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Ken-Hawaii

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Everything posted by Ken-Hawaii

  1. Ken-Hawaii
    I'll second that, Peter! My fencing blades have been a topic of pointed conversation for quite a few years. My wife trains with me in all the other weapons arts, so she doesn't complain about Japanese blades, but I can't say the same about the many foils, sabers, epees, & rapiers I've accumulated over 69 years of fencing! Nice rapier collection, by the way. And that's a very-nice tansu setup, Chris!
  2. Ken-Hawaii

    Hizen

    Ken-Hawaii replied to kissakai's topic in Nihonto

    Give him a buzz, Grev. Here's his Web-site: http://www.hizento.net/author.htm
  3. Ken-Hawaii

    Katana images

    Ken-Hawaii replied to kissakai's topic in Nihonto

    One image of katana plus koshirae, or separate?
  4. Ken-Hawaii
    Some fairly-nice blades, too. I'm impressed that I can zoom in a long way, without pixelation.
  5. Ken-Hawaii
    You couldn't be more wrong, Troy! I have over 200 references in my library, & I can't read Kanji at all. On-line, start with https://markussesko.com/kantei/ Markus is an NMB member & a prolific writer. He sells most of his books on Lulu.com (https://markussesko.com/books/)
  6. Ken-Hawaii
    Bjorn, one thing catches my eye. Almost invariably, Koto blades have an identical pattern from hamon into boshi, but yours looks different.
  7. Ken-Hawaii
    Nice exhibition, Peter.
  8. Ken-Hawaii
    The chance of finding an "original tsuba" is pretty close to zero. Even Samurai changed them out, & the good ones were sold off by the generations of "caretakers."
  9. Ken-Hawaii

    Mumei Katana

    Ken-Hawaii replied to 0Takeda0's topic in Nihonto

    Darius, the blade may have ashi in nthe hamon, but the saya is where you draw the blade from.
  10. Ken-Hawaii
    Gwyn, I agree with your observation. Your thumb is always on the tsuba, at 11 o'clock, both to hold the blade in the saya, & to facilitate drawing it. Putting the thumb at 12 o'clock can easily get you a split, bloody thumb, & a mess on the blade. However, when you draw the blade, the wear will be on the bottom of the tsuba, as it faces your opponent.
  11. Ken-Hawaii
    In a darkened room, shine a single light down the length, Chris. If the edge of the hamon glows, you have a strong nioiguchi, & likely a top-notch blade. Not easy to photograph, though.
  12. Ken-Hawaii
    Interesting. One of my sword club members brought one in, & none of us thought it was real. I learn something new & useful every day on NMB!
  13. Ken-Hawaii
    Great writeup, Yuri! It clarifies several points that I had wondered about. Are you related to Kenny Endo, by any chance? He's my Taiko sensei.
  14. Ken-Hawaii
    When you're not sweating, Chris, try playing with reflected light down the length of the blade. Seeing the nioiguchi will tell us a lot.
  15. Ken-Hawaii
    Not sure which school, Luca, but that's as good a 3D tsuba as any I've ever seen.
  16. Ken-Hawaii
    Yes, likely Kanbun Shinto. Always look at the bare-blade sugata to determine jidai. Although there is some mokume hada, it's primarily itame. Nice hakikake in the ura boshi, & sunagashi. I'd consider sending this blade for polishing. If the blade came with shirasaya, I'd store it in that, so you don't have to wonder about messing up the tsuka. If something is flaking off the tsuba, you can assume it was a modern addition. Nice find, Juan.
  17. Ken-Hawaii
    Different group than NBTHK?
  18. Ken-Hawaii
    I rather doubt it's a yoroi-doshi, George, as those were made mostly during Muromachi Period for armor-piercing. Yours looks much newer than that.
  19. Ken-Hawaii
    Truly a high-quality blade.
  20. Ken-Hawaii
    Woody moved to Las Vegas, John. Now, it's Bob & his son.
  21. Ken-Hawaii
    Excellent job, Brano! Lighting, focus, all A1.
  22. Ken-Hawaii
    Steiner, seeing a shiny finish doesn't really allow any detail. Take a look at Ray's photography on Can you see how he controls the lighting to show the blade's hada?
  23. Ken-Hawaii
    You can probably generate a list of togishi who polish juto & above, but I doubt you'll find a "foremost" individual.
  24. Ken-Hawaii
    Thanks, Kirill. I'll pass the word. Now that Woody has left Hawaii for Las Vegas, we can't just hand him our blades for polishing!
  25. Ken-Hawaii
    Bob, is there any way to confirm that? It's news to me, & I'd like to let my sword club know that's an option. We've all been going under the assumption that a polish is pretty much mandatory, & that a window isn't sufficient.
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