Jussi Ekholm

Hah, what a coincidence. I remember seeing that sword some years ago in Fredericks catalog and I kept admiring it. Just checked it up as you said who has it, it's darn massive sword 40" nagasa. And after seeing more pics of that tachi below it ain't exactly my taste. But that big beast looks intimidating.

I have unhealthy obsession in swords... of course nihonto are the baddest obsession but I also try to collect swords of other cultures as well. As I tread with very limited budget, nihonto are my main focus, just sold 2 of my best European sword replicas along with other cheaper stuff to fund my last nihonto purchase. Good thing about replicas is you can always get another replacement where as historical pieces are one of a kind. Now my European replicas have been reduced to only cheap replicas, but one dream is own couple swords from Finnish smiths, and I keep drooling at Patrick Barta's work. But those are lesser priority than nihonto. I have a sweet spot for viking stuff. Yataghan and those katars are pieces I like. I'll probably try to flip bayonet, tulwar and kindjal for something else. Almost all cultures have swords and weapons that are very intriguing in my mind. I don't think nihonto as a pinnacle of sword making, after all they are just swords like swords of other cultures (still they are my own personal favorite). Even though saying something like that out loud in nihonto forum might not gain a strong support. I'll encourage you all to look also into viking swords, medieval swords, indo-persian swords etc. Lots of fascinating stuff can be found all over the world, and swords of every culture were perfected for their own use.

Looked to be an awesome show. Did anyone catch what this beast in red saya was? I tend like large swords. Also the tachi koshirae under it looks very much to my taste. Thanks for posting the pics Mark.

Still at that price I see it as a very good deal on Louis Mills tanto. Wish I had the funds to try snatching it...

Spectacular acquisition Morita san.

More experienced members can explain this pic in more detail. Futo tagane - thick & large Hoso tagane - thin & small Saka tagane - right to left Tagane makura - raised

Many sources list the average nagasa of Nambokucho era around 90 cm. But just note that not all tachi of this period were Odachi of great length, "regular" sized tachi were still produced as well. And also those very large Odachi which had nagasa of over 120 cm. If you are looking for info about average blade lengths and shapes of various eras, I think Nagayama's Connoisseurs book has good explanation of them, and Nakahara's Facts book has also good explanations. If you want a small booklet about shape and size I would recommend Guide to Nyusatsu Kantei by Paul Martin.

Here is a info pic about that what David said earlier. Various types of samegawa kise:

Awesome sword, great writeup, as for beta testing part, the site works perfectly on my phone (Galaxy 2). Unfortunately I don't know my phones browser, but I have found out that many sites are not designed to work on mobile devices at least not with this one. However on your site everything worked like a charm.

Great video on a fine subject, this series will be awesome.

I would see it like John as Hiro, so I would see Hirokuni Saku.

One name for it would be katana tsutsu.

It's called Kiodai Murasaki Jabara Maki in Thomas Buck's book, and I believe the example wraps are made by Takao Ichinose? But I believe Kumiage Maki is correct, see Kensen's answer in this thread: http://www.thejapanesesword.com/forum/v ... f=29&t=133 And Florian's linked pic is made by Yasuo Toyama and it's also called Jabara Kumiage Maki. But regardless of the correct naming, that style of jabara maki is very nice.

Yep that measurement difference will amount to the 0,5 cm difference. I cannot say anything about the genuinity of the signature. But I searched for the info of this smith from my books, unfortunately I found very little. With this style of signing Fusamori there is only 1 smith in my indexes. Sesko's index has his background listed as Tsukushi Ryokai influenced, where as Hawley lists him as Taira Takada smith. I think Seskos Index is more correct usually, so I would go with that. It lists him as a student of Tsukushi Ryokai Morizane. Here is some online info about Tsukushi Ryokai line: http://www.sho-shin.com/sai10.htm This link of Connoisseur's Book should pinpoint the classical characteristics of Tsukushi Ryokai, and Taira Takada is right below it: http://books.google.fi/books?id=zPyswmG ... ai&f=false

I had similar thoughts as the experienced members stated earlier, I think this may be much later sword. But I like it's massive look. Noritsugu seems to be indeed quite unknown smith lineage. These are the only sources that I can find that will have info on the Nitta Noritsugu (from JSL Index): Bizen Den Taikan, Meito Zuikan by Fujishiro, Jukken by Shibata Mitsuo. Unfortunately I don't have any of them, and I can't find any more info on Noritsugu from my books aside the info on Sesko's & Hawley's. I checked couple books for Bizen swords pre-1400 signed katana mei, and I only found couple examples, so I believe it was very rare.

