Kajihei

Klaus, You can also order it directly from the publisher: http://tkj.jp/search/?fw=%E6%97%A5%E6%9 ... 88%80&cs=u Kaji

Hi You can buy it at amazon.co.jp. Kaji

Hi All, I've had no problem in my dealings with Maruyama san over the years in both selling and buying. He has over 2400 feedbacks on eBay with no negative ones, so he must be doing something right. In this business, it is nearly impossible to satisfy everyone, so he no doubt had his share of unhappy customers. I'd say he has a superior batting average (despite a few strike outs), far better than many sellers on eBay. Kaji

That's Yamaguchi Yasumune. His blades pop up quite often: http://www.seiyudo.com/ka-08042.htm http://www.samuraishokai.jp/sword/10132.html Kaji

This may be the case MikeY. saw on TV. Aoki Naritaka, who operates Taikeido (my neighborhood katanaya-san!) was arrested in March for making cheap sword to match tourokusho of old blades. He frequents San Francisco Tokenkai and many of you may know him. He allegedly collected tourokusho (with no blades) while overseas. ( http://lavielll750fs6.seesaa.net/article/343361955.html ) He, by the way, filed for bankruptcy proceedings in September 2012. ( http://ib-tousan.jp/2012/09/26/post_12_h_3.html ) He must've been desperate. Another notable case of tourokusho-related fraud was from 2005 where several dealers were arrested for selling katana on internet auction with fake tourokusho. ( http://less-government.doorblog.jp/arch ... 83650.html ) They also claim the tough economic times for their motive. Tourokusho by itself is a traded commodity among sword dealers in Japan. Apparently there are swordsmiths (or skilled blacksmiths) who can produce blades to match the mei and dimensions given on a tourokusho. As someone already mentioned, making fakes is a tradition that dates way back. So-called Masamune blades "produced" by the Hon'ami, for example. Caveat emptor. Kaji

EJ Roush has a page on Facebook. Perhaps you can post a message there. He's added new posts since yesterday, so he must be monitoring it. http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Takono ... 4311361671 His page is named: "Takonomakura Japanese Sword Restorations" If this information has already been posted, I apologize for the duplication. Good luck, Kaji

This reminds me of a story I heard some time back. Registered gendai swordsmiths are permitted to produce only two blades per month. Most cannot make a living at this, even if they are lucky enough to sell two blades each month. About ten years ago, a “starving” swordsmith was approached by a dealer and agreed to produce 30 blades that were then popularly known as Kiyomaro copies, long blades with o-kissaki. I think they were paid no more than several hundred dollars per blade. The dealer then had them polished, and ones that turned out decent were given the Kiyomaro signature, by another professional in that field. Such blades cannot be marketed in Japan because they lack the registration/production certificate. So they were shipped overseas, and then re-imported back to Japan. At the customs, they only judge if the blade was produced in a traditional manner, and determining the authenticity of the signature is not within their jurisdiction, so naturally they were given the registration certificate. Thus they became legal merchandise in Japan. Ones that are not good enough to be marketed in Japan were sold overseas. I think a similar scheme is still going on, perhaps more now than before, thanks to the slow economy. They are good gendai blades, but you cannot trust the signature. Buy the blade, not the signature. Kaji

Hi Henk-Jan, The swastika on the left is a Buddhist symbol: http://www.religionfacts.com/buddhism/s ... astika.htm The "standing" three-leaf aoi mon is that of the Zenkoji temple: http://www.zenkoji.jp/img/top/season_im ... top_02.jpg The bottom side says "善光寺参拝記念,” a commemorative/souvenir of visiting the temple. The mallet-like symbol in the middle of the bottom side is most likely the mark of the cup maker. My wife and I are planning on visiting Nagano city, where the Zenkoji temple is located, this weekend. I will see if they still sell cups like this near the temple. If this one on eBay sells at a high price, I think I will buy me a dozen. I will age it first, and then list it as a WW-II item from the days of Nazi Germany & Imperial Japan alliance! Many confuse the Buddhist swastika with the Nazi symbol. K.Matsumoto

Hi All, I have not dealt with this seller, so what I am about to say may not apply to him/her. And this is a general statement about online sellers of Nihonto, based on what I've seen and heard, so consider it for what it is worth. "Shilling" is far too common on Japanese online auctions, be it Yahoo or Bidders. And auction sites do not appear to be overly concerned about the practice. They get their money from the sellers (although some seller would add auction fees to the final invoice), and as long as the sale is finalized and the fees collected, how the final price was reached is not their concern. Their attitude is that the buyer is ultimately responsible for deciding how much to bid (which is true), regardless of how he was suckered into that price. A Japanese online seller whom I've known for years always maintained several ID's to bump up prices, and if his alternate ID ends up winning the item, then he'd list it again later on that ID. During slow periods, online dealers would "support" the market by bidding on each other's items, he told me. Japanese buyers, being rather savvy online shoppers, are aware of this. Google search "さくら入札　ネットオークション" (shill bidding online auctions) and you get 1,750,000 hits, on topics ranging from "How to identify shill bidding," "How sellers do it," to "How to beat shilling and get a bargain." Unlike eBay where shilling is clearly prohibited and sellers can be shut down, Japanese attitude seems to be that this is part of the online selling strategy, and it is up to the buyer to polish his/her buying skills and strategy to favor the odds in this "game." K.M.

