doug e lewis

i was looking for translating something else, ran into this thread, then the mention of "flash cards" by Grey .... so went to this Denshi Jisho - Online Japanese dictionary and found translation paradise. radicals! they got 'em Nobody knows of this, i am sure. doug e

i am no spring chiken, but am an avid learning newbie. will carry torch, or Zippo, as long as possible. economy might be reason, as you suggested, Stephen, for low book prices. i hope it is not an indication of fewer people interested in Nihonto. it would be sad if the only way to discuss things would on line and not in person. i certainly can't afford new books right now as just getting settled into a semi-retirement in the High Desert. i noticed many reducing some of their sword prices at Tokagowa Art, sho-Shin, and even in NMB For Sale Forum. doug

bungo smiths would be like lounge acts in Las VEgas, not lounge lizards. acts like Louie Prima come to mind. or Blue Man Group no Wayne Newton or Fat Elvis (slim Elvis of the come back years is ok) what is the problem people have with Bungo? does every katana have to be Rai Ichimongi? Masamune? Gassan? my lone ichi kizu katana was made (according to my sayashi and sword mentor mike virgadomo) in ca.1560, in Uda style, it is ubu, battle dammaged (maybe) the ha is chipped, arrested rust spots. bueatiful copper habki and is mumei! a bundle sword. a sword for ashigaru. like my original NMB nick name --ashigaru 1 -- a sword for cannon fodder, the first over the top in WW I some body thought well enough of it to keep it in ok condition and alive for 500 years, though. now i have care of it and must eventually pass it on to the next person. jeez! i really got into a rant.... must go drink some Wild Turkey 101 and calm down doug e lewis

welcome to the Bungo Appreciation Club. :lol: yeqah, want to join Bungo Club!! only i wonder ...any club that would have me as a member must have very low standards. i remember being taught by a friend about how to distingish between the sax playing of The Pres and Dexter Gordon. i finally got it. but did it increase my appreciation of any of their music? NO. i still like it just as well .. though now ..if iwant... i can think about certain nuances of the sax playing ---if i want! so it is with me and my amature appreciation of nihonto the more i learn about it ---- the steel, the flaws, the nie vs nioi, etc the curve of th blade,, yadda yadda the more i can ----if i like --- to appreciate the nuances of a sword. but bottom lineis --- Do i like it? does it please me to hold it? does it feel like something a could use to cut down a man (that is what they are for) if it passes those tests then i havce incentive to go further. just my 2 cents --- (daniel --check out the archived comments. there is one called "does size matter" with darcy and other senior members of some knowledge, and me of little knowledge, but lots of opinions, commenting. it may answer some of your questions. now back to this newly formed Bungo Apprecition Club, milt.. lets get on this thing. doug e lewis

To Any and all Vets who are members, visitors and/or guests of the Nihonto Message Board I just wanted to say thank you. a close friend who I played softball with for the last 15 years died Friday at the VA in West LA. he served in the Marines in Viet Nam towards the end. Made sergent ... several times, if you get my drift. A real Georgia Peach. It sort of brought stuff into focus..so... Thanks again. doug e lewis

yesterday i had some excellent monk fish liver sashimi with a delicious blue tinted sake. wonderful silver-pine aroma. sushi chef kept filling waitress' glass with his stash; i his glass with mine; the guy next to me all of us. then when mine and the guy's sake was gone, sushi chef brings out another of his unlabled stone bottles from under the counter. waitress behind me can get her glass out fast enough. all in all a good dinner, fine night with new friends. doug e lewis

