Ken-Hawaii

Eric, I'm curious why you chose this specific Nihonto as your first blade? Ken

Jon, I agree with Adam - your blade isn't suriage at all. What makes you think that it is? And I also agree that you should post it right here on NMB; check out viewforum.php?f=4. Ken

Congrats, Joe. Nice to see someone score well on eBay. Ken

How about telling us your name on each post, per Brian's rules? And it's hard to tell much about your blade without some good shots of the nakago. Ken

Mark, have you asked Don as your dealer what he knows about these blades? Most dealers have quite a bit of information about the Nihonto they're selling, if only to get buyers interested. And as they're both from a collection, there should be published information, as well. On the blades themselves, what are you looking to find out? Do you have reference books in which you can research the shape of the sugata, type of the hada, & details of the hamon? Although knowledge of the school & smith are interesting historically, you really have the detailed history right in front of you! Dig in & study each blade closely so you understand what the smith constructed & why, how the era in which he worked influenced the shape & style, & how his techniques compared to others. Find out how to make an oshigata. Your wakizashi & katana will teach you more than any of us can possibly help you with! Welcome to the forum. Ken

Brian, I had an uchigatana in hira zukuri that I traded a number of years ago (before I realized how rare it was) to a local dealer (who will remain unnamed) that had NTHK papers indicating it was koto. I've pulled a mental blank on who the smith was, & no longer work with that dealer, so I can't ask him. Ken

Eric, you do realize that the Mitsuhiro blade isn't a katana, don't you? When the nagasa is less than 2 shaku (approximately 24 inches) in length, by definition it's a wakizashi or shoto. Another easy way to tell is that most katana are gripped by two hands (yes, I know there are exceptions, & also that the tsuka could be longer than the nakago), rather than one, so there's a distinctly different "look" to most katana versus wakizashi. I do feel that you get the most for your $$ by buying a wakizashi, by the way. Ken

I also don't see any problem with the fuchi, so it's likely not the reason your tsuba is loose. Just add a seppa or two to tighten things up if it bothers you. Also, please list your name on your posts per Brian's rules. Welcome to the forum. Ken

This thread is approaching the ridiculous. A Nihonto is art because I think it's art, no more & no less. If you don't think it's art, then it isn't. Period. Wikipedia has a pretty good definition: 1. The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture,...: "the art of the Renaissance" 2. Works produced by such skill and imagination. Can we leave it at that & move on to something a bit more quantitative? Ken

Very nice macro lens, Jean. Looks like you will be adding a lot of close-ups to our knowledge base. Ken

For anyone who is interested, there are a number of free publications on Nihonto & related topics available from the Internet Search Archive. Here are a couple of the direct links: http://www.archive.org/details/japaneseswordits00coop http://www.archive.org/details/japaneseswordmou16guns http://www.archive.org/details/metalsmetalworki00gowl http://www.archive.org/details/japaneseswordits20guns These publications are available for download in a number of formats; I've been using PDF with no problems. It's an interesting Web-site to search, with many topics. Ken

Keith, the sori of the bo-hi blade is 0.5 inch, & the sori of the other blade is 0.55 inch, so no real difference for practical purpose (& measuring sori isn't exactly the most precise measurement I can make, either). The heavier blade is about 1.5 inches longer, & the motohaba on each is virtually identical. Sakihaba is slightly larger (0.15 inch) on the longer, non-bo-hi, blade. The weight distribution, however, is significantly different on the blades, with the longer blade's CG about 1.8 inches closer to the kissaki, but that's offset by a longer tsuka. So if you can make heads or tails of why they swing differently, I'd sure like to know! Too many variables for this brain! Given a choice, though, I use the bo-hi shinken for tameshigiri except for tatami omote cutting. BTW, if you know of a good source of tatami omote since tameshigiri.com stopped shipping it, please let me know! I'm running very low. Ken

You know, Keith, I've never thought about it, but I definitely feel a much-lessened degree of what I'll call "vibration" with the bo-hi shinken. That could certainly be a function of flexion of the blades. I did think that the bo-hi blade felt tighter & more controllable, too. The heavy blade feels a lot more solid in my hand compared to the comparatively "whippy" bo-hi blade. The non-bo-hi blade weighs about 300 grams more, but since I'm around 190 pounds myself, I don't think that less than a pound would make any difference cutting-wise. It's possible that my hasuji is different as I cut through the bamboo when the blade exits the targets. I sometimes have a slight "scoop" at the end of my cut with the heavier blade, but almost never with the bo-hi. Ken

