drbvac

Paul B : I dont think this is one of them

Well I have a doctors degree amongst some other felllowships but I am lost in this - I do have a Tadayoshi signed blade but it is probably gimei because it is signed with two characters only. IN all the oshigata the "experts" have evaluated has anyone seen a 2 character mei . THanks Brian Barrett, DDS, FACD,FICD,FADI,FPFA. Mason

May 2016 be a great and peaceful year for all and the rest of the world who care little for Nihonto = their loss. Thanks for sharing the wisdom and good advice

All good - and the last thing that anyone wants is to be marked or highlighted on their computers - makes it VERY tough to even travel - first time you do somewhere or return they tear your luggage or vehicle apart - they can seize cars everything and no warrants needed. I hate customs officers more than police

That is a tough one into Canada as well and trust me - the "gift" checkbox and "funds sent" do not go well together on the same form. Depends as well on how it is described. I have sent them to the US called - Antique Japanese Wall Hanging" and gift but they are not dumb and if you think they give purchasers trouble usually - wait till they open the item and see it doesnt match the description or the actual value. Most antiques if allowed in the country are not charged duty and may have sales tax added depending on the mood they are in so the actual cost to tell it like it is may be worth the hassles later on - Play it your way - I have heard of them coming to someones house after the fact and seizing a camera they took into Canada in their luggage - seems they filled in the US warranty card from Canada and - give me your camera - here is the fine

I will give you the little more PLUS a thousand for the other three !!!!!!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR - Hope your good fortune continues !

MIchael: You have many years of study and enjoyment ahead of you with those 4 blades - there are guys who collect for a long time and will not end up with swords like these and FOR sure not for what you paid. If I may = I know how exciting all this is but I would be in no screaming rush to clean, work on, move around or frig with them too much as I know you would also hate to do any damage to your new treasures. Well done. I believe the mon on the koshira of # 4 is the center in the picture below - i am afraid I dont have the translation though

I will give you 1000usd for any of them.

HAS He got anything else he wants to sell - not that its any of MY business but were the rest priced similarly to the one at the top of the thread ? Better than the lottery

Surely to God I didn't get hosed on the blade - it isnt a chinese forgery as far as I can tell but then I am getting old and my eyes are bad. Silver foiled habaki and here is the nakago Maybe I will give it away to a good kid.

Thanks Jean - the tsuba is pitted in spots but can't see a real seam in the nakago-ana but is is not very well carved if in fact it is - the two sides also don't look the same in terms of patina and surface texture. Think the birds necks are too long for ducks

The Tsuba is obviously iron and wonder if Tempo ? It seems to be a half decent scene and I tried to get a picture of the menuki to determine what kind of bird is depicted - could it be a comorant? These are the mounts from that little edo wak I couldnt give away and I am trying to make the pictures better

I am assuming probably wrongly that you paid much more than 600 bucks for it - has to worth at least that if no Kizu or serious flaws?

I went through the entire selection of books and I can not believe the breadth of the publications you have done Markus. There has got to be many years of research and writing and editing for even a small part of the library. AMAZING . The pdf books can be read on a Kindle by the way - excellent value !

Book: Japanese Swords in the British Museum I was going to donate a foggy edo wak but it is not worthy

Well # 1 is probably not the case since the blade is papered, and maybe # 2 but the #3 could be correct as the smith signed his name and date and performed the cutting test on his own blade. Maybe it is not a type but an honest mistake if the smith was not aware of the proper way to write that the blade was made of Namban iron ??? Who knows - I have seen enough strange things that nothing would surprise me any more. Would I be safe in noting that the closest English translation would be "Made from foreign iron" - ? Thanks again - you folks are a great source of knowledge - better send the board another donation in gratitude - offer still stands on dental advice BB

Thanks Steve: With great respect for both yourself and Morita-san who does unbelievable work on this board perhaps it is like reading Doctors Notes. Many times in reading records you see a word and because it makes no sense at all in the context it is written - you have to assume that the writing is so weird that what it says is what it is supposed to say - rather than what you think it looks like - thats a weird way to say that I know but as Stev the points out RAKU is not the word that goes with a description of a blade being made of Namban iron. It is a 17th century typo

Thank you both very much - I did know it was made with foreign iron and the date and the test but as you said - lining up the Kanji in order and knowing what it translates to in English are completely different things - never mind that any one Kanji has 15 meanings itself but combinations are also different. If I may - what is the difference in RAKU and BAN ? I was attempting to come up with the literal translation of the characters and then for my notes what it actually meant so thank you again. Both Morita san and Steve are very generous with their knowledge and time. Now if you have a dental problem drop me a line and I will explain the problem and how to get the best deal in treating it

The cutting test I think says Futatso doo Otosu which are the Kanji and says 2 bodies dropped - I assume it is a two body test The Date has the year Jukyo -1684 three years a lucky day and I know the kanji for hachi gatsu and the final part is Nam ban tetsu motte kore 版 鉄 持 which I beleive again is literally - well foreign iron made by ? I think I have identified what the Kanji are but can not get the flow so that the translation means something proper or orderly when stated in English -

Morita san = a scholar and a gentleman as always and I knew as soon as I had too many kanji and not enough words that something was off - much appreciated

Thank you sir - I had that page but as you can see on the "notes" it is not written like that and I wanted to actually match each kanji to the translation in the full mei - I can add that it was the saku kore that put me off as it was not in the translation. That plus the Kanji for TSUKURU is > "??? one figure .? 造

kanji -Kanenori.docx KA 加 SHU 州 KANA 金 ZAWA 澤 JU 住 SUMI 藤 MIYA 原 ? KORE 之 ? KANE 兼 NORI 則 KAO

I know less than my grandson about Tsuba - he is 8 but that does not matter so any thought on this particular piece would be very much appreciated

Anyone have any luck using this type of program http://kanji.sljfaq.org/draw.html Seems pretty good if you have a close idea what you are looking for

Nihontoart.com = As was said above - NIck Ricupero is a dealer in Canada and with the US dollar as high as it is you may get some good buys even though the prices are in US dollars. Bought several swords from Nick and he is easy to deal with and honest - only reason a blade may seem higher priced when compared to others is that they are all papered and bought personally by Nick as he goes to Japan several times a year - I am not sure where he finds them but some are spectacular and they are priced accordingly. Best and largest number of photos per blade and furniture on the net for a dealer. Highly recommended