Jussi Ekholm

I'll let Hans answer himself to all the questions pointed at him. However I'm not sure if you guys know that he won a nyusen award in 66th craftsman competition in tsukamaki series. Look for コが ハンス in nyusen category of tsukamaki. http://www.touken.or.jp/pdf/66kenma_nyusyou.pdf I'm pretty sure I saw a picture of that award paper of his somewhere online. If this information I posted is incorrect I'm sure Hans or someone else that knows better will correct me. I've never met him personally but I've seen his work at NBTHK meetings and to my eye it's very good.

I'd guess 彦根 Hikone would be logical. More advanced tsuba guys will surely correct if that reading is wrong.

I just saw that koshirae yesterday while I was browsing and I thought that is a great and classy koshirae... until I saw the tsuba. I just don't like that tsuba at all, too loud for my taste. Hopefully more experienced folks will chime in and correct if I'm wrong, as I'm so slow it'll take me too long to get whole translation figured out... Here is what I see on the first line. Fuchi, kashira, seme, kojiri - shakudoji 素紋 (I am thinking these 2 would mean plain design without mon) mumei.

Jason finding a club would be a very good thing. I'll keep my thumbs up so you'll find one near you. Maybe Usagiyas information section will be of assistance as they have pics of blades instead of drawings: http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/poetical%20terms.html

You can also find 2 examples (1 of them is the Fujishiro one) on Koto-meikan by Sesko. 1 mei also in Mino-to by Cox.

I guess you could call the ones with shorter shaft a nagamaki. Generally nagamaki will have quite long blade in relation to the shorter shaft. You'll find many debates about nagamaki vs. naginata definitions if you search. Here you can see Owarikan-ryu Sojutsu demonstration. Look at c. 2:00 mark for odachi, nagamaki and naginata

My guess is 福岡住守次 行宗作之 Fukuoka ju Moritsugu Yukimune saku kore

That was pretty excellent post Darcy. On behalf of Strebel I can say by personal experience that I was very impressed how they treated me when I visited them. I was 17, had bit ragged look, just appeared to their store with quite limited German skills. I was not the potential buyer for their high end stock. However we had very nice discussion about nihonto in general and I checked few of their lower end swords. I'll remember how nice experience that was. It will be quite easy for us Europeans to go and see that particular Juyo Shikkake in person if potentially thinking about buying a sword of that level.

Katana by Gassan Toshiyoshi 1400's, nagasa: 75,3 cm, sori: 3,8 cm, motohaba: 3,3 cm As you said you prefer extreme you might want to check this wakizashi too: http://www.samuraishokai.jp/sword/14310.html

To my eye the papers say: Kanenaga, Mino, early Muromachi.

Hopefully these will help. Koto-kantei book states that it's called Kenbô-midare. It's described having roundish yakigashira and narrowing bases. So it would have rounded peaks of hamon. I can PM you few additional pics.

Finland: VAT: 24% Antique VAT: 10%

Regular people want to see the martial arts and swords are usually just a sideshow attraction. That is what I have noticed during the public events we have held in Finland. Of course as there is an event that focuses on Japanese history and martial arts people will usually take the time to listen an informative lecture about Japanese swords. However Japanese sword arts and other martial arts are the thing people want to see. You need martial arts to draw in the people, and of course it's optimal if the event is free. We had surprisingly large (at least to me) attendance in the last Martial arts event we were part of in Helsinki. Of course swords were just minor attraction as the 9 different koryu styles were the thing that drew people in. Unfortunately many went just straight for the main hall were the demonstrations took place but some took time to view our sword displays with more time and even ask questions. Most people arrived during the nihonto & martial arts lectures and timed their arrival to the actual demonstrations. Most memorable viewer to me was a c.12-year old boy who already knew many sword parts and asked the parts he didn't know from me. It just reminded me of myself at his age, and I was happy to see that there are young ones interested in swords. The unfortunate thing that I've noticed over the years being a member of various sword forums online is that many have short term interest on swords. I've seen many new collectors come and go as their interest has faded away. I've often thought what could have been done to keep them in the sword hobby, as over time people might "evolve" from replica swords onto genuine swords. I think Rich hit the nail with his comment. I think the younger generation generally has very short attention span, it's very hard to keep them interested. It's very hard to make nihonto collecting to fit that state of mind. I think the key might lie somewhere within manga & anime, as I feel they potentially lead young people into martial arts and even possibly sword collecting -> which might with time evolve into nihonto collecting. I guess a new and realistic anime focused on perhaps Sengoku period might be good for activating younger folk. I've been trying to watch the samurai-themed anime that have come out but I've found them generally quite bad apart from few good ones.

