Nobody

Hi Milt, Don't ask me about the price. Unfortunately I am in Japan. BTW, the 80D seems to be with 18-200 mm lens. That's better.

This is my only experiecne. Even if the surface looked flat with your naked eyes, you might find very small spots of rust with a magnifying glass.

Hi milt, At this point I will buy "AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor ED 18～200mm F3.5～5.6G (IF)" or "18-135 mm" as the second choise, if I were you. However, as my usual objects are landscapes, unfortunately I do not have any micro lenses. I usulally use 24-120 mm for close up pics like below. It is enough for my purpose, though it is not sharp as well as dark.

Thanks Andrew, Yes, you are right. I also realized the same thing just after my previous post.

When all of the following conditions are fullfilled, re-tempered blades may pass Shinsa with notes of re-tempering fact. (ref. Shinsa standard, NBTHK, Feb. 23, 2006) 1. being made not after Nanbokucho (南北朝), 2. with Mei of a famous smith, 3. valuable hisrorical material, 4. condition of Jiba (地刃) and Nakago (茎) is not so bad. Maybe some one can express in proper English.

I do not think that the showato in question is illegal. At least formally, the nihonto was registered and also has Torokusho. I do not know the exact conditions for nihonto to be accepted by the authority. Is it acceptable using machine hammer in forging process?

I can identify the kanji on the right as follows. 乙柳軒 However, I am not sure the correct reading. They can surely read Otsuryuken, but other readings are alse possible.

I have Nikon D2H and D100. Generally almost all types of Nikon lenses can be phsycally mounted, but old type lenses might have limitations in automatic functions. As for Nikon D80, see pate 7/9. http://nikonimaging.com/global/products ... 80_16p.pdf

In case of Nikon D2Xs, see page 8/9. http://nikonimaging.com/global/products ... xs_16p.pdf

Hi Wang, Thank you for an interesting proposal. I do not know well about those technologies, but I have a question. You suggest two types of test, Ablation Inductively-coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry and x-ray fluorescence (XRF). As far as I know, XRF test is a nondestructive inspection which can analyze the chemical compositon of given material such as the blade. Why do you also suggest Ablation Inductively-coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry which is a destructive inspection to analyze the composition? I am afraid that XRF is confused with X-ray inspection (Radiographic Testing). I apologize if I made a big mistake.

It reminds me of 朋 (tomo), 明 (aki), 羽 (ha), and 州 (shu). However, each one does not make sense. Also 長 (naga) looks strange for its proportion, though its structure is correct. Are there any possibilities that it was made in China? It might be only a simbol. I just imagine sixteenth notes.

軍刀(昭和刀)の関鍛冶刀匠名簿232名 (Name list of 232 Seki sword smiths for Showa military swords) http://www.touken-kasugado.com/faq_2.html At the 2nd column 21st row, you will find his name. Name as a smith: 兼常 (Kanetsune) real name: 西村一二三 (Nishimura Hihumi) accepeted date: May 3, 1941

I now think that the 3rd character (top left) must be Kyo (恭). The meaning of Kyo is â€reverentlyâ€. So, if the four characters are assumed as 欽持恭蔵, the meaning of the seal may be "to possess respectfully, to store reverently". The seal might represent the owner's attitude or motto.

The attribution on the sheet is as follows, era: 慶応 (Keio, 1865-1868) smith: 伝　備前横山祐春 (den Bizen Yokoyama Sukeharu)

I found a useful web site to see script variations of kanji. At the bottom of the page, 1. input any kanji you want up to 10 characters, 2. select script by radio buttons (right most button is for Tenshotai), 3. press the command button below, then, you can see the script for the kanji on a new window. http://www.shachihata.co.jp/xstamper/font.php

The story in the article which Milt introduced is not correct, I think. There might be such rumors, but I do not know they are ture or not. I recently read articles about NBTHK on Japanese major newspapers. I already lost the papers, but I found the same article on a web site of a newspaper yesterday. Maybe those articles are the source of the rumors. According to the papers, there are some disagreement between Ministry of Culture and NBTHK. Ministry of Culture asked NBTHK not to receive Nihonto for Shinsa from officials of NBTHK or officials' family to keep the justice of the Shinsa. But NBTHK refused the requirement and they say that the restriction is a discrimination. The following pages are temporally saved and will be deleted. http://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/00/tokuho/200 ... _000.shtml http://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/00/tokuho/200 ... _000.shtml

I think I found out two characters on the right. 1: 欽 Kin (respectfully) 2: 持 Ji (possess) For 1, I am 100 % positive. And for 2, 60 % positive. Though I never heard the word Kin-Ji as Japanese language.

For Milt, I will show the Kanji which I think Milt suggested. 政随 (corrected, 9/13/2006, 23:15 JST)

八幡大菩薩 (Hachiman daibosatsu) It is the name of Hachimanjin (八幡神) with appellation. Hachimanjin is a God of Budo (武道).

Hi Ichi, Also I could only recognize the last kanji kura (蔵). If the seal is ownership stamp such as Zosho-in (蔵書印) which is usually used for books, 蔵 might be used a part of 蔵書 (zosho) or 所蔵 (shozo) with meaning of property. Or if the seal is one's name, 蔵 might be the last part of some person's name.

According to the recent news papers, Mr. Sassa Atsuyuki (佐々淳行), who had been a bureaucrat of the National Police Agency, became the new chairman of NBTHK last month.

I have been hesitating to reply, because I did not find any reasonable conclusions. And I am still unsure. At first, I read as follows. ??三年十月日 (October in the 3rd year of ??) The first Kanji looks like Ko (康). So I naturally imagined Koo (康応). It is the same period of 1st generation Kaneyoshi. But there is a BIG problem. The 3rd year of Koo never existed. Koo era was ended at March of the 2nd year. I have not got any answers yet. But I am almost sure that the first Kanji is not Ei (永), though I am not so sure that it is Ko (康).

The Japanese explanation for the same sword mentions as follows. If the sword is polished anew, it will become a wonderful sword which reminds you Kamakura Rai School. http://www.aoi-art.com/sword/katana/06217j.html There is no word corresponding to "touch up polish". :?

Hi Ken, Thanks for showing the menuki. They are really interesting. If I did not know they were menuki, I might belive that some one cut the real nakago.

I found a squid(cuttlefish) on a Kozuka. http://www.aoi-art.com/fittings/350-399/05379.html