Henry Wilson

Hi Guido Thank you for the reply. Don't fire the poor devil I am sure he had good intentions.... Lots of food for thought in the post (never mind the wife ) Back then long ago I could not imagine a smith sucking his teeth and saying "no can do" when asked to do something. It is interetsting that you say that it may not actually be a mon. The sukashi is cut five times in a nice symetrical pattern which makes me think that it might not really be a mon just a nice shape that looks like a mon. I would like to post some pics but my camera skills are non- existant so I will bring the tsuba along some time soon and see what people think of it. Thanks again and nice hair in the intial picture. PS. when was Kirisute Gomen (cutting / slaying of lower ranking people?Am i correct?) first practiced?

Hi Guido Yes, the tsuba was returned to me as the man in your office said that it is not of a good enough quality for your collection. Sorry about that but I will bring it along with a few others at the next meeting. So a tsubako (or any one else) could choose a mon and included it in his overall design just to make it look good. A mon in a piece of work does not necessarily mean that it was made for a particular person from a particular family. Am I correct in understanding that? The tsuba in question is a katchushi from late Muromachi, I think quite a serious time, which made me think that "ginger bread" on fittings etc would be unthought of, which makes me think that the tsuba was made for a person with a firm association to that mon. I could be thinking to much Any comments would be greatly appreciated

Jean If you like that sort of tsuba here is one I think might be a better buy. It is Aizu Shoami, has papers and is cheaper than the other http://www.finesword.co.jp/sale/kodougu/htm/0611/544/544.htm The metal looks better to me too and I toyed with the idea of buying it myself a few weeks ago. The motif is Tatsutagawa which is a river that is often a theme in poems.

Jeepers!! Never seen anything like that before! A bit drastic if you ask me..... Why is the end threaded?

Ichi your information is valuable because it matches what I have found out so thanks for helping me confirm my shaky research. Moriyama san, thank you for the link to the Moniwa mon as it is very interesting but the mons do not match the mon on my tsuba at all. My example looks like the one in the link below, second from the right which is labeled Moniwa on the site I got it from. http://www.geocities.com/kazenaga23/mon_book.jpg The site page is: http://www.geocities.com/kazenaga23/crests2.htm Could all the mons be link in some way? I feel a little confused at the minute as I have three mons for one family :? Any help to clarify from anyone would be greatly appreciated

Thanks Guido. It does look like you. The tsuba is in the post :D Do you or any one have an image of the family mon so I can compare....

Does any one have any info on the Moniwa family? I think I have their family crest on a tsuba I recently bought. Cheers

Could the sword have "Mojo" (or has it lost it's "Mojo"?) Written by Austen Powers

I look a bit miserable in that picture. I don't think I usually look like that. I think a cross pattern motif on the tsuba represents a well cover. Look forward to more pics Richard

What is Fujishiro oil?

Hi Mike I am glad that you copied my post as it was a great experience that I want to share and hope others will try out. Especially the non-sword side of the journey. I think driving in Japan is not so bad. Tokyo is difficult as it is congested and narrow but down where we were, the roads were good, well surfaced and we could move along quite well. As for tolls etc that Justin mentioned before. Cheaper than plane and bullet train but still pricey. We are waiting for the visa bill from the ETC machine (electronic toll counter ?????) but we did most of the long hawls at night which I think results in a significant discount (about 30 percent but could be wrong).

Hi Brian Yes, a wonderful experience and it did not feel the distance at all until the Bushmills Before I got to Osafune I thought the demo was bi-monthly and held on Sundays but because it is a holiday period in Japan and there were plenty of people around they decided to do a demo as the smiths and sakite were around any way. There is also a kogatana work shop that they have were you can make a kogatana completely from scratch (bits of raw tamahagane as a starting point), similar to what Guido did once in Tokyo. I missed that day but I have a pamphlet somewhere and can dig it out if people are interetsed. I can not stress enough how benefical the whole experience was in broadening my undersatanding and appreciation of Japanese craftsmanship which resulted in consolidating my interetst in swords and kodogu. The Osafune village of course has left an impression but also the whole journey, including the 2 most important shrines in Japan and looking at another side of Japanese crafts. I forget to mention that I got a guided tour of a traditional Bizen ceramics kiln and got a look at Hagi ceramics kiln in operation as well. Quite similar to swords in a way and meet the operators and talked to them which was great. Persoanlly speaking I think there is nothing better than meeting the people, smelling the air of the work shop and seeing how everyone works together to make a single item based on ideas and methods dating back hunfreds of years.