Hi Here is a handy online kanji dictionary/translator: http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi- ... dic.cgi?1R The database contains non-standard kanji, the ones not taught in schools, so it is very useful in deciphering classical writings. The "radical index" system of looking up a kanji is familiar to us Japanese but may be intimidating to non natives. This site makes this indexing a visual and intuitive one. It may feel odd at first, but once you get used to how it works, you will get hooked. When I want to type non-traditional kanji, ones not contained in the input-method-editor, I go to this site. Look up the kanji, and copy/paste onto my document. For example, the traditional kanji for tsuba 鐔 instead of the 鍔 offered by IME. KM

Hi Klaus, The auction is over and I am not sure if you were the winner, but, if you used "ask a question" icon in the auction, the seller probably didn't get your message. I think he's having some problems with that mail address. He provides his business address in the item description, and he is very fast in responding if you contact him there. I had a similar experience of him not replying to my questions through eBay but getting an almost instantaneous response from the address provided. The blade looks like showato, in my opinion. But gunto blades are hard to judge in their original assembly-line polish. Kaji

Hi The site is operated by an antique dealer in Kyoto: "Kotto~ Kitagawa." They seem to do only online business. No street address is given, only says "located in Yamashina, Kyoto." http://zinten.net/kotutoukitagawa/dougu.html Kaji

Hi All, "Bargain (i.e., questionable)" Kiyomaro show up often on Japanese auction sites, and ones that didn't sell probably end up on eBay. Here are some recent examples: http://auction.jp.msn.com/item/130563809 http://www.bidders.co.jp/dap/sv/nor1?id ... p=y%23body Also, this o-kissaki style is often marketed as "Kiyomaru utsushi." They are not selling too well in Japan recently, however: http://auction.jp.msn.com/item/130610303 http://auction.jp.msn.com/item/129550098 http://www.bidders.co.jp/item/127317712 Swords are like any other merchandise: when there is a price differential, the goods flow from low-price market to higher-price market. During the good ol' bubble years of the '80s when sword prices soard in Japan, many swords "went home" to Japan from US and abroad. Now that the market in Japan is bad (an understatement perhaps), we see more swords flowing out from Japan, especially the ones that do not sell well. If China's economy continues to grow relative to the rest of the world, and more "rich" Chinese enter the antiques market, we may see more real Nihonto flow to China while their cheap pseudo Nihonto continue to flood the market. Well, let them buy up all the gimei blades, and that will help clean up the market. My two yen's worth, Kaji

I agree, and he addresses this issue in the "ME" link in his auctions: http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl ... id=komonjo I don't think he would know for certain that a blade is gimei, unless he himself had submitted it for shinsa (and rejected). So I don't think you can expect him to state that it is gimei with any degree of certainty. At the same time, he does make it clear that papers are not to be trusted, and therefore offers no guarantee of authenticity. He had in the past listed several swords saying that he guarantees them to be gimei (or your money back!). I think he was being facetious there, but that did not seem to have affected the final prices. The blades sold for what I thought were reasonable market prices despite the "guarantee." Regardless of what the seller says, the final price is determined by the buyers, and sword buyers on eBay in general appear to be astute and skeptical customers. The responsibility of the sellers to prevent novices from being "deceived" is another matter. That calls into question the practices of the entire advertising industry. Imagine, a listing showing a beautiful, bikini-clad young lady stroking a BIG katana and saying something like "I love men with BIG KOTETSU!" And then it says a papered Kotetsu is available for $10,000. "You and your Kotetsu, no more lonely nights," the listing concludes. Hey, I would be motivated to buy one! As much as I hate to see buyers being deceived, I think the responsibility ultimately rests with the buyer. My two yen's worth. Kaji

Hi All, You should ask the seller if he thinks the mei is genuine. Knowing this seller, I think he will give you a straight answer. I remember him listing a sword some time ago saying, "I guarantee this is gimei. If it turns out to be genuine, I will gladly take it back and give you full refund." At first thought I misread this statement, then I realized this is his style of humor. :lol: Kaji

(( Tom Cruise`s sword from the movie "The Last Samurai" )) Yes, indeed, and the horimono on this blade repeats the same mistake Hollywood made. I don't know what that Chinese phrase inscribed says (despite what the movie script says), but the characters are like "fonts" instead of brush strokes, so they look like computer-generated. And note the period at the end of the phrase. There are no puctuation marks, ever, on chassical Chinese, or Japanese for that matter. On printed texts, readers added their own punctuation marks to facilitate reading, and in modern printed versions, punctuation marks may be added to help the reader. But you never see a period at the end of a stand-alone kanji-phrase. So this obviously is a creation of an uninformed "western" mind, and whoever in China that copied it without critically evaluating their own classical language deserves fifty lashes with wet noodles. Kaji