Bit over my level to comment on but I don't mind. Did the person who offered this to you say this is "the" Moriie, or did he say it's "a" Moriie? Also note that it's katana-mei, I believe all signed "the" Moriie long swords in my books are tachi-mei. The mei pic is so blurry I can't even determine if it's Moriie by 守家 or 盛家. There were bunch of Muromachi smith who used latter Moriie. I would also ask better pictures from the seller.

With heavy heart I’m telling the news to the Nihonto community. Dear friend Veli-Pekka Viitanen, who was known as Veli in the forum, has passed away. His untimely death came as a shock to everyone. I will always remember Veli-Pekka as a good friend and he was also a mentor to me. We had so many great discussions and he taught me a lot. He shared so much of his knowledge to other Finnish collectors. You could always hit him up with questions and you’d know that we would be end up having a great discussion. Veli-Pekka was also one of the driving forces in unifying the nihonto collectors in Finland. He made amazing work bringing us together and now we have our own group which has people all around Finland. Whenever there was an event involving Japanese swords in Finland, Veli was there to share his knowledge with everyone who had an interest on them. Be it lecture, kantei, helping a person who saw Japanese sword for the first time, Veli was always there to guide people. He had great passion for nihonto and it was always a pleasure to spend time with him. We will always remember you dear friend.

I'm on my phone and in bus so I can't write a long reply. Have you read On the Origins of Nihonto by Carlo Tacchini? You can find the PDF here: http://www.google.fi/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBoQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.webalice.it%2Ftsubame1%2FDownloads%2F1%2529%2520On%2520the%2520origins%2520of%2520Nihonto.pdf&ei=JwXeVOrQEuTOygOIpILACw&usg=AFQjCNGodfavw9vUJnC_qaCmlddW691I-Q

I'll second Stephen any chance for additional pics?

Just a few novice thoughts for you. I believe that sword will go much higher than the current 338$ bid. Signed tachi is always desirable to collectors such as myself who like them. Will be nice to see how high this will run. I do think differently about the tachi in question than the seller does. I believe it to be early Muromachi era tachi by Kunitomo, and it would be classified just as Uda not ko-Uda. When you browse around, signed tachi by Uda school (in good polish & papers) are not that rare, and they can be acquired for decent prices. Of course signed tachi in good condition are usually expensive so take that into consideration when I say decent priced. Chris and Grey offered more experienced opinion regarding getting it polished.

Translations were sold separately. Lets try 300€ + postage & paypal fees now that the translations are gone. If you'll pay with bank transfer then just the postage costs will be added.

So I'm selling my Fujishiro to gather some travel budget for the future. Japanese books are old but still in good condition even though the age shows a bit. Previous owner has made his own numbering on the pages which will make searching faster if you are not familiar with Japanese numbers. Translations are in very good condition. Asking price: 600€ + postage & paypal fees. If you'll pay with bank transfer then just the postage.

Peter have you checked the View New Content tab? It acts similarily to the active topics. I've been using it and it works great with my phone too. And I really dig the chat. It has great potential to be a very useful tool.

But but... you might need that tiny bit of information in a 5 year old message in the next 5 years... I just noticed how the new message system works, and you can actually have 150 conversations saved? That means a ton of messages. Also the best thing is that now the private message gets emailed to you with the message instead of just the you've got a private message notification. So I can store the important information in my email as well as in here too. So I can now store PM's in my email which is awesome. Getting more and more used to these new options, and the new features are great.

Very nice Veli. I like the small detail you added with the grooves. I'll have to ask some crafting tips from you in Helsinki.

Any idea how many messages can the custom made folders hold? *Edit* Just saw that the message limit is now 150, had to make some careful deletions. Also this works like a charm on my phone, so easy to use this new board by phone.

Can't believe I've missed this. That is one long hira blade Thomas.