Grey Doffin

Hi Nathan, Sometime last year, I believe, there was a thread that discussed oshigata technique. Be worth your while to find it. Nice work; keep at it. Grey

If you say gimei of Nagamitsu the smith who comes to mind is Osafune Nagamitsu, who would have signed tachi mei. Which other Nagamitsu could there be a gimei of? Grey

Chris, It wouldn't be a gimei of Nagamitsu since it is signed katana mei. Not Bizen work either. Sue-Koto makes sense to me also. Grey

Yes; I'm sure. Grey

Hmmm...Grey, that does look to be the same mei shown in F & G #54, but I would say that it is a mis-trans of Nobu. The mei is so poorly cut that it could be a mis-trans of Miss Piggy. Who knows? Grey

Hi James, Very difficult to tell you much from the photos alone. Best I can come up with is mid to late Edo wakizashi. The blade has been steel wooled and no photos will tell much. Where are you located? Maybe someone who knows swords can take a look at it for you. Grey

This is the listing from Fuller & Gregory that put me in mind of Masatsugu. Looks close. Grey

Hi Kory, Possibly Masatsugu. Seems to match a signature in one of Fuller & Gregory's books of a smith who signed Watanabe Masatsugu. That blade had the Seki arsenal stamp. Judging from what I can see of the blade and the chippiness of the signature I would call this non-traditionally made Showa-To. Not junk but not a treasure either. Grey

Thanks guys, I'm guessing Takeuchi Masao gave the chawan to Yamane Kikuno. Was Takeuchi Masao the potter or is there another name on the lid? Grey

Hi guys, I picked up a chawan at the show in Chicago. I know the hako-gaki says it was made at age 77 and I was told it was a gift to a famous ballerina and that it was taken to Europe, but I'm hoping to get the whole story. Can someone tell me the name of the potter and what all the box has to say? Thank you, Grey

Yes it is the orange shirt but it is a $5 bill. Grey

I'm the guy in top hat and tails with money falling out of my pocket. Grey

Hi Ian, There isn't much by way of books on the WWII Japanese swordsmiths. There's the Yasukuni book by Tom Kishida, and the Minatogawa book by Herman Wallinga. You know, I'm sure, about Military Swords of Japan and Japanese Military and Civil Swords and Dirks, both by Fuller & Gregory, and Dawson's Swords of Imperial Japan. Fuller & Gregory also wrote A Guide to Showa Swordsmiths and Swordsmiths of Japan: 1926 -1945. None of these books, other than the Yasukuni maybe, tell you much about the smiths because not much is known. If you don't know the books you can get an idea what they are by searching my website: japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com Grey

I agree with Kurt. No way this looks like something a smith would have done to a sword unless he had to. Removing old horimono or even bad kizu (very bad) but not as intentional horimono. Once you got past the novelty it would become quite boring. But what do I know? Grey

Thanks guys, Grey

Hi Jeff, jssus.org and click on JSL Index at the top. Click on the index of sword smiths and in the search box type NJ (the code for the book). This gives you 621 smiths with all the books they're found in. Copy and paste this into a word doc. Now go through the 621 and delete everything you don't want and you'll be left with what you do want: an index of just Nihonto Jiten. Goes quicker than you might expect. A while back some of the guys here were doing this for different books and posting that their indexes could be had for an email. You might try a search of NMB for Nihonto Jiten to see if maybe someone has already done the book. Grey

Hi Jeff, Nihonto Jiten is included in my Index of Japanese Sword Literature on the JSS/US website (jssus.org). If you want a stand alone index of just this book it is pretty easy to extract one. Grey

Hi guys, Can any of you tell me who these seals on full length oshita belong to? Thanks, Grey

Hi guys, If any of you will be at the Chicago show next week and would like to get a book off my website, I can hand deliver. Send me an email with what you want and I'll take it along. Cheers, Grey grey@japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com http://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com

I think the NTHK NPO has an excellent reputation in the west. I have heard many words of praise for their shinsa service; little to none of the opposite. Grey

Hi Jason, If the current tsuba is original to the koshirae it probably is a better fit, both dimensionally and thematically, than would be most anything you replace it with. If you have a period koshirae it should be left alone. If the current tsuba is just something someone tossed on to make the koshirae complete, never mind. Grey

Hi guys, I just listed 5 iron sukashi tsuba on my website. At the top of the Tsuba and Kodogu page with numbers that start with J. http://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com Thanks, Grey

Either it's a paper for a Ninja sword or you forgot to add the picture. Grey

Are you sure that is intentional cherry blosums and not paint splatter? Would the smith have placed inlay on the seppa-dai? Looks like paint to me. Also looks to be scratched at the bottom. Grey

Hi Antoine, Oshigata form Nihon Toko Jiten: Shinto Hen by Fujishiro. What do you think now? Grey