Bungo

join the Northern california club and I think you can a copy of the book. There are 2 main paths leading to Rome ( in our case Kyoto )......... 1. quality over quantity ( if you can control the urge, hard to do with prices generally depressed ) 2. Buy papered items ( for newbies that have no confidence in spotting gems in the rough ) at below market price ( not hard to do because of the economy ) .....study it and then re-sell at cost or small profits. Buy it because you like it or you'll be stuck with something you can't stand ( meaning don't buy it just because it's cheap ). I follow this path and it works generally well, so far. It allows me to fondle many types and get to decide which ones are " keepers" ( if only it can be applied to the fairer sex ) I am sure others have their ways.....for example, THE Mantis Dude with his famous one theme collection. As Pete mentioned.....go to sword shows, talk to people . test the water, it's loads of fun. Milt O

" I think it is great that they offer an indication at all. The NBTHK will not stick their neck out like that and it leaves a bit of an empty feeling when you just have nothing. " arrrrrhhhh, they don't, they just called it Kyo-kinko. Wouldn't it be nice if they are a bit specific ? Like called it kyo-kino, in the style of Ishiguro or something like that ? milt O

hhahahhahaaa, wait till you submit something and see them bounce like a rubber ball. Human nature to bitch when things don't turn out the way one wanted it. I have developed a new strategy............. get Gordon a bit tipsy ( two beers will do it, but not drunk , then he won't remember a darn thing ), feed him ideas about one's swords BEFORE submission, if he says go for it......then submit the sword. Cut down on the pink %, you think ? All joking aside, it's good they are tough, got to keep it that way to make the paper " meaningful ". But sometimes I wish the shinsa team can be a wee bit more " specific " on attribution to mumei pieces. Like calling it Kyo-kinko isn't really telling us much, yes ? Milt O

can some charitable characters out there please outbid me................ :D

http://cgi.ebay.com/8015-JP-SWORD-SIGNE ... dZViewItem here's one to wet your feet milt O

" . I like the round solid maru gata types of Tsuba's 2. I like the ko-nara or shin-nara style of depictions 3. I like the Edo Period " then you may want to check out the Mito and Nara school................ Milt O

why not label them........... " Nihonto " and if pressed for further info, tell them Nihonto is a Japanese art object and leave it at that . Milt O

I have a koz signed by the 15th Goto master........... same identical example illustrated in Kozuka100, Claude Thuault Collection book , page 198, koz # 87 ( yes, I compare the mei/kao strokes very very closely ) I thought it's going to be a slam dunk..................pinked !! May be it's best to submit only mumei stuffs at oversea shinsa.

thanks to Brians' idea of the riding crop.......I think I've got it !! the motif is riding crop and the abumi ( the big sukashi that resembles the un-mentionable , note the series of small holes above, taken as a whole it constitutes the abumi. The bar with series of small holes is the " upperhandle part that attaches to the saddle, the big sukashi is where the foot rests. Thank you all, it's been fun. Milt O

I am thinking may be those curtain of the field camp ? riding crop....ummm, it's possible. I have some idea about the " big sukashi ".............. it resembles the " unmentionable "...... Milt O

try muramasaiii@aol.com, if the Nigerians manage to keep informing me I have 35 million UNITED STATES DOLLARS coming, I see no reason why yours bounced ...hahahhaaa, I will look into the spam box, may be AOL doesn't like anything with hotmail.com Milt O

#8254 JP SWORD ~Chrysanthemum & bamboo~ Wakizashi TSUBA Item number: 260022122629 Ole Po says it's flower + bamboo................ I have " doubt " about the motif, any inputs are welcome. It's quite a good little tsuba, you can actually see the folding/whirling effects of the iron working. There's flowing iron bones on the mimi. Milt O

it appears they are extremely " conservative " in passing items with " big name "................. Milt O

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-three-hangi ... dZViewItem painting at far right milt O

Morimitsu........could be a Yamato/Yamashiro smith based on the flowing masame hada. But then I am ignorant in matters regarding swords so take my comment with a huge lump of rock salt. Milt

for those that attended the Jersey shinsa show, how about a quickie report ? Lot's of pink slips ? many got " bungo-ed " ? " Kaga-ed " ? Any swords, fittings turn out " great " ? Any Yagyu tsuba turned up ? Kanayama ? Milt O

not sure about the size of resolution I am currently using, that's not an issue. My problem is the color of the side scrolling bar, the color shown is very light grey on white background making it very hard to use/see........... can one change the color of that or we need the Despot to do that ? Milt O

if you don't take the fittings apart all the time and just do not want to see the tsuba " drops /rattles " ................ you can " stuff " some paper or those " blooger like glue " you find behind the advertisement cards in magazines in the nakago-ana. Perfectly reversible and easy to apply till you fins some " professional help " Milt O

The Big Guy selld high quality kinko kodogu at all the regular US sword shows, not cheap but reasonable. The best way to get a good deal is to piggy back on some " big deal " in the making at the show...........when the big buyer got big discount, Hagrid can't bloody say no to your proposal unless it's outrageous. The e-bay stuffs he sells are his " lower tier " inventory and sometimes good bargain can be had , also the Big guy can mis-read the mei , like this one................... e-bay Item number: 190020372727, he called it Mitsu Yasu, but I swear it reads like Hoan. Milt O

The JSS/US mission is to diseminate sword related knowledge and the book price was set with that firmly in mind at the director's meeting last year. If any of you out there is still hedging the bet, it's time to support your hobby/passion by considering a membership with JSS/US. You don't have to be a member to order the book from Afu by the way........ milt

Herman and I traded wits, " insults " at the sword shows, sort of like " point counter point " and he was a very worthy opponent............ sword shows ( to me personally ) will never be the same. I missed that ole boy. milt

arhhhhhhhhhhhhh, my quick fire response got yanked by the censor !! Here's a lame version............. moring coffee drank donuts bagals eaten funny message sent censored again

one truely needs a slashing and I have personally seen what he and his disciples did to my friend's sword. Chris. Lau is in Heaven..................... the others mentioned I can't say, I send swords to Big Mo.

a Bizen school sword but it also means most likely if shinsa as is then you will get a Bungo call. Have a few swords like that and they all got bungoed.............. Milt O

actually I was thinking of an one finger salute from god in space ( one of those NASA pic of a distant galexy )............. but figure I won't get pass the censor. The monkey expression is exactly what I get when I bought a re-pro tsuba. Milt O