Guido

Brian, let's switch jobs - I don't know how to do yours, but you'd make a carreer in mine. :D

Gimei? Are you sure Jacques? I'm really getting tired of this never-ending Tom & Jerry stuff ...

Err, that's kind of what I said above, just in more technical terms ...

A quote from my article on Koshirae should answer that question:

The 花鉈 are quite cute. Next time my wife gets in my hair, I'll rub that little morsel of info in.

My wife holds a master's degree - and teaches - Ohara-Ryû å°åŽŸæµ Ikebana. She never used, or even heard about Nata being used, in flower arrangement. I, OTOH, have seen (the modern day version) in use by quite a few gardeners. I think we can safely assume that they are strictly gardening tools.

I don't really know Reinhard's "field", and I certainly don't hear his tone of voice over the internet, but he's not alone in reading it the correct way, i.e. "Sôten" ...

Not really ....

I feel much better - probably because I passed out on the sofa after returning home, slept there fully dressed until 4:00 AM, crawled to my bed, and continued sleeping until 11:30 AM. Anyhow, my head knows what your head's going through. I think there was something wrong with the 43'rd flask of Saké ...

Although the tip is pointed, I think it's a variation of a Nata (like the ones I posted in this thread).

Thank you very much, Koichi! So it isn't Dr. Junji Homma after all, but a sword shop owner by the same name. Guess I have to take the info on that page I have with a grain of salt now ...

P.S.: I just found out that Koshoyama sells single pages of Kôetsu 光悦 here, but they give no background info on it.

I have one page of it printed in 1977, and it seems to have been a loose-leaf periodical. On that page no author is given, but I've been told that Dr. Homma (Kunzan) wrote the article. Do any of the "old Japan hands" have info on this (now defunct) publication, and if it indeed had contributions by Homma-sensei?

People should be thankful that they didn't put *my* horny phantasies on a Tsuba ... Oh, and my question regarding mental health: asking it on the basis of my own condition, it was only meant rhetorical. :lol:

I hope you don't get this the wrong way, so let me phrase it very carefully, but ... errr ... are you kind of insane?

I'm not as shy as you are and actually asked the question: after the sword was finished and polished, he decided to have a Horimono after all. It's as simple (or complicated?) like that .

I, too, would like to hear from those with a background in chemistry (like Richard Stein) about this. The mineral oil used for swords looks to me very much like sewing machine oil; I dare to say that using transmission fluid might not be the best idea . Anyhow, on one of the oil flasks I own it says that it's æµå‹•ãƒ‘ラフィン, liquid paraffin, FWIW.

Since it's raining today (same as yesterday and the day before yesterday) I put off my plan to restore an old Tansu, and went to the Nihombashi Takashimaya department store instead to have a look at the Gassan exhibition. It wasn't well attended (probably due to the weather), and I therefore could leisurely stroll around looking at the swords, and had a nice chat with Inami Kenichi and Gassan Sadatoshi. The display was very well lit, and protective glass planes only came up to shortly below the blades, making every little detail discernable. Some of the swords were forged with the typical Gassan Ayasugi-hada - some very subtle, some quite prominent - and others were done SÅshÅ«-den with strong Hataraki. However, I liked the Gassan-den swords with very tight Mokume-hada the best. Many of the swords had Horimono, done by Gassan-sensei himself. On one sword the Horimono wasn't finished yet, which made it quite interesting to see one in its early stages. The Horimono were all of fantastic quality, and mostly depicted dragons. There were 22 swords on display, of which 15 are illustrated in the exhibition catalog that can be ordered from Japan Sword here. Very reasonably priced at 1,600 Yen, including postage worldwide. I even got one for free, and Mr. Gassan kindly signed it for me (see attachment). I wish I had that written on the Nakago of one of his swords; however, I forgot to bring some spare change along the lines of a couple of million Yen, and so that's that .

O.k., since the topic of what oil to use in sword care comes up yet again let me comment on it: Traditionally vegetable oil was used, usually camellia oil (Tsubaki-Abura 椿油) with a few drops of clove oil (ChÅji-Abura ä¸å­æ²¹). It has a yellowish color, and strongly smells of cloves. It absorbs moisture, but gums up easily when dried. It's also mildly aggressive (which is good for cleaning swords in a less-than-perfect state of preservation), but quite messy when it soaks into the Saya. Mineral oil (KÅbutsuyu 鉱物油) was, to my knowledge, used from the Meiji era on when mass-production of swords for the Japanese army started - it's cheaper and easily obtainable. It's clear, and thinner than vegetable oil, and doesn't deteriorate as fast; one also needs less of it compared to ChÅji-Abura (as ChÅji scented oil is called for short). It's also here to stay, and recommended by such famous polishers as the Fujishiros. If you add ChÅji to mineral oil, it turns milky white - our French forumites know this effect from diluting pastis , so it's better left alone. The mineral oil, I mean, not the booze :D. Those who are not tired yet of my ramblings can read my article on Bob Benson's website (http://www.bushidojapaneseswords.com/articles.htm [# 5]) which was also published by the JSS/US. But then again, maybe they all fell for my evil conspiracy ...

Anne, please don't do that! Mineral oil is widely used in Japan, what you read in the article is correct. OTOH, I've never heard about someone using vaseline (oil) on a sword. Don't listen to everything you read here ...

I strongly suggest you stop talking to my twin behind my back!

Your posts so far didn't indicate that you took that into consideration. Having joined just three days ago, you might not have realized yet that it's considered bad form to make snappy remarks at a senior moderator who tried to be informative and helpful. I trust you have now.

Substitute "hope" for "love" in this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rafEFSXVtuw

Sometimes no news are good news - I've never heard a complain about them . FWIW, the last couple of years I saw them at the DaiTôkenIchi, they had some nice stuff, maybe the better quality items were a little above average in pricing. Since you're new to this forum you don't know that we discussed this topic before, but decided against publishing such a list for a variety of reasons. The main reason is that Brian doesn't like the idea, and he's the boss. (Sorry Brian, just couldn't resist, spent some time with my twin today .)

You mean people with more money than taste?