Darcy, maybe you should put up a warning sign that most likely will happen. Really looking forward for seeing more of them.

Excellent project, and I will definately want a copy of that book.

I have a secret ace , I got an used one from Grey, and previous owner had crossreferenced every entry with Hawley code in pencil. That makes it a lot easier for me. There have been couple misplaced entries, but they have usually been most likely just accidents.

Well I have to say I'm absolute novice when it comes to kantei. I think I can spot some more obvious characteristics (at least usually) but then when it gets into fine details it gets too hard for me. My main goal is usually to get the period correct, and if I can recognize some feats which I could connect to something. I can't read Japanese, but of course I've learned to identify some letters and hopefully will continue to do so more and more, and hopefully some day I'll be able to learn to read Japanese fluently. I quite recently picked up Kantei Dokuhon with translation, which I try to use sometimes instead of Connoisseurs. I think this is great practice for me first trying to read the original one a bit and then check from the translation for correct reading (of course I practice on "easy" stuff). Yamanaka Newsletters are very good. As I personally have most intrest in Koto, I mostly use the first book which covers Koto, and 2nd book has 2 excellent parts. 100 page part History of Japanese Sword and 100 page part Identification of Nihonto through shape, I've found both of these to be amazing reads and I keep going to them again and again. I must say most of my "kantei" is not excatly kantei, but more information seeking in general nature. As in many occasions the items I look for are already been identified with persons far more advanced than myself. Then I try to search information from to books to understand the identification. Here of course books like Nihonto Koza are excellent. For example, after the Naminohira school part there is an excellent read in Koto Book 2 page 386, Kantei method for Kyushu mono overall. This is most excellent reading, and plenty of gems like this can be found in Nihonto Koza. As for Japanese ones, for a specific smith I try check the value from Toko Taikan and Token Kakaku Jiten, and possibly try to read the entries. I've also tried to sometimes use Nihonto No Kenkyu To Kantei, but unfortunately I think it's too advanced for me and I've used it very rarely. The previous owner made a small sub-index in English which has been helpful. The small glimpses of information I've gotten from it have been helpful. Then something which I've found very helpful, Nihonto Daizen 2. From pages 40 to 66 there is most excellent Kantei guide with high quality color pictures identifying some stereotypical traits. Unfortunately the text is in all Japanese (and I can't read it as whole), but small identification pointers are fairly easy to read with help of other books. Great information with great pictures about the 5 traditions. Of course this same information can be found in all other books of the same subject, I just really like the high quality pics so I can actually see the details that I try to understand.

I have a big list of schools which I like, but I don't think I have any single favorite yet. Various Ichimonji brances are among my favorites. Kongobyoe and Naminohira might be bit less known schools which I like. And Soshu & Soshu influenced schools I also enjoy greatly. Now I'll have to stop here before I list more and more in...

This has been excellent thread to read, even though I'm not yet a tsuba enthusiast threads like this are fantastic to read. One thing that does puzzle me a bit in Sergei's tsuba is the fact that one part of it has 5 spokes while 7 others have 4 spokes. Of course we most likely wont ever find out the reason, it just stuck me as bit unusual detail. Surely there has been originally a reason for that. Just throwing these pics out here and I'll get back and keep enjoying the discussion as I don't have any information to add to this intresting debate. 32 spokes between 4 attachment points, well 36 if you count the 4 little ones or possible attachment points in their place. However the Jesuit symbol has 7 spokes between the cross sections, these tsuba in this thread have 8 spokes (9 if you count the middle ones too). And to lighten the mood a bit