Good reply, Keith. I'd like to factor in hasuji, but frankly can't come up with an engineering equation to model it. But I have two nicely-balanced shinken, one with & one without bo-hi. The heavier non-bo-hi blade cuts just fine in tameshigiri, but I find that I can easily cut three bamboo targets with the bo-hi blade, while struggling to cut two with the other one. Not very scientific, I'll admit, but after using them both for a decade, I can certainly tell there's a difference in cutting ability. Ken

Adam & Franco, take it from a professional engineer that an i-beam is about 35% stronger than an equal-sized solid beam. You forgot to consider the actual weight of that extra solid material in the non-i-beam. This was a basic problem all us engineers get to solve in our statics & dynamics class in university. In other words, the ancients knew that secret. Ken

Sean, at least you're asking beforehand, rather than after getting a piece of junk! Ken

I was just about to start a thread on Craig's site closure, but thought to search for it on NMB, thank goodness. Craig, I, like many others, will miss your cheerful voice on the forum. Having spent 12 frustrating years working as a senior manager for the feds, I really understand how you're feeling about the bureaucracy! You would be astonished at what happens inside a federal agency, but suffice it to say that I finally gave up a six-figure income to start my own company because I just couldn't stand the shibai any longer. Perseverance is key to fighting the system. My Dad was a POW in Germany during WWII, & wasn't able to persuade the military to help out at all with even the obvious problems he had, but my sister & I kept helping him send in letter after letter until, finally, they caved. The nice thing about that was that they gave him almost a quarter-million in back benefits along with the medical care he needed. Stay in their faces, Craig, & document EVERYTHING! Bureaucrats are literally paid bonuses to say "NO" as long as possible, & to keep close track on every excuse they use to not give you what you're due. Trump that with doctors' reports, lost wages, & anything else you can think of. It's your money paid into Social Insecurity, & they make you work hard to get it. Best of luck, my friend! May the last laugh be yours!! Ken

In one sense, I agree with you, Brian, that it's enjoyable to help a newcomer & learn a bit more from our resident experts. But I can't agree that if a that newcomer wants to argue about the free info he/she is getting, we should continue to waste our time & your bandwidth. Of course anyone can choose to disagree with forum recommendations, but I think they should then quietly depart to go play elsewhere. Just my two en. Ken

Curtis, you have received much good advice from many forum members with many years of experience. They have suggested sending your blade to shinsa, & you are saying that you want to call some guy who has said "Now this is a very nice little blade"...? You seem to want to hear only what you want to hear, & are frankly wasting this forum's bandwidth. If you want professional feedback on your blade, then send it to shinsa! Ken

Glad to see a newbie doing the right thing! Ken

Name, please? And what specifically do you want to know? Ken

Yes, no contaminants, but also no sword flexibility. Extremely hard ha & extremely flexible mune - the best way to make a katana. Yes, I know I've oversimplified.... Ken

Well, you've certainly found the right place to get advice, but we'd like to know who you are, where you are, & exactly what it is you want to sell. So please make up a signature that tells us the first two. A good link for Nihonto photography is http://www.arscives.com/bladesign/swordphotography.htm. Once you have some decent photos posted (please check out the link showing how to use Imageshack.com to post your photos), there are a lot of very smart & experienced people here who are willing to provide advice. Welcome to the forum. Ken

The reason the links won't open is because they were copied without using the mouse to grab the actual long URL, so all he got was ... instead of the underlying info. And Stuart, please sign your messages per Brian's rules. Welcome to the forum. Ken

I've found these links for baku that look vaguely like the ones on my tanto: http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/baku.html http://muza-chan.net/Japan/index.php/blog/baku http://ojisanjake.blogspot.com/2009/05/yokai-gallery-1.html http://americanmonsters.com/site/2010/01/baku-china-Japan/ Interesting that they are described as both nightmare eaters & protective architectural elements at Buddhist temples and Shintō shrines. Why would a smith place baku on both a tsuka & saya? Ken