Hi Rich, these tsuba look very similar to the tsuba on John Falcon's wak that i almost purchased several years ago when i was just beginning. doug e lewis

need new sake set!!! thank you Henry, even if i do not win it. great prize. does the set come with some Nihon-shu?? would be special to get something that is not exported to the US. i have tried most of the nihon-shu in Pasadena and would like something different. i will sip my Leaping Cow ale until i hear back from you. doug e lewis

ok Milt, silly in that ..... ho, fudge,... ok i really liked it! doug e

HI Milt, i should really just take the time to look up the correct spelling of the Japanese words i use. i have Japanese-English dictionary on the bookshelf behind me, but am too lazy to get up get it. yeah, Sempai. not as in age, as in senior fellow nihonto-ka [studier of Nihonto, like a karate-ka studies karate-do, neh?] just saw that movie again a few months back. and that silly "Black Rain" gangster movie. want to see again that Robert Michum film where he cuts off his little finger in the end because he had failed his friend [he thinks]. great stuff. maybe this katana i have is a Bungo!!! will try to take good pics this weekend and post it so i can get other opinions besides Mike Virgadamo's "Uda Style, ca. 1560's, bundle sword, ichi-kizu [actually has at least three kizu that i can identify] " that i have now. later gator, doug e lewis

Hi Guido-San, can't read a word of that scroll. my kanji knowledge is limited right now to the kanki for katana/tachi, Nippon, karate-do, and one or two other words [like kanji and word for dog] please translate and explain thank you, doug e lewis

Your are Sencho-San, i was a little ranting after two pints of Leaping Cow Amber Ale and my comments were very unfair and .... kind of stupid. it took me 10 years to build up my book collection. No Fufishima or Hawley's, but i got friends who have those reference books, and more. though i usually have to read them at their house as they seldom let me take home them to read at my leasure. i just got irked because a couple of questions seemed so very basic for anyone with only a few of the basic nihonto books on the list--- not the high end reference and museum catalogues. my bad. tolerance and patience are virtues seldom seen in this world and, being a fan of Musashi, Fudo Myo-o, and bushido in general i should have practiced what i preach --Character - Sincerity - Ediquette - Effort - Self-Control. they were the words above the entrance to my Shoto-kan dojo in West Philadelphia that i read in 1972 when I walked into the world of bushido [was already a nipponophilesince the age of 12] and met one the most tolerant and gentle men i have ever met, my sensei, Teruyuki Okazaki. very difficult words to live by, but worth the try. i will now be more silent and try not to let my ego run the show so much. thanks all, doug e lewis

Hi all, Been looking at the posts for the last few days and something really struck me. Seemed like manyh posts ask for information/help with something nihonto ---Koto to Gunto ---- that more or less can be found in the books listed on the Suggested Reading link at the top of every NMB page. i actually jumbed on this Board once or twice [foolish grasshpper!] sometime 4-5 years ago when Rich Turner was running it. Was real excited as i had just purchased my own copy of Yoshirara's wonderful "The Craft of The Japanese Sword", seven years after my first reading in 1987 -- courtesy of my good friend and mentor John H. alomost bought a wak from Rich's mate, Mr. Falcon. did not happen. my bad. but all, in all---no hard feelings all around. then i just studied for the next several years. read every book --own, most, got John to loan me his Hawleys to look at; he loan me other books. my grumpy sayashi friend, Mike Virgadamo, occasionally let me watch him work or would point out something on a sword he was making a shirasaya for, in the rare times he allowed me to stop by during the work day. he did a cursorary kantai on the katana i finally got, by way of my brother deciding that he did not want this un-sheathed weapon leaning next to his bed with a cat running around. [ will post that another day] i have posted the tsuba that was on the katana. anyway, my point is----- STUDY, READ, LEARN........ PLEASE DO NOT WEAR OUT THE PATIENCE OF OUR SEMPAI HERE AT THE NIHONTO MESSAGE BOARD!! that's all i got. sorry all.