The Zweihänder comparison is a good one, that's how I feel too. (Both are only replicas but based on authentic examples, I believe the measurements for Hanwei Odachi are taken from Rin Tomomitsu) Overall lengths of those 2 are Zweihänder=160,7cm Odachi=171,5cm. Zweihänder weighs 2675 grams and Odachi weighs 2575 grams. Both of these are massive swords. To put some scale to Taroutachi, just the blade length of it is 50cm's more to the overall length of this odachi. So it will be ridiculously long. Yamanaka states in his Newsletters in regards Nambokucho and Odachi There are lots of legends around swords in Japan, as well as rest of the world. This is a part of Anegawa battle screen, and Makara Naotaka wields his great sword Tarou. Some sources state that Makara Naotaka has been a man of massive stature. Where an average man of this period was about 160cm he has been possibly said to be 195cm in height (however I do not know how valid this estimate of his height is). However he was a Commander, so his size may have been exaggerated. And I am not sure how much actual battling commanders did during that time. One old guide line for Odachi selection is in a book published during Tenbun - Eiroku. The total length was usually the measurement of the wearer under the ear. Odachi are being described as being used particulary by the rear guard Zuigo. Usual term nowdays is Shingari. Was this rear guard an elite troop that guarded commanders? One picture from Gioku Seki Zashi is listed as attitudes of ashigaru and wakato at the battle of Ichinotani. In this picture Wakato (servant) is described riding horseback on his masters secondary horse carrying seoi-dachi on his back. Also 元弘 Genko 1331 and 建武 Kemmu 1334 are listed being as a kind of starting point after which odachi became more popular. There are plenty of descriptions of old famous warriors and their sword lengths listed. Just for giggles the Odachi replica in my pic is bit below my ear. So a samurai of c. 185 cm who used odachi could by that Muromachi period guideline have used a sword c. 170 cm in total length.

Well I got bit sidetracked on another forum when there was talk about very large twohanded swords of variours cultures with very long blades. I thought I'll post this here, as Odachi are among my favorite types (smaller ones, not the monster swords I'll list here). Odachi 大太刀 (large tachi) is term commonly used when blade is over 90 cm in length. There are few Odachi in Japan that have blade near or over 2 meters. (I'm at my parents for the holidays, and I might have bit more information in my books but can't access them now) Most of these swords are famous artifacts. 祢々切丸 - Nenekirimaru (Nambokucho 1332-1394) Total length: 324 cm Blade length: I've seen mention c. 215 cm 太郎丸 - Taroumaru (Kamakura period 1184 - 1332) Total length: 262 cm Blade length: 180 cm Weight: 7,2 kg 志田の大太刀 - Shida no odachi (dated 1415) Blade length: 220 cm 太郎太刀 - Taroutachi (It is described being sword Makara Naotaka used in 1570 at battle of Anegawa) Blade length: 220 cm Weight: 4,5 kg Odachi made by 三家正吉 Sanie Masayoshi (dated 1843) Blade length: 224 cm 備州長船法光 - Bishu Osafune Norimitsu (dated 1447) Total length: 377 cm Blade length: 227 cm Weight: 14,5 kg Feel free to share any information you have on odachi. The more "regular" sized odachi are more to my own taste than these monsters. Just thought I'd share this small info on these couple swords (not sure if all my info is correct, so feel free to put corrections).

Unfortunately I have a train to catch, so I can't write a long post. There is a great article on tameshigiri on several stacked bodies in Token Bijutsu 674. And Sakaue Kazuhiro also gave bit of his insight to that article.

This is CSI-level stuff right here in this thread. Now after seeing the full length shot, I really like the sugata. I just rewatched the episode. As Rick told he paid 18k for sand buggy (I remember that was featured in one episode a long time ago) initially and 4k for rebuilding transmission = 22k (that is assuming he didn't add any own profit to his estimates). So as the deal was sword + 8k, the sword was valued at 14k. Then of course Rick will have to add his own profit margin to the sword when he lists it for sale in his shop. So it will be most likely with much above the 14k price tag now.