'd stop posting.The reason they don't openly voice their thoughts are what makes them much more smart than I am: they know that it's a bad idea to start fighting windmills. Come to think of it, this makes me a total idiot, doesn't it? I think it did precisely that, otherwise I wouldn't have added it. Why don't you give forumites the chance to decide by themselves? Because you agree with my above statement that I'm basically an idiot (guess I had this coming, didn't I?).

I hope these questions are meant in jest. It's like asking someone "do you still beat your wife?" and only allowing the answers "yes" or "no". I think you made up your mind, and nothing anybody says can change a thing. It's like you said in one of your PMs to me (paraphrased): "if you don't agree [with what I claim], you can't be trusted". Well, consider me untrustworthy then. I'm out of this "discussion" for good. Have a g'day.

Then maybe you should have posted your reply under the "relevant posts" and not after I got involved - I can't read your mind, you know ... There never will be much from "the other side", naturally. If you present all of a sudden the "new idea" that the sky is green, not blue as I and everyone else sees it, you're not in a position to ask me for hard evidence to prove that I'm right. It's up to *you* to substantiate your theory, and I expect you to come up with a lot more than just a general disdain for established authorities and some wild speculation on color-blindness. Anyhow, judging from the PM's and e-mails I got, I spoke out loud - yet again? - what quite a few others think who don't want to get involved in this discussion (not established facts, mind you) for one reason or another. But feel free to chase wild geese to your heart's content without me interferring anymore.

What has this to do with "tradition"? I disagree because the "logic" so far presented is flawed, to say the least, and goes against everything I learned, and the up close and personal handling of more Sōshū blades than probably anyone else on this forum. Is freedom of speach more important than qualified scientific research? If so, I agree that I'm the lamest of the lame ...

Shizumaré! Kono mondokoro ga me ni hairu no ka?

What style (if I may ask), and how does the age of the Menuki influence your swordmanship?

Yet another cryptic (for most NMB members) remark. Yes, many of "us" know that you believe you own an unrecorded Masamune, and that you won't send it for Shinsa since you believe the Japanese government will confiscate it, notwithstanding the fact that something like that never happened, at least not when it comes to a sword that previously wasn't designated Kokuhō or Jūyō Bunkazai - and even in those cases the sword isn't simply taken away from the owner, it just has to remain in Japan. But maybe I got it all wrong. The story about your “Masamune” as well as the "evidence" you provided so far. But I got one message very clearly: it's considered politically incorrect to openly question your (any?) theories, as outlandish as they may seem to those who dedicated their entire Nihontô research to Sōshū and Sōden (like moi). For twice a 5 years period - from 1988 to 1993 and from 2003 to 2008 - I basically slept on the doormat of the NBTHK, and have probably seen and handled more Yukimitsu, Masamune, Sadamune etc. than anybody else on this message board and beyond (including Reinhard; but this is certainly not a silly competition like “I’ve seen more Masamune than you, nananananah”). Does this make me an expert on Masamune? No false modesty when I answer with a clear “not really”. And those I’ve seen were all papered or designated as Kokuhō / Jūyō Bunkazai / Jūyō Bijutsuhin, no *subjective* call required on my side, which would have felt rather presumptuous to me anyhow, being a mere amateur. I think I got a pretty good idea about what makes a good (outstanding) Sōshū blade in my 30 + years of collecting and research in this direction, and lazy as I am I never saw a need to question established research (at least not generally; I wondered about some attributions in the Kyōhō-Meibutsuchō and actually was encouraged to “keep an opened mind” by the big brass; I take this as a nudge in the right direction, not necessarily an endorsement off my evaluation). Soooo, it takes a little more than “hey, I just throw out a theory that sounds convincing and get a lot of applause for it” to hope that I’ll swallow it hook, line and sinker. So far I simply don’t buy it. But talking about theories - I actually got a couple of my own, and will consider it as politically incorrect as those presented so far if anybody makes fun of them. Here's the most compelling one: Mito Kōmon (水戸黄門) got terribly tired of travelling all over his native country, always righting the wrong. He escaped Japan, a stowaway aboard a whaling vessel, changed his name, participated in the American Civil war, and was promoted to Colonel. In his later years he introduced to the American people a modified version of Karaage (唐揚げ), which also became hugely successful in many other countries. For everyone with an open mind the photographic evidence is overwhelming: (P.S.: If you feel compelled to answer, *please* don’t start your post with “G’day” or I’ll scream!)

These short coats are called Happi 法被 and were traditionally worn by firefighters, workers and shop attendants. You'll still see them at festivals, on the front often with a shop name, and on the back either a huge Kamon/Shop mark, or saying "Matsuri", "Ichiban" or something like that.

It's called Katanabako 刀箱.

萌え！

The Bonji are ato and look hideous.

醤油 = shôyu = soy sauce

Huh? Jan didn't do any such thing, at least not on this message board. And who is Mr. Miyano?BTW, NMB has a real name policy - or is your real name Mia?

The sword looks Yakinaoshi to me.

Sorry, my fingers were faster than my brain: the description says *early Muromachi*!

Sasano even places it at *early* Momoyama.

Adrian, is that you in the photo?

Thank you all for your thoughts / interpretations of Mr. Tanobe's poem, especially to Morita-san for consolidating all the readings and coming up with a most convincing translation - it all makes sense now! @ Markus: I'll take the 5'th (... nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself ...) on your question @ Pete: I'm more convinced than ever that one day you will burn in hell. @ Ford: You will burn together with Pete, which is an even more severe punishment since you don't believe in hell!

I hope our resident Japanese language experts (Morita / Moriyama / Sesko / Robson) will be able to help me out: I posted the attached photo already in another thread (viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11703), but don’t want to take it more off topic there than I already did; Mr. Tanobe kindly signed a book for me a few years ago, and although the poetry is not entirely lost on me, I always wondered how 秋水不動霜華無迹 would be best translated. I know that 秋水 (Shūsui [autumn water]) is an euphemism for “brightly shining sword edge”, and 不動 (Fudō) means “unmoving”. 霜華 (Shimogusa) is a frost covered flower, but how does 無迹 (mu ato), i.e. “nothing after (it)”, fit in? The best I can come up with is “The brightly shining sword edge is like an unmoving, frost covered flower. Period.” Furthermore, he addressed me as 大兄 (Taikei) – in written Japanese this expression is, to my knowledge, used for peers of the same age or slightly older. I’m certainly not his peer when it comes to swords, and he’s about 10 years older than me. I guess he just was extremely polite?

Maybe Sumihide 住秀?

Am I missing something, an insider joke perhaps? This sword was obviously sold through Aoi Art (Mr. Tsuruta). He always gives descriptions/opinions about the swords he sells, so why is this one being discussed like a "mystery blade"?

Could someone pretty please explain to me in layman's terms what this is all about? This is already the third (?) thread on the same subject and I still have no clue what's being said and how the chemical composition of a blade will aid us when it comes to Shinsa. There even seems to be no answer to the question whether borax was used or not. Everybody who participated in the threads seems to be pretty excited, and I don't know why. Emperor's new clothes? I'm not trying to be difficult or controversial, I honestly don't get it ....