HI All, The mei says 昭和五十二年 which is 1977. Looks like Yamaguchi san either misread it or mistyped the description. As for its authenticity, he tells the buyers to consider all signatures as gimei unless it comes with a reliable paper, so that's a fair game. Genuine or not, I am amazed at the number of fine-looking swords showing up on the market at low prices unthinkable just a few years ago. I wish I had lots of money to spend so I can buy them up. I am sure they make better investments than stocks or real estate -- probably won't depreciate as much. Unfortunately, my fortune took a big hit with the downturn on the stock market, so I have no money to spend in this buyer's market! Kaji

Hi All, This blade reminds me of the .44 Magnum in Clint Eastwood's "Dirty Harry" movies. "Come on, punk, make my day" would be just as effective with this blade. To those unfamiliar with "Dirty Harry," what I mean is that the visual impact of this blade is equivalent to that of a huge pistol. I love it! Judging from the size of the registration certificate wrapped on the saya, the blade is not that big at all, yet it says in a very big voice: "Don't mess with me." Now I am going to start looking at Naginata naoshi more seriously. Kaji

Hi all, I've seen o-kissaki pieces by both Akamatsu Taro Kanetsugu and Minamoto Moriyoshi. Here are some examples. By Akamatsu Taro: http://samurai-nippon.net/457/ By Moriyoshi: http://www.samuraisword.com/nihontodisp ... /index.htm I don't know if they belong to the same swordsmith school. My feeling is that both works are responding to the school of market capitalism. O-kissaki pieces are popular and they sell better than ordinary conservative pieces. This is my humble personal opinion, and I apologize in advance if I've offended Moriyoshi or Akamatsu Taro aficionados. Kaji

Dear Experienced Members, I hope I am posting this in the right forum. If not, please forgive me. I need an advice. A friend in USA is having a hard time shipping a katana to me. First, he went to the post office to ship by EMS, as he had always done. The post office told him that they would not accept sword shipment to Japan because "Japan prohibits importation of weapons." The Post Office Manual does say that, although the post office supervisor took the liberty of interpreting this to include swords. So, he took it to FedEx. They too told him that they will not ship swords to Japan, also citing their manual. Any suggestions? Had any one tried UPS for shipping swords to Japan? I know DHL refuses to handle swords. Thanking you in advance, Kaji

Both Japanese and Chinese had "simplified" the classical kanji characters over the years, and as a result, kanji characters used today in Japan and Mainland China are not necessarily the same. We refer to them as Japanese kanji and Chinese kanji. The Japanese did major simplification after WW-II, and the Chinese after the 1949 Communist Revolution. Classical kanji are still used in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The nakago inscription contains kanji characters used only in post-revolution China, nowhere else. They often make this "mistake" and that is a dead giveaway. Kaji

Dear CJ, I heard that Yamaguchi-san's father passed away last week and that the funeral is scheduled for this week. It may take some time before he replies but be patient. Kaji

Nippon Toso Bugu Kenkyukai (NTBK), the organization that issued the paper, is a mystery. No one in Japan seems to know who runs it or where it is located. So it is best to regard the certificate as nothing more than a marketing tool. Most likely it is issued by a dealer or a group of dealers on items they put on the market.

Hi All, I am puzzled as to why the frenzy over Yasukuni blades. The Yasukuni Shrine, to the Japanese, represents many ambivalences. War-time excesses (i.e., ultra nationalism) vs. tradition, for example. And there were many other swordsmiths who expended their energy on preserving and reviving the traditional swordmaking without involving themselves in the State Shinto like the Yasukuni smiths. The Yasukuni blades are celebrated for their mystique, no doubt, but I believe they are over rated. My two yen's worth. Kaji

Hi All, I used tho think that the "Showa" stamp meant Showa-to, and subject to confiscation or destruction in post-war Japan. Then I learned that some war-time swords with the Showa stamp are currently registered and sold in Japan. Here is one example by Kanetomo: http://samurai-nippon.net/951/ I am not sure if this means blades like this Kanetomo and Kojima Tadayoshi are traditional tanrento or just a "high-grade" showa-to (if there is such a thing), but it is good to know that fine gunto blades are receiving recognition and finding market in Japan. I often wondered about how to tell showato from traditional tanrento, other than to cut it and examine the cross section under a microscope. Can somebody enlighten me? A gunto "expert" told me that showa-to blades were produced by inserting softer metal rod into a hard-metal pipe and them stamping them, thus creating the soft-core-hard-shell combination without the repeated forging and folding. Very clever, eh? Kaji