DirkO

I thought wooden habaki were used as to not scratch the blade, whereas metallic ones -however carefully made- still can cause scratches.

Guido, I'm sure Nakamura-san didn't mean to offend. He picked up some info, heard some rumours and now he's looking to this forum to perhaps confirm or deny his thoughts. Just like it happens with my posts now and then, the emphasis in his words might be misplaced and mistook.

Some overal shots maybe ?

Thanks guys, that was the article I had in mind It was referenced somewhere else here on the forum as well.

If I'm not mistaken, den means that it has some additional traits on top of the expected traits for this smith. It was covered on this forum not so long ago, but I can't find where...

Or for our European friends it would be cheaper to send it to another EU country (which is free) If someone has trouble/objections using PayPal, then they can drop me a line. I can gather the money and use my PayPal to forward the integral amount to Brian.

He used to sell some stuff now and then, but lately the volume has increased dramatically. Probably some collectors are getting rid of their lesser treasures in order to raise some cash in these troubled times ?

First I thought this to be overcomplicated, but I must say, not a bad idea. You can create a new member group containing the people who paid, then open up a post for the raffle itself in a dedicated section, then after that a few price-exchange posts. This way, no outsider will be the wiser - that is, if you set your forum rights correctly

Hmm can you see a welding line on both sides ? Seeing you describe it as being "signed" at one point, maybe it's a weird form of orikaeshi mei ?

Seen the size of the blade, I guess the reason would be stability and handling. But why they didn't make the nakago long enough in the first place ...

I think it's more of a mental thing : people tend to like things more if those items are still capable of fullfilling their destiny. Even if they'll never be used to do what they're designed to do, the possibility has to be there. And like Brian so aptly pointed out, this is indeed applicable to practically every field in antiques.

Very nice set indeed !!! Brian, can you please ask for pics of the front of the kozuka as well as the daisho-swords ??? Curious to see whether the quality of the blades matches the tosogu

Here's some info from the former forum :

Yep, there were 3 koto/shinto sets sold last week : 2 of them were a more recent print and went for 320/420USD the older 1 went for 325USD So your 360 (if i remember correctly) should be priced to sell :-)

I thought "Yokoyama Kozuke Daijo Fujiwara Sukesada" was not that common, but the other Sukesadas were ?

he sold the set as well last week, got sniped at the very last second Lot of nice books for sale on eBay at the moment, at very reasonable prices (I even saw a 1st edition of Sun Tzu's - not exactly cheap )

This article was written not that long after the Meiji restoration and I thought it interesting to read that even in a time of turmoil, swords were still kept in the highest regards, the romance vanished for the largest part, but still some of it remained. That being said, I would welcome a Masamune or Muramasa blade for 1000$ :D

Hmmm seeing you need a special permit to export real authentic Japanese swords from Japan and seeing the fact you need a registration form in Japan to own a sword and to prove it is first art and not a weapon, I'm guessing your chances are slim. The Japanese regard all edged blades as weapons, so I think you're gonna have a real struggle importing a (68" !!!!) replica which has been sharpened... Just my thoughts though, maybe someone more knowledgeable of these facts might provide you with some better info...

Thx for uploading it

I use this book. I thought it to be handy because they have 3 different indexes and they tell you the stroke-writing-order, which comes in handy sometimes :-)

Les goûts et les couleurs se ne discutent pas LOL I seriously need to brush up my French !!! So many typos and errors in one sentence : unforgiveable ! :x

I thought they said : des gouts et des couleurs se ne disputent pas :lol:

Hi, I came across this Naotane, Sai-jo Saku: http://www.e-sword.jp/sale/0710_3031syousai.htm Now this item, beautiful in it's own right, brings up some questions in me (I can only read some very basic Japanese, so it could be that the explanation is right there on the site): 1) Why did a swordsmith make something like that ? Was it because the swordbusiness was slow and he wanted to try his hand at something else ? Was it perhaps made as a gift ? Or a custom order by a wealthy businessman ? 2) Why did it receive kantei-sho ? I mean, it has nothing to do with a nihon-to per se. I know swordfittings also receive kantei-sho, but this is some way out. 3) Why was there a koshirae created for this flowercutting tool ? Sorry for all the questions, but this item really has me puzzled (it doesn't take much to puzzle me ). I think it's a great curiosum and would love to buy something like this. Swordcollecting is all about finding out the story behind the sword and I think this could be a really nice one. Alas, my funds are kind of strapped at the moment

Steve, I'm one of his many happy customers and I must agree that his flashcards help a lot !!!

Would it be possible to get a sharp close-up of the inside of the rim ? Akasaka work can be recognized by their obvious layered work.