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Shugyosha

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Posts posted by Shugyosha

  2. Some help and advice please

    in General Nihonto Related Discussion

    Posted

    Hi David,

     

    Please accept my condolences.

     

    I am, by coincidence, based about 20 miles north of London in Welwyn, Herts.

     

    You won't get better advice from me than from anyone you might meet at the Token or Northern Token Societies, but I have a reasonable library and if I can help I'd be happy to do so.

     

    Kind regards,

    John Johnson

     

    P.S. There's a guy called Peter Yorke who deals in Japanese swords based in Bagshot, Surrey, who'll be at the London Arms Fair which is on 25th and 26th April 2014. http://www.antiquearmsfairsltd.co.uk/exhibitors/. He's been quite generous to me with his time in the past and might be worth contacting.

  4. Where did you start?

    in General Nihonto Related Discussion

    Posted

    Dear Fabian,

     

    Sword clubs are also a good place to begin learning as you will have access to a greater number of swords to view at first hand than might otherwise be the case. If you are based in Liverpool UK, you are not too far away from where the Northern Token Society holds its meetings: Manchester. Here's a link to their website - http://www.northerntokensociety.org.uk/

     

    Best regards,

    J. Johnson

     

    Sorry to be repetitive, I've just read to the end of Paul's post.

  5. Bungo swords

    in Nihonto

    Posted

    Hi Stu,

     

    Here's a link to the NBTHK Shinsa standards on the Nihontocraft website:

     

    http://www.nihontocraft.com/Nihonto_Shi ... dards.html

     

    If it helps, I have an unsigned Bungo wakizashi which has Hozon papers and assuming there is nothing about your sword that falls foul of these criteria then it should be awarded papers.

     

    The issue that you have alluded to is that Bungo swords are sometimes thought of as lacking in artistic merit, as they have the reputation of being made with functionality in mind, and this puts off some buyers.

     

    Hope that helps and that you enjoy your new sword.

     

    Kind regards,

    John Johnson

     

    P.S. Sorry - misread your question re Tokubetsu Hozon, so much of this is irrelevant.

  7. Help with NTHK papered Kiyomitsu

    in Translation Assistance

    Posted

    Hi Alex,

     

    I agree with you. That column of the Kantei Sho begins with "middle thickness/ depth", something I can't read and ends "no ko gunome midari".

     

    I can't see enough of the dealer's work sheet to tell what that says. Is it perhaps a pro-forma and he forgot to delete an irrelevant part of the description?

     

    Kind regards,

    John Johnson

  10. Help for a Friend

    in Translation Assistance

    Posted

    Dear Jean,

     

    I'm trying to improve my Japanese so I took a stab at translating the mei - I hope you don't mind and I'm sure someone will correct me shortly. I make it:

     

    Suo Iwakuni Ju Masa Uji Saku.

     

    Unfortunately I can't come up with anything sensible for the two characters on the right.

     

    I think the character you are trying to tie down is 岩 from Iwakuni.

     

    I hope that isn't too wide of the mark and will retire to my bunker to dodge any incoming flak.

     

    Kind regards,

    John M. Johnson

  15. Translating

    in Translation Assistance

    Posted

    Hi Denis,

     

    This might be a bit of a statement of the obvious and sorry if that is the case, but I have found that having a basic knowledge of how Kanji work i.e. stroke counts and radicals can make life a lot easier. I have found Let's Learn Kanji by Mitamura and Mitamura very useful for this. It also fits in with my plan to have a working knowledge of the language beyond sword terminology.

     

    It can be a slightly less daunting task if you can find a way to break the elephant down into something more like bitesize chunks: most dated swords you will encounter will be shinto or later so this is a good place to start on dates and the Kanji do repeat themselves in a number of cases. Likewise with provinces, sort out the ones which occur most and least frequently and it just leaves all the rest... :D

     

    Kind regards,

    John J.

  18. Katana with Mei Geishu Noju Fujiwara Fuyuhiro

    in Military Swords of Japan

    Posted

    Hi Steve,

     

    I'm pretty much a newbie too so take this with as much salt as necessary. Though I bit unclear for my inexperienced eyes, I would agree that the mei in the picture reads Geishu (no) ju Fujiwara Fuyuhiro. If that is the case then it may or may not be the smith mentioned in John Stuart's post.

     

    According to Hawley's, there were a number of smiths of this name working in Aki (Geishu) between 1593 and 1864 but there was only one smith signing using "Fujiwara" as above and he worked in the period 1661 - 1675. This smith gets a ranking of 15 points. If you are able to post pictures of the blade itself you might well get some confirmation or rejection of this view as the sugata for the period around Kanbun when this guy worked is likely to be different from that of Tensho.

     

    I hope that this helps but if you hang on you might well get a more educated view in a while.

     

    Kind regards,

    John Johnson

  20. Questions on Nihonto for Iai

    in General Nihonto Related Discussion

    Posted

    Dear All,

     

    I have been lurking for a while and hoping to soak up some information whilst avoiding getting roasted for my ignorance and so I guess I should take this opportunity to make an introduction.

     

    JP - here is a link to a sword advertised on the aoi art website as suitable for iaido or batto jutsu. I've no idea as to its suitability but I think it might fit your price range:

     

    http://www.aoi-art.com/iai/11407.html

     

    Kind regards,

    John M. Johnson

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