Markus

No problem here from my side, of course. Gordon got in touch with me and I ended up at a dead end with this one, thus my literal approach of the first trigram.

I can only agree with everything that has been written so far. The Nihonto community has lost a great man, and the NBTHK-EB a great president who managed the branch in a highly sensitve way for 20 years, always trying to bring together collectors from all camps, even if that venture was quite difficult at times. Unforgettable, in particular, will remain my two road trips with Michael from Munich to Hamburg. In those hours over hours driving through the dark of night and chatting about everything and anything, I think I’ve learned more about the Japanese sword world than from a shelf of books. And we were hardly talking about swords at all…

@Steve: It's actually a common rendition of 公 http://clioz39.hi.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ships/ZClient/W34/z_list.php?title=%E5%85%AC&resourcetype=0&firstPosition=281&dataLimit=20

Hm, not sure but seems to be SHOAMI MATSUNO KORE O SAKU (正阿弥枩埜作之). Also not sure about the date. 己卯 equals, among others, to 1999. Don't know if the right side of the date is kind of a " compound form" of Heisei eleven (i.e. 1999). Also odd that one character has been removed...

Hi Bill, Thanks for your support. Best would be JPG format and with black background. Please send them to "gendaitoproject@gmail.com". This is where I collect the data for the book. But if you want to discuss some things with me, please use "markus.sesko@gmail.com". Thx! Markus

I am sure we are all learning together and looking forward to our first meeting! Again thanks Jason for organizing the facilities and also thanks for your kind words. Happy to be of any help.

The article elaborates on the connection of Naokatsu and his friend Kujirai Katsuyoshi for whom he made the blade shown on page 26 as a gift. The very blade had been introduced in the course of the TOBI shijo-kantei in issue 702 and this is so to speak a detailed follow-up article on the background of the present and on Kujirai. It also deals with the nickname "Murasame." http://www.touken.or.jp/english/translation/702.htm

Thanks Brian for your kindness! I just added a note to the DTI thread because I didn't want to spam NMB with too much advertising of mine. Strange, eSwordsmith should be there. Maybe some temprorary thing? Direct link is here: http://www.lulu.com/shop/markus-sesko/e-swordsmiths-of-Japan/ebook/product-22166224.html @Klaus: Prices are already the reduces ones (eBooks work without voucher codes, so I have to lower the prices manually). I know, kind of expensive for an eBook but I just have to price every book in view of the entire whole, that means the better selling books kind of also have to finance those where I put much work in but which are more for the Nihonto nerds and don't sell that much in general

This might be useful for the one or other for the fair: http://markussesko.com/2015/11/12/dti-ebook-super-sale/

It is a poem by the famous waka poet Ôtomo no Yakamochi (大伴家持, 718?-785), written in view of his relative Sukune Ôtomo no Koshibi (大伴古慈斐, 695-777) when the latter was slandered and removed from office. The setting was about that the name of the venerable Ôtomo clan was questioned due to Koshibi's alleged dishonorable deeds, which was answered by Yakamochi with this poem: "Like a sword is always polished, this/our name [Ôtomo] is untarnished since oldest times."

In a nutshell, and what I tried to allude to: There is a Masamune provenance and there is a Masamune provenance

I second Dirk, it can be nice to have a (obviously great by its own) blade that was handed down as Masamune in feudal times, so to speak a blade that initiates chat like "you know, this one I have here was once treasured as Masamune within the XY family." But if already the Hon'ami paper is fake, and everything points towards that, I as a potential buyer would ask Tsuruta san to find out about the pre-origami provenance. So maybe either the origami was later faked to "underline" the provenance, or all the provenance just goes back to the fake paper. Former being ok and origami can be disregarded and left in the drawer, latter not ok (if you consider buying because of the alleged provenance)...

I think the name might read "Nagayoshi" (長好).

Not commenting on your "theory" but you really have to be more careful selecting your references Karl. The Tadayoshi blade in the middle of the last pic, that is somehow presented as 1596/1601? work, is actually dated Ansei six (1859).

Excellent Kunitaro! Search is over (although if some were preparing to send me scans from Kataoka's book, they are of course still highly welcomed).

Would give vouchers of 50% off on any of my print books and several eBooks (full, no vouchers of course). Also have a signed copy of my Japan's Most Important Sword Fittings here that I will put in. [Edited as initial post didn't make much sense ]

Danke Peter! Unfortunately, no mention of his son or adopted son... Search continues.

Hi Klaus, The mei reads: Tôto-jû Minamoto Yoshiharu saku 東都住源義治作

Hi guys, Is anyone able to provide me with scans of some of the text parts of the book "Sa Yukihide to Koyama Munetsugu Sono Ichirui" (Kataoka, 2000) or with scans of old Token Bijutsu issues, No. 118-223? Assistance would be much appreciated as I am trying to clarify some issues about his adopted and his natural son. Thank you!

Let me get that straight Karl: What you are preparing is an overview of the individual features of the character HI in HIZEN as used by several Hizen smiths, right? And what books are you talking about that are "totally wrong"? Well, I mean I honestly don't want to sound egocentric but as you mention "referring to at the moment", there IS a slight chance that one of my books is concerned. If so, I would be eager to know about possible errors or ambiguities (and transparent backing info) in order to correct them. Apart from that, the "full" Koyama Munetsugu mei is still in the pic (and titled 1602) and this smith is not at all related to the Hizen Munetsugu line. What I would recommend is that you also incorporate Yokoyama Manabu's extensive studies on Hizen-tô (as published in the Token Bijutsu) in which he also goes much into detail about various daimei and their individual features.

Why is there a Koyama Munetsugu reference in this pic titled 1602?

Indeed. The abbreviated form 広 of 廣 was not in use before the Meiji era (and only become common in the early Showa era). In olden times, 広 would have been abbreviated as 广 (if at all). http://www.kanken.or.jp/project/data/investigation_incentive_award_2010_yamashita.pdf#search=%27%E5%BA%83%E3%81%AE%E5%AD%97%E3%81%AF%E3%81%84%E3%81%A4%E3%81%8B%E3%82%89%27

@Joel: Thanks a lot for your offer! Still sorting out things how to tackle this one best and first of all, how to let it go through as a crowdfunding project. I am on vacation from tomorrow (7th) and back on Oct 19 and will PM you afterwards if I have any questions.

"Rusu" (留守) was the minumum emergance part of a division that remained stationed in Japan whilst the actual unit was deployed to overseas/outside territories.

Not a big thing Joel and I also saw your reply to Tom. I just thought why not adding a short info in the first place, like "I found some interesting stuff here" and then the full quote, regardless of if Tom is on this board or not. No need to edit your post and also I didn't want to sound rude.