Jean

Shinsa, Bob, could tell what it is. Nevertheless, Markus’last sentence is quite eloquent...

Head cutter no, rather nata

Bungo, come back, I have sore teeth...

Done

It is like losing backbone....

Did it for Josh

In Nihonto, there are always exceptions

That was my favourite

Concerning Jubi, from several discussions, if I remember well, it was possible to buy them and export them but in this process they lose their status,

Not necessary to post it twice, JL my friend Stephen has the same opinion http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/23658-fake-or-real-ww2-Japanese-nco-katana/?do=findComment&comment=239664

Not my area but I'll say fake. The groove should run till the kissaki.

Hamfish, This could make things clearer to you, look at the dates for each school. http://www.sho-shin.com/contents.htm

Never smell anything...

Without talking about Gokaden tradition, Mino is the last main school as it is a mix of Soshu, via Shizu Kaneuji and Kinju, and of Yamato, mainly Tegai (but also Senju'in).

One piece of steel

Contact Paul Martin on my behalf. He is coming to England in November or December and he can perhaps take swords back to Japan

Very true Michael but Darcy has only 10/12 items on his website

Florian, It is the same with a lot of Arts. How do we call a bridge in French if not an "ouvrage d'art". Before all, a bridge is made for crossing an obstacle, if broken, the notion of Art disappear. The functionality of some art objects are inherent to the Art. Do not forget that Art implies human hands, and if some arts are abstract a lot are before all functional.

I definitely prefer the presentation of samurai shokai, e-Japanese swords or Ray or Dan website, there are clearer and more structured. That is what lacks in this new website. There is an excellent new article on Tametsugu but I had to struggle to find it but the article section is very good and clearer. Main critics are on tsuba and nihonto, these sections are not structured all articles are mingled.

Jacques, I let your comment so members can see your true nature. I have just pushed the button which enables me to ignore all your posts taking into account your lack of maturity... goodbye

I totally agree with you Michael. Apart the pictures, I prefer the previous site.

We don't strictly opposed in our opinions, Jacques. Concerning mukansa, your remark is interesting because it explains clearly what I meant. A smith is promoted mukansa because of its past awards which means he had already the level but not the title. The swords he made after being promoted are not necessarily better than the ones he did before. So to become a mukansa you are judged on your past activities when you were not declared "jo" saku smith or above. Concerning Shinsa, you are forgetting that the gentlemen in Shinsa teams are very conservatives and very difficult to move on. It is the same with paintings. If you are not considered by experts as a master or a very good artist, whatever the quality of your best painting, be it equal to a master one, it shall remain the painting of a middle artist. Concerning your last remark, it is exactly what I mean, you are alienated to experts' expertise to consider a blade as art object or not. Or experts are equally subject to conservatism, the best example was the impressionists, Van Gogh sold only one painting during his life... The art notion is a concept difficult to define and even more to be agreed on universally because it requires not only skill (which is a necessary component) but something else which could be a "soul"

"Swords are utilarian objects before all". They are not anymore and modern swords are still considered as art. In fact, if you take kanteisho, what do they judge if not quality? Now on mumei blades (O suriage), the attribution is only an opinion and even NBTHK is reluctant to grant upper certificate to chu saku smiths because they are biaised. Nothing can assure you that a Juyo O suriage blade has not been forged by a chu saku smith. A lot of blades made by jo saku smiths and above won't be granted more than a TH kanteisho, same as for chu saku smith. History interfers equally in the Juyo kanteisho. So kanteisho are not necessarily a good way of judging the quality of blades. From what I have read, Fujishiro at the origin of this ranking has selected 5000 swordmiths over many more than 30 000. This means that the last of the chu saku smiths was (for him) better than the 25 000 remaining ones. All this to say that a blade must be judge as a art sword on its own merit and independantly of who made it. This one of the reasons why kantei is made tsuka on.

Chris, I bought them because I liked them and I knew there was no equivalent available in France. Collectors are greedy in France and ready to buy great tsuba for a good price. I sold them when I needed money. I like the objects I buy but they are, in fine, a reserve of money.

Ford, How come my silverware oxydize and that I have to clean up them every other six months. Is tarnish the same as oxydation? I'll post some pictures next time before cleaning my silverware.