Ken-Hawaii

Because I'm interested in the papers, Eric. Ken

I already have a papered Kiyomaro, John, so I'm not tremendously anxious to get this one, but I've contacted the seller to see if he would be interested in sending it to shinsa prior to a sale. I've bought two blades from him with excellent results, so I feel he's trustworthy, but for that kind of money I'd be even happier if it had NBTHK or NTHK papers. Ken

Okay, Chris, here they are: You can see why I'm interested. Ken

I am curious about a set of papers called "Nihonto Kantei Shisakai" by the seller, with whom I've successfully dealt with in the past. He describes the NKS papers as "Well-informed person meeting" which doesn't mean anything to me. Does anyone have experience with these papers? It's a fairly important sword, so I'm very interested. I posted this on the eBay forum but got no response. Aloha! Ken

Digging up this rather old post, I am curious about a similar set of papers called "Nihonto Kantei Shisakai" by the seller, with whom I've successfully dealt with in the past. He describes the NKS papers as "Well-informed person meeting" which doesn't mean anything to me. Does anyone have experience with these papers? Aloha! Ken

Patrick, even closer to Kyoto is Okayama which definitely has some sword shops. I heartily recommend the Bizen-Osafune Sword Village (http://en.japantourist.jp/view/osefune-sword-museum) where you can both see Nihonto & watch them being made. About 250 feet north on the same road is another shop which has locally-made gendaito for sale. And there is at least one very nice shop in Okayama that my wife & I visited, but I can't remember the name (Piers, can you help here?). Brian & Chris are absolutely correct that swords are extremely expensive in that area. In the sword shop I mentioned, I showed the owner a photo of one of my Bizen katana in koshirae & asked him what it would cost in his shop. He quoted me approximately ¥1.2 million, which is almost exactly 10 times what I paid for it! So buying your Nihonto here in the U.S. will likely save you quite a few dollars/yen/whatever. Ken

If he's cutting sashimi with that katana, I definitely don't want to sit too close to watch! Enbu of tameshigiri at a sushi chef institute...? Ken

Photos, anyone? Ken

Barry, my username on e-Budo is exactly the same as it is here on NMB - Ken-Hawaii - which includes capital letters. I'll pass along your observation, but not sure why there was a glitch. The underlying vBulletin (which I think Brian also uses) is pretty forgiving. Ken

Barry, I just tried it again, this time using IE8 (the first time was with Firefox 24) - no problem at all. The first time, I used a 5-character password, & the second time, I one with 8 - no hiccups at all. The reason we have a series of questions is because we just got finished laboriously deleting 24,800 bots, & we think our qualifying questions will minimize that from happening again. Ken

Something is strange, Barry. The site shouldn't care what your password is at long as it is at least five characters in length. I went in & set up a new account in about 45 seconds. What exactly are you seeing? Ken

Ah, the first glitch - congrats, Stephen! I just passed the error message to our two Administrators, one in Sweden & the other in Japan. There's almost always one of the two on-line, so I expect a quick resolution, & will let you know. Gomen nasai! Ken

Well, I was outvoted when it came to keeping the Firearms forum under Personal Protection & Self-Defense, but as I'm an NRA Life Member, I admit that I didn't fight all that hard. It's actually quite an interesting & popular forum. Take a look at http://www.e-budo.com/forum/showthread.php?52247-Systems-that-teach-the-gun for some basic insight. Ken

Aloha: I would like to announce the grand reopening of the http://www.e-Budo.com Web-site. With a complete change of ownership (for disclosure purposes, I'm one of the new owners), the site has been completely upgraded & updated. If you use almost any weapon, from katana to .50-caliber sniper rifle, there's a forum for you to learn from & enjoy. A big difference is that we new owners & moderators are ready & willing to hear from you with suggestions & ideas on how to make the site even better. I invite all of you to visit our new Web-site & to become members. I want to thank Brian for giving me the OK to post this message, & also for implementing so many good idea in NMB that we happily used in the e-Budo upgrade. Ken

Mike, also speaking from experience, you might consider getting your child started in martial arts while still quite young. I started at age 5, & I think that's one reason why today I'm interested in Nihonto. My mistake was not getting my kids or grandkids involved - now none of them are at all interested in inheriting our collection. The significance of your gift will be much greater if your son/daughter has the background to enjoy it. Oh, & congratulations! Ken

Unlikely it would be priceless after a polish, except maybe to you because it's a gift from your dad. Worth in the $400-$750 range out here, & doesn't look like anything special. You might get an uchiko ball & see if you can remove a bit of the grunge, though. Ken

Depends on what you mean by "close," Chris. Bob Benson is here in Hawaii & of course is well-known as being an excellent togishi. Ken

Ain't no such animal, Adam. You might end up with a carbon-rich ferric oxide (rust), but not a carbon oxide. Sorry. Ken

Kunitaro-san, are you sure that you mean "carbon oxide?" The only two types of carbon oxide and carbon dioxide (CO2) & carbon monoxide(CO), neither of which would do anything for the ji that I can think of, & might do some harm to the togi. Ken

Well said, Chris. Just wish my nerves were good enough to buy sight-unseen & with return privilege...! Ken

Yeah, that's the same one that's on eBay, Lee. Ken

Thanks for showing me those, Piers. For those of you who missed it, I sent Ando-san a 1.3 kg nickel-iron meteorite via Piers, based on a conversation we had when my wife & I visited the Bizen-Osafune Sword Village last year. Ando-san had been working on a katana made from a meteorite when we visited, but wanted more material for another blade. The kozuka looks pretty much like what I would expect, but the katana's hada & jigane don't show the high percentage of nickel that I know was in the meteorite. I really want to see those blades in person! Ken

I had a new member of our sword society ask me when the NBTHK & NTHK started issuing origami, & didn't really have an answer for her. The earliest NBTHK paper I know of is dated late 1948, which was for a blade I no longer own. I know the Honami clan issued origami back in the 1700s, & Fujishiro in the early 1900s, but can't find any info on how all of these appraisers got "rolled into" the NBTHK & NTHK. Has anyone compiled info on this? Thanks! Ken

Here is another sample of Mr. Roush's "work": http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350831491304. I e-mailed the seller to let him know about this thread. It's too bad there isn't some way to warn everyone about this guy! Ken

Please sign your posts per Brian's rules. Also makes it a lot easier to know who to contact.... Ken