I have just got back from a 7 day driving holiday of the Chugoko region which is the western area of the Japanese Honshu Island, and thought I would share my experiences. Drove from Tokyo to Hagi and checked out the ceramics which are especially liked for tea ceremony. http://www.reggie.net/album.php?albid=529 Went to Matsue and to Izumo Taisha, the second most important shrine in Japan that is famed for it its giant size shimenawa (twisted rope hung over the entrance to a shrine) http://www.Japan-guide.com/e/e5804.html Went to a place called Iwami Ginzan (but the kanji reads Ishimi Ginzan) which is an old village that is connected to a silver mine that (apparently) produced about a third of the worlds silver. An interesting place as I imagine the silver that we see in kodogu or habaki could very well have been mined there. http://www2.pref.shimane.jp/ginzan/e/index.html Drove down to Bizen and checked out the local pottery there too. http://www.e-yakimono.net/guide/html/bizen.html Oh yes, nearly forgot. Went to Bizen Osafune Token village and spent the day wondering around the museum and connected grounds. Saw a nice collection of Bizen Osafune swords spanning all the eras of sword making. The collection however I think was not as good as the swords that are in the NBTHK museum however as they told me at the museum, us in Tokyo tend to be spoiled when it comes to top quality swords. Noticeable names in the Osafune museum where Kanemitsu, Motomitsu, Kagehide etc. Noticeable smiths who I did not see where Nagamitsu and Kagemitsu I saw a sword making demonstration in the traditional manner (no power tools) which was very very interesting resulting in me staying in the forge for about two hours. The demonstration began with the sakite lighting the fire and getting the charcoal nice and hot. The smith took over by heating the tamagane and tending the fire with the bellows. The material was removed and it was pounded by two sakite. The sakite were quite young (about 20 yrs) and were still mastering the heavy hammering and I was surprised at how difficult it was. The heating and the hammering was performed a number of times, each time the block was rolled in dust and straw before being reheated for about 3 minutes. The smith put the block to the side and produced a roughly made large tanto sized blank and continued with the demo, as the sakite after about 30 minutes were struggling with the work and handling the heavy hammers and getting them to hit the right place on the block. The smith repeatedly heated the blank and shaped the blade using his eye, a piece of chalk and a set square to get the dimensions right. At this point I went for a walk and watched a bit of polishing. Saw a teacher put his apprentice through the paces of appreciating lacquered koshirae. Saw a habaki being made but missed the tsuka wrapping. All in all a very interesting day and a place well worth the time and effort to go to. I was very interested in the forging and was very surprise at how physically demanding it is. The poor sakite were filthy from the charcoal and really finding it tough to be accurate. The smith was very patient and in a sweat from the heat of the fire, never mind the sparks flying around from the heavy hammering. Went also to the multi media video section which is a manageable size and full of charts, computer games for the kids that teach them about the local area and videos, books and magazines on sword making. I enjoyed sitting around outside and listening to the hammering, looking in the direction of the nearby Yoshii river and absorbing the atmosphere while casting my imagination back to the time of when Osafune was one of the centres of sword production. I must say that my first sword, a Bishu Sukesada and it's mei was firmly in my mind as I was wandering around. http://www.city.setouchi.lg.jp/~osa-token/english/index.htm After that we headed to Ise shrine, the most important shrine in Japan dating back to the 3rd century. Saw examples of pre-Buddhist era architecture which the shrine is famous for and paid my respects to the Sun Goddess who is enshrined there. http://www.Japan-guide.com/e/e4300.html Polished of a bottle of Bushmills whisky with my wife's family who live near Ise. http://www.bushmills.com And got back to Tokyo last night. Basically we drove about 2,500 kilometers and saw an awful lot of Japanese crafts which I feel has really added to my appreciation of nihonto and kodogu.

Concerning the original post, to me the nakago looks like it has been welded to the balde and the rust has been added to cover the weld.

The DTI is usually held in Shimbashi on the JR Yamanote line

For all you fans of swords in gunto mountings, look what Aoi Arts is doing..... Gunto - tastic :D http://www.aoi-art.com/gunto/main.html

That is good news Paul and thank you very much for all your tireless work. Do you know how far will the exemption go? What I mean is are gendiato and shinsakuto (non - antique blades) being considered for the exemption as well?

Refering to the above post with the pic of the habaki. My Yasutoku has a copper habaki that is pretty much the same style and look. Mine is a nice copper piece but the marks along the side are finer. It has a red finish inside too if that means anything. I think that particular design compliments the blades grain quite well.

I agree with Simon's post. Adding to the above, what I really like about Yasukuni To is that they could very well be that last school of Nihonto. Why they are not that nice to look at is because they were made by military employed smiths and they were discouraged in making anything too flashy, also they lacked the time too. Check them out................ http://www.jp-sword.com/files/yasukuni/yasukunito.html

Hi Jin Soo If I remember you had some great info on Yasukuni swords. What is the address for your site? Regards

Thank you very much Guido. Perfect

Does anyone have any links to book shops in Japan that stock nihonto books? Cheers all

Thank you Moriyama san for the reply and the website. I will order it tonight.

Thanks Ichi for the reply. Where did you get your copy? What is the basic break down of the book? ie number of pages, are there pictures, maps etc. Is there Japanese for key names and places, how much did it cost etc. Sorry for all the questions but I have done a google and a yahoo and so far not got much of a feel for the book except that it is cited in a lot of bibliographies and could be quite interesting.