Markus

@Jussi Ekholm That walking around part, I did that once and got lost, lol. Walked too far... That was before the smartphone era. A retired local taxi driver "rescued" me and when he asked me what I was doing and I explained I am a sword nerd, he drove me around to show me all the historic sword making sites. He had to quickly stop by his house to tell his wife he will be late for dinner that day, haha. Fond memories.

So, the NBTHK made a mistake. ToBi No. 135 was issued in April of 1968 when the blade was already a JuBun in the new system, but they still reference it as a Kokuhō.

Could not find him either. Looks like we have here an unrecorded smith, Yasuchika (保隣), and his art name, Ichi'enshi (一簷子).

Thank you Glen @GRC ! Happy to attach the other indexes here too. Volume1_Index.pdf Volume2_Index.pdf Volume3_Index.pdf

Hi Grev @kissakai, I am attaching an index here. Volume 5 will contain the big Mito School, plus a couple of others that didn't fit in Volume 4, but much of Volume 5 will be the color part of selected pieces for most schools/artists introduced throughout all volumes. Volume4_Index.pdf

Hi Grev, the project is a joint-venture of the JSS/US and NBTHK AB and EB, and the conditions were laid out that the set will only "go live" when it is completed, i.e., all five volumes out. Until then, it will be direct order through me. Thank you for your understanding.

Forgot to add: For those who did not have prepaid, you can purchase Volume 4 at any time as well. Also, I would like to sincerely thank @Grey Doffin and Barry Hennick for their continuous support proofreading this series! My English can cause serious head-scratching sometimes 😇

Ladies and gentlemen, we are making progress on all fronts! Volume 4 (660 pages) of the Tosogu Classroom project is completed and ready to go. I am initiating the orders for those who have prepaid for the set. As always, if you have any questions, or would like to inform me about an address change, please get in touch with me via markus.sesko@gmail.com.

Before we start, I am not sure if this belongs here or to the Online Sellers or Dealer Showcase subs, so mods, please move if necessary. Just wanted to let you all know that whilst Volume 4 of the Tosogu Classroom is being prepared for being published later this week (yes, its done, just final layout and indexing), I have put together a humble read about Honma 'Kunzan' Junji talking about the Japanese sword world of the early 20th century and right after WWII. It is not so much about blades, but gives an interesting insight into what happened "behind the scenes" at that time, often not mentioned in other publications. Please enjoy, and reach out to me via email or DM if you have any question. https://www.lulu.com/shop/markus-sesko/honma-talks/paperback/product-dy85nwq.html?q=honma&page=1&pageSize=4

We must distinguish between the oldest physical manuscript copy and the oldest content. The oldest manuscript copy of the Ki'ami Bon Mei Zukushi is from the early Muromachi period.

Looking forward, and thx to you and the JAS Team! 🎄

Hi Barrie, Please send me an email to markus.sesko@gmail.com to confirm your mailing address. I had placed the order for Volume 3 for all who had prepaid a while back. Apologies that your copy apparently did not arrive. Upon confirmation, I will have Lulu print and ship another copy to your place right away.

The oshigata of this blade, Jūyō Shinsa 49, just as a reference.

In regards of the upcoming Dai Tōken Ichi (DTI), I was asked by a few readers if I can do another 50% off eBook sale, which I happily comply with ☺️ https://markussesko.com/2025/10/21/dti-ebook-super-sale-2/

Basically, it boils down from my standard (non-translation related) consultation fee of $125/h. Has to make sense for both parties. For example, I would never dare to charge, let's say, $5k for a huge collection of objects, but which likely will only reel in $15k at the end of the day, that's not economically reasonable. It really depends on the breakdown @Hoshi posted earlier.

I have done this several times in the past as a paid professional service for higher-end collections. That is, collectors were paying for the flight, two nights in a nearby hotel, with a prior discussion about number of objects and desired level of detail so that I was able to give a rough quote in advance. Pictures, and as many notes as possible taken on the ground, then compiled a folder or booklet of the collection back home, including rough estimates, comparables, etc., from past auctions and other sales, for example.

The cited part is from a comment, not from my article.

