Anthony de Vos

Hi! When I have armors with or sometimes even without structural problems with odoshi, I use fishing nylon line as support. Difficult to spot and makes the job. So, this armor can definetly be displayed. Go ahead, enjoy your armor. Anthony

Hi! Very interesting article, thanks for sharing. Robert has a good reputation doing exellent work with traditional methods. I echo Jan that GB is blessed to have Two exellent restorer of Japanese armor, in Sweden there is none. I have only experienced the work of Dave Thatcher so far and I have always been satisfied with the exellent quality and I am sure, by reputation, that Robert is very skilled in the art as well. How is the situation in the rest of the world outside Japan? If anyone has experience of good katchushi please let us know. Anthony

Hi! I agree with Uwe. If you go on a normal trip it is 10-15 minutes with a guide. If you go with the armour society you will have an afternoon with the chief curator able to show the pices in hand. Once in a lifetime; http://nihon-no-katchu.proboards.com/thread/989/second-visit Regards, Anthony de Vos

Hi! I visited a nice presentation of neutron scanning, in Florens, earlier this year, as a part of "The Japanese Legacy" summit. Many suprises showed up, some swords are not what we want to belive they are. Interesting differences between the schools of manufacturing. We saw complete new information regarding the construction of Saotomé kabuto, more elaborate and refined than what the eye can tell... Some links to info, there are plenty more out there; http://www.sonsfpricci.org/wp-content/u ... lo_CH1.pdf https://indico.psi.ch/contributionDispl ... onfId=1431 http://download.springer.com/static/pdf ... c&ext=.pdf Regards, Anthony

Hi! Regarding Masanaga, on the Usagiya home page by the Kashima sisters, one can read; "The inscription says, it was tested again and again by two people, Urano Masanaga and Tomita Yaichizaemon Shigetsuna. They cut three piled bodies, two piled bodies, and one body using one hand only. They performed cutting test on various parts of the bodies. They cut a total of 25 bodies." http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/sharpness.html Maybe this is our guy? Markus you mention him on page 175 and 176. Could this be the second extant tameshi mei including Masanaga, implying two test cutters was at work at the same time on this sword? And now we also see Masanagas kao for the first time? Regarding this particular cut, It must be an o-kesa on two bodies lying down, tied together, in order to be able to also cut in the ground. See Marcus book page 137 or 139. I agree Jean, my next will be the sword smith bible, by Markus. Anthony

Hi! Thank you Markus!! I'm very gratful for your help, super. I also want to thank you for your last book on the subject of test cutting, the most comprehensive I have seen. Great reading, systematic in the progress of which it delivers huge amounts of information. I can recommend it to anyone not having bought it already. Regards, Anthony

Hi! Considering the lack of response this seems to be a tricky one. I wonder if it is the writing style or the actual kanjis that create the difficulties... I have a go... 大=Great or senior か り が ね 両=both shoulders 度=Three times 弐=two ツ=futatso (counter for the hito-futa-mi counting system) 胴=body Could it be that the sword cut through 2 bodies at the shoulders and it was performed 3 times? Regards, Anthony

Hi! Anyone having any ideas regarding the meaning of the kanjis in row 1 and 3? Any suggestions would be most welcome and appriciated. Regards, Anthony

Hi! Thanks Ian! Under the futatsu do, there is the mei of the cutter. That leaves the first row with 2 sets of kanji and the third row of kanjis, the mystery unveils..thanx guys. Anthony

Hi! Gabriel, thanks for the clarification redarding the date, great info. Anthony

Hi! According to Piers; "The style of writing for Naga 長 is written in the same way within Masanaga + Kao near the seppa, and also on the other side for the cutter Nagatsugu 長次... so in my mind, added to the fairly clear rendering of Tsugu 次, this makes the cutter Nagatsugu." So, this would be Ôkawa Hachiemon Nagatsugu (大河八右衛門長次 (元和Genna~寛Kanei). I saw in some reference that he worked a couple of years past 1655 so i could be possible. Ogawa Hachiro´emon Shigeharu (小川八郎右衛門重治(寛永 Kanei~寛文Kambun) has also been suggested earlier. Anyone that can translate what kind of cutting test was actually performed? Regards, Anthony

Hi Eric! Regarding the review, since I am, as you know, not a Japanese speaker, it will be short and of no value; Beautiful colour photos covering a huge range of guns, useful for me since I can compare details in the pictures with my guns. As you already said the next step is to copy and paste for the info, not easily done when using dysfunctional on line translation alternatives. If you have the interest, then you find the existing books and where to buy them, a forum like this and NNK with your contributions is of great help. I got the impression that people where looking for them, I just point in the right direction. Anthony

Hi! Regarding Sawadas blue book, is it really that rare and expensive? I bought mine, brand new, on Yahoo for 7000 yen. Just the other day there was a new one up for sale. Regards, Anthony

Hi! I Use Fedex on items like bows, naginatas, sodegarami and suchs from Japan to Sweden. Expensive but I think they can ship huge and heavy. Surely you can use them. Anthony de Vos

Hi! Mariusz, I don't think it is the same seller selling the same item at Yahoo and Ebay for different prices. This Ebay seller is known for to pretend to sell stuff on the bay, for over price, that he don't own. If getting a customer, he buys the actual goods cheap on yahoo, netting the profit. No need to get upset, buyers decision to buy or not, cavet emptor. Most likely have the seller, of everything we buy, bought it cheaper somewhere else. Anthony

Hi! I'm really suprised. I have bought several swords from him a couple of years ago. Always good comunication, items as desribed, smoth transactions, never any hustle, and now this....hard to belive, shocking. Anthony

Hi! Alex, for a balance to the regular mainstream economy news read Zero hedge, for a wider picture. In order not to stray from the subject, I think both Europeans and Americans alike will benefit from Prime minister Abe's attemt to double the Japanese money supply until 2014, if buying the swords from Japan. Swords bought from Japan will cost less, but the competition on our markets will then increase since there will be a larger supply. Anthony

Hi! I know this is not an economy forum, but Alex, as long as the US continue to increase their balance sheet with 85 billion dollars a month through Fed, and the Saudies considering to trade oil in all currencies, thus making the dollar to loose the petrodollar status, there is not going to be a strenghtening in the dollar. Regards, Anthony

Hi Howard! Did you manufacture the maedate? Great job, looks nice. I'm not sure though if the vailtail goldfish with telescopic eye had been breed from the basic goldfish in those days. newertheless beautiful handicraft. Anthony

Hello! Thank you Morita san! Anthony

Hello! I use "mink oil" with good result on old dried leather. Recommended for leather garments as well. Anthony

Hello! I hope you get well soon, Marcus. Regards, Anthony

Hello! And the naginata went to Sweden. I,m a very happy customer beutiful.... Anthony de Vos

Hello! Nice Jan, nice! Anthony

Hello! Eric this is the second time picture of the tatami dou with the green fabric shows up on the forum, I think you were the culprit last time to. That dou still haunts me since the day it was sold on E-bay to Holland for $650. My intenet conection broke down 5 sek before I was going to bid . (this was before I found Gixen). I have tried 3 times to get in contact with the buyer to no avail. I will not sleep tonight...... Regards, Anthony