Markus

I would like to announce that a fellow sword collector had created a website which should serve as a platform for collectors and interested private individuals of Japanese swords, sword fittings, and armour, who would like to sell them to other private collectors. Please take a look: http://www.nihonto-collectors.de/en/ Thank you for your attention.

I would like to introduce my latest publication. It is about Koshirae, namely a systematic overview of all the various forms of mountings for long swords, short swords and daggers. It is in German but an English version will be available in fall this year. Paperback 204 pages, s/w pics., 16,84x26,04 cm Price: 40,54 Euro Thank you for your attention. http://www.lulu.com/shop/markus-sesko/k ... 35155.html

@Brian I'm still on vacation at the moment but I think the following two links can provide a good overview of almost all of my publications: http://www.amazon.de/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1 ... ko&x=0&y=0 http://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?type ... ulu.com&q=

As I am in the US from August 13th to September 14th, I would like to announce that volume 2 of my "Geschichten rund ums japanische Schwert" ist out now. It can be ordered via Lulu.com. http://www.lulu.com/shop/markus-sesko/g ... 23724.html You can change the settings for the shop at the bottom left of the page to get to the German site and the price in Euro. Quote from the blurb: "Dies ist nun der zweite Band der Geschichten rund ums japanische Schwert. Erneut wird mittels Legenden, Geschichten und Anekdoten über berühmte Schwerter und ihre Schmiede versucht, dem Leser das japanische Schwert näherzubringen. Wie im ersten Band werden mehrere berühmte meito respektive meibutsu vorgestellt und es wird noch tiefer in die Materie eingedrungen. Die Geschichten handeln unter anderem von den größten Schmieden der Geschichte wie Masamune, Muramasa, Samonji, Kiyomaro, Kotetsu uvm." Paperback, 200 pages, s/w pics, 15,24 x 22,86 cm Many thanks for your attention! PS: The English version should be available in fall this year.

I want to revive this old thread and annouce that the English version of my "The Japanese toso-kinko Schools" is available now at Lulu.com. http://www.lulu.com/shop/markus-sesko/t ... 23849.html You can change the settings of the shop at the bottom left of the page to shop from the US or the UK. Description: "This book deals systematically, for the first time in English, with all the Japanese tôsô-kinkô schools and sorted by their production sites such as Kyôto, Edo, Mito, Higo and the like. Comprehensive cross references are given for the origins of the individual schools and the master-student relationship(s) of the individual artists, supported by genealogies for the larger schools. In addition, a detailed introduction of the historical context of the Japanese tôsô-kinkô, the manufacturers of sword fittings, is given at the beginning. Also added is an extensive index containing all the names, first names and pseudonyms of the artists introduced in this publication." Paperpack, 430 pages, s/w pics, 6 x 9" Many thanks for you attention!

I added some PDF previews as attachments. @Peter: A kindle version should be available in the near future. Unfortunately, my publisher told me that an eBook version is not possibly because of the Japanese characters. But obviously a kindle edition works as at one of my earlier publications: http://www.amazon.de/Genealogies-School ... 402&sr=8-8 @Grey: Yes, 129,90 is for one volume, i.e. 259,80 for the set. Preview1.pdf Preview2.pdf

Dear Forumites, Now it is done! My recently announced new publication on swordsmiths is out now in English. :D I am so free to quote from the blurb: "This index contains a comprehensive listing of more than 20.000 Japanese swordsmiths, from the early days right down to modern times, i.e. from kotô to shinsakutô. It is not simply a list of names, it also provides biographical information according to the extent of a smith´s fame. Aim is to give the reader a coherent picture of a certain smith, that means his civilian name, how did he sign, in which style did he work, and who was his master or his school environment. Thereby, the most common theories on a smith are included and discrepancies in the transmissions are pointed out. This work is a revised and completely new recorded list of smiths by incorporating all relevant Japanese and non-Japanese sources. Incorrect entries and double listings were deleted and readings corrected. The smiths are listed in alphabetical order and sorted according to their used characters. A list of all characters used in the names of the smiths in this index is available, sorted by stroke order, so that the search of a smith with an unknown reading is also possible." It comes in two volumes, A-M and N-Z, á 129,90 Euro . It can be ordered here: http://www.bod.de/index.php?id=296&objk_id=734983 http://www.bod.de/index.php?id=296&objk_id=734979 Soon it will appear on amazon.de, amazon.co.uk, and somewhat later on amazon.com. Thank you for your attention.

The mei reads "Jakushi" (若芝).

Hi Allan, FYI: The entry on Kazunori from my soon-to-be released book "Index of Japanese Swordsmiths": Kazunori (一則), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – „Kazunori“ (一則), civilian name „Kanematsu Kazuichi“ (兼松一市), born June 10th 1894, he worked as guntō smith and died December 9th 1944, posthumous Buddhist name „Zendō Myōtoku“ (善導妙徳)

@Elliott I can put your mind at ease. It is a translation mistake as Jean suggested. There is just THE Sasano Masayuki. Some years ago I translated his name also as "Hiroyuki" and was corrected, so I speak from personal experience.

