Wim V

monthly bump: kantei N° 763 is waiting for your vote: https://www.touken.or.jp/english/nbthk/swordjournal_August.html

Thanks to Peter and Markus I received the pages I was looking for, thanks! Since they offered to do this for free, I made a (small) donation to the board.

Dear all, I just noticed while browsing my Token Bijutsu magazines, that in my N°436 (May issue of 1993) pages 17 - 32 are missing. Strange enough the pages don't seem to have been torn out or cut out, but I assume there must have been a mistake in the printing process and these pages were accidentally omitted. Could anyone who has N°436 in their collection please check if you have these pages? If you do, I would very much like to obtain a scan if possible. Many thanks in advance. Best regards, Wim

Hi all, My parents bought a bronze vase at a local auction house, see pictures in attachment please. I assume the signature reads Takamitsu or Ryuko (隆光), although I am not 100% sure. Please correct me if I am mistaken. I have absolutely zero knowledge regarding vases. So, Is anyone familiar with such kind of vase? Or do you know where to find more info on the maker? The auction house labeled this as "Edo period" but that means roughly 1600 - 1868. Is there a way to pin this down more specifically? Thank you for any info. Best regards, Wim

Calling all NBTHK members, Shijo Kantei Nr 761 (June issue) is up and running and waiting for your participation. Please place your bids : https://www.touken.or.jp/english/nbthk/swordjournal_June.html

Mr. Robert Hughes (Keichodo)

Done

+1: Any member from the Enomoto family: father Sadayoshi or his sons Tatsuyoshi and Sadahito. They consistently produce(d) very good quality work and somehow they seem a bit underrated, so you can often find their work for a decent price (in my opinion).

Dear all, Recently, the NBTHK announced on their website that, due to Corona, the shipment of the monthly Token Bijutsu magazine to overseas members will be seriously delayed. For those members who like to participate in the monthly kantei exercise this would raise a small problem, as you have to submit your answer before the 5th of the following month. However, to my pleasant surprise I noticed that the NBTHK now offers the possibility to submit your answer electronically: https://www.touken.or.jp/english/nbthk/swordjounal_April.html You can download the oshigata, read the description and then fill in your membership details and answer, and hit the submit button No need anymore to fill in the answer card (which is presented in Japanese) and attach a stamp. So as taking part in the Shijo Kantei is now easier than ever, I would like to encourage all NBTHK members to try and participate. I know this paper form of kantei can not be compared to the real live experience, but it's still a nice exercise, which forces you to think about the details of a certain blade and hit the books. It would be very nice to see a large response of the non-Japanese members. That way it could maybe motivate the NBTHK to keep this system up and running even after Corona.

Looks like Kaneyasu (包保). I would suggest looking up the chapter on the Kaneyasu school in Nihon-Shinto-Shi by Markus Sesko.

Hello Jussi, I have all Japanese issues starting from number 135 (April 1968) until today. So I do have the years you are looking for but unfortunately I don't intend to sell them. But if there is some specific info you are looking for I could maybe scan some pages to help you out for the time being? Let me know if interested ...

Mito school (水戸) tsuba, unsigned.

I agree with Steve. The overall shape looks quite pleasing to me. Nakago seems to be unaltered (ubu), and the yasurime look like taka-no-ha, which indicates indeed Mino (Seki) work. What we can see from the hamon seems to confirm this: gunome with a hint of togariba. Yes the kitae-ware looks a bit troublesome, but we have seen other miraculous restoration works in the past. A good togishi may be able to save this one.

https://yuhindo.com/recommended-books.html

I suppose you gentlemen may be referring to the article "The Yamato Hosho Tradition from Kamakura till the Present, Reunion after Thirty Years", by Mr. Han Bing Siong? This was published in Token Bijutsu nr 556 (May 2003 issue), and can also be found on Darcy's website as reference information with the description of an important Hosho blade that once was in the collection of Mr. Han: https://yuhindo.com/hosho-sadakiyo/