Ichi

Thank you all for your advices. I will go down and take a look at it along with other juyo including Kuninaga this weekend.

I never seen Aoi desperately pushing for this blade. He recommended not only once, but twice. Kitae looks very elegant, but after all this smith is only a 15 pointer in Hawley's. Am I missing something? http://aoi-art.com/sword/katana/06324.html

Japanese are very religious ethnic group. When one is born... goes to a Shinto shrine for blessing, Christain chapel for wedding and Buddhist temple for his grave. Always cerebrates Christmas, and few days later goes to a shrine on a New Year day!

For those who couldn't make it to the sword department store, here are some photo clippings from their offical website. Wish they carried more pics on the swords rather than the crowds. I've noticed more foreign buyers than before. http://www.zentosho.com/frame4.html

Hi Henry, They are open til 6:00pm. Hope you could make it. I am planning to go there tomorrow. Took a day off! http://www.heiseimeitokai.com/sokubai/index.html

Depend on how rusted your blade is, you might need a new polish. Recommend to post a pic for the gurus to see the condition? Keep the oil on as per care instruction below: http://world.choshuya.co.jp/howto/care/index.htm http://home.earthlink.net/%7Esteinrl/care.htm

Yup, I bought this DVD this summer. One way mission to beach the ship on Okinawa shore to stop the landing force. There was this one clip where sailors were wrapping his tanto to make it waterproof before the airraid. It looked Mino to me. That's about it on sword, but lots of samurai spirits here and there. Do recommend this flip. Play it loud on your 5-surrounding speaker system.

Hi Barry, Couple of weeks ago, there was this catalog section where one could place an order. Guess they pulled it out from their homepage, and now headed to Tokyo on a truck fully loaded with swords for this big weekend event.

I think it's his toe fingers ! Nice stuff tough. Ichi from Barcelona

Hi Brian, Definitely in depth, and very informative site. Need more time to go thru everything. Thanks!

I will try to get hold of the catalog if they are still available at the door.

The annual Japan sword dealer's association show 第19回大刀剣市 is just around the corner. It will be held at Tokyo Bijutsu Club Bldg. 6-19-15 Shimbashi, Minato-ku Tokyo, from October 27 thru 29th. I presume this is the biggest sword event in Japan. See what the Japanese dealers are hawking.

What I could find close to this guy during Meiji period is Kiku Ichimonju Shiro Kanenaga from Mimasaka region around 1875. Listed under Hawley's; 10 pts KAN 204.

For all Rai fans, Niji Kunitoshi was up on-sale recently at Tokka (Japan). http://tokka.biz/nijikunitoshi.html The listed price was Yen 2,800,000, and it was sold by the end of a day

I am not a vivid tsuba collector, and never seen such expensive tsuba on the market. This must be a special one, athough design don't turn you on. http://ginzaseikodo.com/fittings.html

Hi Jean, Greetings from Tokyo and welcome on board to NMB ! Yup, 順慶　150 Hawley points and same as the Nagamitsu 長光　the 1st. But, this Doc doesn't agree ...... a clipping from Nihon Koto Shi （Token Bijutsu No.568）. (History of Koto) By Dr. Honma Junji (21) (P.22) A theory that Shogen Nagamitsu is the second generation has been supported by ‘Tensho Bon Mei Zukushi’ and other swordsmith directories since the Muromachi Period and people tend to appreciate his work with his Buddhist name ‘Junkei’ higher than that with ‘Nagamitsu’. I would like to talk about four tachi with the smith name of ‘Junkei’ here. The hamon of the three tachi is ko-midare in ko-nie-deki and no utsuri is seen on the ji. Their workmanship is totally different from that of ordinary Nagamitsu and at a glance they don’t look like Bizen swords. Amongst them, a tachi owned by Mr. Oyamada shows a distinctive feature of Bizen swords, that is to say, the hamon is choji mixed with gunome in nioi-deki accompanied with ko-nie. All of their mei are done in the same style that is totally different from that of Nagamitsu. Considering everything, I conclude that a smith called ‘Junkei’ is a different smith from Nagamitsu. (Reference photos and oshigata) Juyo Bijutsu Hin : Tachi Mei “JUNKEI†(Owned by the Sano Art Museum) “JUNKEI†“JUNKEIâ€

I can do a better job than this guy :D

Hi Ronin, There are six Moritomoｓ listed in Hawley's. The oldest dating back to 1184 Bizen Fukuoka Ichimonji school and the latest 1845 Tajima Kuniyasu school. 守友

Hi Rich, You will have to register before you can make your bids. Details on how to join and bid are here in English. http://www.my-auction.co.jp/buyingen.html If you are a member, they will send you this 350-page full color catalog showing what's coming up in the next auction, although tsuba and nihonto accounts relatively small volume. The September auction just ended last weekend. The next one will be held November 11th.

This is a Japanese auction site where one can find some bargain items if you look closely. Held once or twice a month in downtown Tokyo. Better than ebay stuffs. FYI http://www.my-auction.co.jp/result.html ... 1=3&b2=010

While Columbus busy ransacking America, early Muromachi was rather quiet, only quarrels among local daimiyos. Pre-dawn sengoku jidai -no big battles yet to change the course of history. It was not until mid to the end of 1500's when swordsmiths got busy mass producing blades for Nobunaga, etc. Some major events picked up from encylo.... 1506 Asakura Norikage clash the Ikko Ikki 1508 Ouchi Yoshiaki restore the Ashikaga Yoshitane Shogun 1509 Nagao Tamekaga defeats Uesugi Sadanori at the Battle of Etchu 1510 Ist firearm, a Chinese matchlock, introduced in Japan to Hojo family 1519 Imagawa Yoshimoto born

I don't know him personally, but according to Hawley's Yamaura Tamaki Minamoto Kiyomaro is given 150 pts which means he's in the top ranking smith. You should post a pic of the tang to see whether the signature is geniune.

Even if the surface area shows only a small pin head rust, inside could be spreaded out. That was the case with my Kunikiyo which I purchased from AOI. They said I needed to polish it in several years, but that came in very fast.

and I heard this other scenario from a Kyoto sword dealer ....... when a swordsmith gets chumon uchi (custom order) from high ranking offical, he usually produce two or three blades and present to his client. Client picks one and the swordsmith will engrave his signature while the remaining rejects are sold thru local sword dealers for extra bucks and the ended up as mumei.

Hi Rich, You may have to sell a half dozen of your tsubas at Choshuya in order to treat a dinner in Ginza. Have a good one! :D