w.y.chan

I do realised there are different takes on history depending on which book you pick up but Hirohito was no puppet of Tojo. Tojo was to the emperor was like Goering to Hitler. After the war the emperor was painted with a different picture by the US to legitmise its occupation and subsequent alliance with Japan on a friendly term to thwart Russian attempt, this continue to this day to contain the "China threat". Sorry Stephen for straying off topic, I wish the comments about Hirohito deitified as a war hero by revisionist historians should not have been made here.

Not sure I agree that Hirohito was weak, I am sure Tojo and his inner circle is powerless without the emperor's approval. Whatever his views might be, at the time I believe that Hirohito was misguided with a self belief of godlike invincibility and destine to rule all of Asia, such as Hitler did in his view over Europe.

Since there are more martial artists than there are sword collectors in Japan my feelings are the majority if not all sword kits are marketed primarily for low cost shinkens. The Fujishiro kit is probably the only commercially available kit designed by and aimed at sword collectors.

Hi Simon, I totally agree with you regarding Yasukuni swords, they evoke the spirit of the old Samurai ethos. They were swords made for utilitarian purposes as well as art, the symbolism perhaps exceeds the workmanship but nonetheless an important group and that how I feel these swords are valued. Of course this does not include several excellent masterpieces but these were the exception not the average stuff. Many famous early Showa smiths made average swords for the military effort, many were daisaku dai mei, many had copper habakis. They have to do this on one hand to reduce cost and by contributing to the army they are allowed tamahagane in return. Many average smiths made on the occassion a masterpiece that outshown swords by more famous smiths, these often were special order and fitted with higher quality habaki often silver. Gassan Sadakatsu make their own habaki and they too have copper, silver, gold foil and pretty sure solid gold habakis too. I enclose a picture of a Yasukuni naval tanto, the habaki is a silver one which looks like those on other high quality swords in gunto mount.

Hi Simon, I say "generally" but of course it does not discount less usual circumstances. Also sword parts can sometimes become interchange by the owner so maybe you have a point here. Some habaki are silver plated and some are made of steel that look like silver. However it is a good guide that a better quality habaki general include a higher quality sword, as in the case of silver habaki over a copper one. We know the standard Yasukunito comes with a forged copper habaki. Silver habakis on guntos are often always forged as the sword is also hand forged, I might be wrong but I dont believe they are cast so it is uncommon to see a real silver cast habaki specifically made for a standardize machine made Showato.

A habaki is normally an indicator of how good a sword is in a gunto mount. The more decorative habaki the better the sword, a copper habaki usually fits onto swords that not as good as a sword with a silver habaki. I believe standard Yasukuni swords has good quality copper habaki but rarely comes with a silver habaki. Kind of reflect their quality really though I have seen special award tanto for the navy that comes with silver habaki.

Agree with Darcy about the Fujishiro cleaning powder. In fact I am quite convince they are not real uchiko but some kind of fine talc like powder soft enough not to scratch a newly polished blade. Dont know how long its been around because most people have never seen it but I have been using them for 10 years and tried convince others to choose it. I believe these are now the choice "uchiko" amongst Japanese collectors for their juto. I feel oiling and uchiko a newly polished blade is probably an attempt to seal the surface of the steel from moisture like you might do with a freshly sanded wood you wax the surface and protect it.

I have a Kimura Kanetsugu, the father, for sale at a special reduce price due to other financial icommitment, I believe he is the best ranked out of the school which he heads.

Personally I think Yasukuni swords are overrated and prices exaggerrated, many of these swords are forged makura gitae suitable for mass production and not so precious. For $7-8k you can buy a special gendaito that is on a higher level by a big name smith.

Most best swords made during the warring ages were owned by lords and Daimyos and very rarely if ever saw battle. Practical swords arent usually well made in an artitistic sense and are mass produced.

Hi Richard, Very informative. Do you have examples of sword photos you taken? I suppose when you said "hot light" you mean "continous light" or lighting use for filming? I had briefly experimented with sync studio flash over Xmas but not very satisfactory so chose continous light 240W halogen bulb. I use the EF-S 17-55 f2.8 IS and the EF-S 60mm f2.8 macro and EF 50mm f1.8. They all look pretty similar when shooting a blade upclose. It is no wonder Fujishiro refuse to let anyone know his sword photographic technique.

Hi George, Sounds like you are a camera buff. Your sword photos are very good indeed. I only have experience with taking photos of people using dSLR, I have the 300D, 350D and now the 400D but lens distortion I find can be handled better by having a zoom lens at around 100mm or better. Crop cameras like the XTi can still get away with 50mm due to the 1.6 x crop factor for zoom. Havent really taken any sword photos seriously except a few closeups to show the hamon and hada, what I did not expect was using these Canon crop cameras is that using F7.1 gives the best realistic look of the blade surface when compared to other F stops amongst 3 different lens I tried while shooting semi close-up. Do you think using studio flash helps taking the kind of photos we see in books?

Hi Paul, good to see you here taking a break from filming. There seem to be more documentaries in English about nihonto these days the attention has got be positive. The Ono book look like something I can add to my library. You have PM.

There are several. The latest documentry on Adventure One the channel is owned by National Geographic and may also appear there. I posted this video clip on another forum http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWBUFKH1wUc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Hp0Q-Mo_4Y

I saw a "new" documentary over the weekend about Japanese sword on Adventure One here in the UK. It was filmed with collaboration with Gassan Sadatoshi and the Nothern Token Society UK. It shows the tatara and swordmaking with steel analysis and computer graphics.

Paul Martin is currently assisting Ono Yoshimitsu and the Fujishiros in a documentary for Discovery channel on Japanese swords. Paul mentioned Ono was comming to the UK last year but decide to do so this year and attend a meeting at the UK Token. W.Chan

Hi all, Sorry for bringing up this very old subject but I feel there is something worth mentioning. Due to an experience last summer when we had a record breaking heatwave in the UK I have now found that much of the problem I experienced with choji abura was down to the "fact" the clove ingrediant in the oil (mineral?) actually sucks up moisture at an alarming rate. This can of course causes blade to rust so can you imagine if you live in a moist climate. There is also a tendency to leave stains of orange and blue when the oil dries albeit when the choji oil absorbs moistures from the air and off the wooden saya. Applying choji abura in dryer summer season and watch how the oil settles on the blade surface is very different from the "bubble" effect you see in moist season. I have conducted an experiment were I simply add some choji abura to a cotton and left it dried over a fireplace for a few hours, then use the cloth to oil the blade. The consistency and how easily the oil coat the blade now very much like how it was during the dryer season. There is another thing I notice is how the oil dont accumulate as much when placing the blade on a stand but when using choji straight from the bottle the oil keeps on building up on the blade probably the result of the clove attracting moisture.

Matsuda Tsuguyasu has been around for awhile and a frequent 1st prize winner and a future candidate for mukansa. There is a lot of politics in sword competition and they usually discriminates against new smiths, but if say a smith who has been around for a long time and rarely wins or never feature in the top prize you would know his works isnt special. Of course there are exceptions. There hasnt been many rising stars recently but one young smith in his 20s I cant remember his name but he is a student or son of Kawachi Kunihira is a bit special.