Very nice blade, i have no knowledge, on the NMB scale, but..... IMHO it is a ko-wakaski. the feel is right, even tho i don't hold it. looks right. great photo! i can picture...uhmmm..sense how to use this wak in combat, i.e. Niten-Ryu, the style of Musashi. i am probably over ethusiastic, especially for my limited hands on experience with the real deal, but i vote Ko-Wak. now someone who knows what htey are talking about can kantai the pretty thing. thats for the phots. any kosirea? doug e

Beautiful!! thank you for the look. i die a small death that i can not hold it. doug e

ahhh...that was good. now, kodesai, some rice and sweet shimp, and of course, some Kamotsura, then we will look at your Muramasa tachi, neh? o-shi-des-ka!! ikki!! ikk1!! doug e

Hi Bob Walker, The fittings look great -- especially the Fushia/koshira. question: i could not make out the menuki under the wrap. What are they, if you know? and, and can you give us a few more pics of them [without taking out of the wrap, of course]. Do they match the fushis/koshira? i'd show your fittings to my tosugu sensei for his opinion [mine are worthless], but John is a modified Luddite and refuses to even turn on the computer, or even use it when his wife uses it. and i am not allowed over until he finishes his current restoration job. what does the wak look like? doug e

Good tips for tippling. more sake, kodesai! now about that tanto you wanted to show me.... doug e

Fantastic Rich, i did not know you were that seriouly ill. so glad things turned out well and you are recovering nicely, i trust. your web page was the 1st one i turned to when learning about our hobby, and it is usually the 1st place i go to to start research or try to answer a question. glad to have you back. keep on truckin', Rich doug e

HI all, sake, cold sake, is the best. over good conversation or sashimi. late at night or early afternoon. all good try Kamotsuru -- Tokusei Gold. from the Hiroshima region Nihonshudo: +2.0 has real flakes of 24 k gold floating in it! ver y $$$ but seriously---- must go pour some cheaper sake and look at my meger tsuba collection [5 pieces] and rub one of them with deer antler. doug e

tried to get rid of the reflections. must re-read Darcy's How to Photograph ____________ [anything] doug e

Hi all, just got these UPS from my step-father in Philadelphia. Sort of a birthday present, tho i have expressed my desire to have them someday over the years.... guess someday came. he hasn't told me much yet about them. he got them in the '50s, in Japan or Korea. or maybe from ... until he provides more details i thought i would post it for all to admire, and maybe even translated the caligraphy. the samurai look like they are in classical Kamakura Era armor. And those tachi!!! it all good. lucky me. enjoy doug e

it would be interesting to find out more of what it says as to how it should be wrapped. is there a site where i can research the samurai named on this, i doubt if the craftsman would be in any records.... 1853, eh? maybe in clan records? now i have to think how and where i want to display this tsuka. Certainly not putting it back in a drawer after learning all this about it. thank you very much guys. doug e

Hi Milt, i think you are right. the tsuba that came with these menuki [see my previous post about them] seem to have the same theme unfortunately, the fusha and kashira that probably went with them are gone. now i get to look those charactors up and see what stories there are. when questions get answered in this hobby the usually lead to more questions. sort of like Sysiphis pushing the rock up the hill, only to get to the top and have it roll back down, so have to start over. the fun never ends!! thany you for your help doug e

these menuki, still under the leather wrap (ito?), were on the same sword from which the tsuba i posted last came. a reclinning Buddha? the theme seems to follow the theme on the tsuba so i think they came as a package and not cobbled together. shakudo, yes? and don't know if signed or not, and may be long timetill i do, for i do not intend to take apart this tsuka to get at the menuki. unstil i can aford for Mike V. to make me a new saya or shirasaya [the sword is in a couple of his rejects -- not a great fit but better than rolled up newspaper or cardboard] will post pics of mystery sword soon. have my birthday coming up Saturday and must prepare for huge party [not for me ... a friend's marriage anniversary and they are having a pig roast, to which i am invited and will prtend it was thrown in my honor --- ] i don't know if the menuki mavens out there can twll much about these menuki as long they are under wraps, but any thoughts on them would be appreciated thankx for the opinions and fun doug e