To be honest, I don't know 😇 I have moved away much from the metallurgical/making view in the Japanese arms and armor world over the last years. Would love to dig back in, but I am lacking the metallurgical education on the one hand, and on the other hand, also wouldn't have the time to do so if I wanted, so I want to leave that aspect to others. Edit: A friend of mine visited Ian last year and said he was doing alright.

@Brian Are you referring to my article or to Ian's comment to it Dan quoted here?

Readind romanji instead of romaji (rōmaji), its already a red flag. https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/301873/why-is-romaji-so-frequently-spelt-as-romanji

These books are not related to my own online Gokaden series, they are translations of Tanobe Sensei's books on the same topic, as Brano pointed out. Bizen I (Osafune School) has been translated by me and submitted, and I think the publisher Me no Me has it scheduled for spring of 2026. I am meeting with them in Japan in two months and discuss the future volumes, based on the way Tanobe Sensei is comfortable with continuing writing them (and has made progress so far).

Almost looks like a very stylized arrangement of traditional Chinese polearms to me...

I think that the mystery is actually easier to solve as I think I have found the entry in question: "In addition, Kôzan oshigata has a record of a blade having a date in the Enkei (延慶) era (1308)" The entry just references "a date in the era," but then only gives the starting year of that era, 1308, not the actual year the blade is dated with. If the entry is amended as follows, everything makes sense: "In addition, Kôzan oshigata has a record of a blade having a date in the Enkei (延慶) era (1308–1311)"

I also tend towards Kanezumi (兼住). Have to admit, when I first saw the signature, I had a hunch towards Kanekaze (兼風) as there is a very similar cursive way to write the KAZE character. However, I don't have a WWII era Kanekaze smith in my records, only later knife makers using that name. There is always the possibility of rare (Kanekaze) knife/blacksmiths making some swords at that time as that did happen, but, Occam's razor, I tend towards Kanezumi.

I would like to quote from Tanobe Sensei's latest book on the Yamato tradition, where he elaborates a bit more on the Boston tantō that has bee mentioned: There was more than one generation Norinaga, and descendants of the first master continued to use this name until the Muromachi period. Period sword texts state that short signatures of the type “Yamato Norinaga saku” (大和則長作, “made by Norinaga from Yamato”) go back to the hand of the first generation, and such with longer signatures, containing the character Kunias in “Yamato no Kuni” (大和国, Yamato province) and prefixes like “Shikkake” and/or the honorary title Sakon no Jō (左近允) go back to the second generation, or possibly to later generations as well. The collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, contains a tantō (picture 1) that is depicted in the Kubikiri Asa’emon Tōken Oshigata (首斬り浅右衛門刀剣押形) and that is signed and dated: “Yamato Shikkake Norinaga yonjūhachi saku – Bunpō sannen tsuchinoto-hitsuji sangatsu tōka” (大和尻懸則長四十八作・文保三年己未三月十日) – “Made by Shikkake Norinaga from Yamato, age 48, on the tenth day of the third month Bunpō three (1319), year of the sheep.” In addition, there exists a tantō dated Ryakuō three (暦応, 1340), which is inscribed with the information that it was made when the smith was 69 years old. Accordingly, we can calculate Norinaga’s year of birth as Bun’ei nine (文永, 1272). When we follow the aforementioned period sources in terms of signature syntax, both tantō would be works of the second generation, meaning that the active period of the first generation obviously must be placed earlier than the two dates in question. When we examine the workmanship of a Jūyō-Bunkazai tachi signed “Yamato no Kuni Shikkake-jū Norinaga saku” (大和国尻懸住則長作, “Made by Norinaga resident of Shikkake in Yamato province”) (picture 2), and a tachi ranked Tokubetsu-Jūyō Tōken signed “Yamato Sakon no Jō Norinaga saku” (大和左近允則長作, “Made by Sakon no Jō Norinaga from Yamato”) (picture 3), and compare that to blades signed briefly “Yamato Norinaga saku,” the former do not date any later then the latter. In addition, the signature of both groups of works is fairly close, whereupon I tend to think that the period sources should be revised.