Quoting my new "Lexikon der japanischen Schwertschmiede": Masamori (正守), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Okayama – „Bizen-jū Masamori“ (備前住正守), „Bizen Hikasa-jū Masamori“ (備前日笠住正守), bürgerlicher Name „Ishidō Kitaji“ (石道喜多治), geb. am 25. August 1899, Schüler von Moriwaki Masataka (森脇正孝), er war ab 1940 als rikugun-jumei-tōshō tätig und trat im gleichen Jahr auch in die Yaskuni-Schmiede ein Masamori (正守), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Okayama – „Bizen-jū Masamori“ (備前住正守), „Bizen Hikasa-jū Masamori“ (備前日笠住正守), civilian name „Ishidō Kitaji“ (石道喜多治), born August 25th 1889, student of Moriwaki Masataka (森脇正孝), he worked from 1940 as rikugun-jumei-tōshō and entered in the same year the Yasukuni forge

Oh, I forgot to mention that I am working hard on the English version :D

130 € for one volume is correct, yes.

Brian, I can send you a copy from my publisher and you can pay me per PayPal if you want.

Bump. The book is now available at amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/The-Honami-Family ... 740&sr=8-3

Hi Eric, of course, the book can also ordered directly from me. Actually I had planned to post the update on the NMB this very afternoon. The set can also be ordered at Books on Demand and in a couple of day later also via amazon.de. X-Nokia-Ipaddress: 91.141.124.177 http://www.bod.de/index.php?id=296&objk_id=686174 If anybody wants a copy directly from me, please drop me a PM for further details.

Yes, an ebook version is planned.

@Guido: I will use the updated wazamono list from the "Kokon-kaji-bikô" from 1830.

@Chris: An excellent idea, much better than my brainstorming Cheers. You can PM me for my email adress when you have time to send me the lists. @Mark: No koto or shinto volumes. "Just" two volumes with alphabetically ordered smiths.

Thank you all four your encouraging words! That is exactly what you need because as you can imagine, this is REALLY a lot of work. :D @Franco: The index will contain the wazamono and Fujishiro ranking. I desist from any other "valuing" because this is IMHO nonsense anyway and who am I who could give any value to a smith just on the basis of a name I type into my computer. Just kidding. @Brian: The price will be somewhere 240+ Euro at the moment for the set. I know its a lot of money but as mentioned, a lot of work too @George: There will be no letter code, just the names. Regarding the thing with the gendai guys. When I started this project I thought for a while I stop at shinshinto, i.e. Meiji, only adopting the major smiths of the gendai era. But then I realized that there are a lot of gendai smiths who just HAVE to be listed and it wouldn´t be an extensive listing without them. In short, I include them too. So I have a suggestion. When I am finished with the gendai guys, I will post a list on NMB with just the names (and characters) and any of you who has reliable information of a smith who is not on this list can get in touch with me and send me over the data he has.

@John: Yes, hardcover definitely. Paper is not decided yet. @Chris: You are absolutely right But my main impetus for this project was that I thought it is time for a little "update". Thank you for your generous offer and I will come back to you when I am going to work on the gendai smiths.

@Chris: As sources are used the Nihonto-meikan, Tosho-zenshu, Toko-taikan, Mino-toko-meikan, Nihonto-koza, Fujishiro´s, the Nihon-koto-shi and others. It is actually really a mammoth project with consolidating all the major available sources. I try to mention the basic tradition for a smith and when available the major theories too so that one is able to get a good amount of information when looking up for a certain guy. Of course this is not possible for many of the minor smiths but all the major guys should be dealt with in detail. @Henk-Jan: Yes, there will be a character list sorted by strokes (like it is the case in the Haynes Indexs). But I focus on the readings used in swordsmith signatures and am not quoting all possible readings (on, kun, nanori). But the latter does not mean that the kanji list is incomplete or insufficient.

Recently I saw that there was again some talk about Hawley´s. I would like to take this opportunity to announce that I am going to publish a complete new and revised index (or encyclopedia if you like) of all the Japanese Swordsmiths this year. First it will be available in German and later this year in English too of course. It will be published as a two-volume set, containing about 18.000 names. But what is new is that this index contains also biographical informations of the smiths and not only the signature variantes. So it is basically more like the Haynes Index of sword fittings than the Hawley. I think this is the first try that such a mammoth project is to be published in German and English. Further it was my concern to revise a lot of informations and give correct readings of names and places which are wrongly quoted in Hawley´s. It was also tried to eradicate double-listings. I would like to attach two preview PDF´s, German so far, but you can get a general idea of what it will look like. Thank you for your attention. PS: Schedule for the publication: German version ~ April/May this year. English version ~ late summer, fall this year Vorschau1.pdf Vorschau2.pdf

Its an uncommon way of writing but its definitely "Hiko(ne)". Sometimes the sanbu-radical (彡) is written with the lowermost stroke facing to the right. Remember the "Sugi" (杉) variant we had recently in another thread? http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/viewtopi ... &sk=t&sd=a

George M.´s is a date.