Gordon

Hi Ed, Just saw this. I would be interested in a better shot of the nakago. I have not seen this signature, but Masashige is a Kanabô School smith. I have a katana and tantô by him, but the are both signed Kanabô Masashige saku.

Hi again, I didn't have time to read all the posts, so I should apologize for posting the Hozon-Kai's Kansho-kai information twice. Thanks to Tom for beating me to the heads-up. For those who like their swords big, my 3.2 shaku o-nagamaki will be one of the display items, along with a Rai Kuniyuki tachi and other lovely things to look at hands-on. Looking forward to joining in on Friday. I am still thinking about the Saturday event, and I hope to see lots of you at the NTHK's event on Sunday. And, I always carry a spare liver. Gordon

Hi all, Robert just gave me a heads up on the Yakatabune event, and I look forward to that. If you don't have enough on your plate, the NTHK has their big event on Sunday the 31st. Here are the details: I just wanted to give a heads up to those coming over for the Dai- Tôken-Ichi at the end of the month. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the NTHK. We will be holding the following event not far from the site of the DTI: The event is on Sunday, the 31st of October at the ANA Intercontinental Tokyo Hotel near Roppongi Itchôme station on the Namboku line; however, it should be a short taxi ride from the DTI. There will be a display of important swords from 2 until 4 and a dinner party from 4 until 6. The display is ¥5,000 and the dinner is also ¥5,000. We will also be giving everyone a copy of the first volume of the Yûshûtô Zuroku. If I know how many of you will be coming, I will try to toss in the translation. I hope some of you can make this. It should be fun. I will be at the DTI in the morning and anyone who wants to go can grab me and I will arrange transportation. Thanks all, Gordon

Just a clarification. I do not think I mentioned anything about licensing in my comments. I do not have the laws in front of me, but my comments were about signatures at the time of manufacture. However, thank you for sharing the Showa 47 green paper. Got anything recent? Gordon

Hi all, I just wanted to make a couple of comments about some of the topics raised here. Regarding unsigned Showa era swords that were pinked at the SF shinsa. We have always rejected such blades at shinsa in Japan, and do so at shinsa outside of Japan. The reason is not just one of quality, but is in regards to Japanese laws. All Showa era swords must be signed by law. Modern unsigned swords have been altered for reasons that have nothing to do with usage, which is somethat that could be claimed for swords dating to before the ban on wearing swords during the early Meiji period (there may be some exceptions to this, but only one i can think of). Such alterations are illegal and are attempts to hide something, such as the modern period of manufacture. In many cases, but not all, the nakago has been worked on to make the blade appear older. I do not know for certain, but I expect the NBTHK would do the same thing. Secondly, this was a very tough shinsa. The standards for acceptance were extremely high. I did have some heated discussions on a number of swords that I thought should have been papered. In a few cases, I successfully got opinions to change, but most of the time, the team discussion resulted in a rejection. If you got a paper at the SF shinsa, you can rest assured that it will be a paper with some value. I have not seen the final numbers, but I would not be surprised if we passed less than 50% of the swords submitted. This was not the case with fittings. The quality level here seems to have been much higher, and while the standards for pass were just as rigorous as with swords, I believe the pass rate was close to 80%. There were fewer fittings submissions, but the fittings people seem to be pretty good with their stuff. I also expect that since fittings are cheaper, it is harder to pay for a $250 paper when your tsuba is only worth $500. Finally, I had a great time seeing lots of old friends and making a few new ones. I was sorry I missed most of the show, but from what I could tell, I wasn't the only one having a good time. Gordon

Hi Rich and all, What Rich leaves out is that Ralph, Fred, Rich and the Robsons all got together for dinner at my place in Tokyo on that occasion, which resulted, as always with this group, in good food, good wine, great cigars and nonstop laughter. I am sure everyone will agree that some of that laughter just went away. Gordon

Hi, The signature is Akimitsu, but it does not look good. Gordon

Hi, Given the higaki yasuri and the condition of the nakago, this looks like a late Muromachi period Mino sword, not Bungo. Gordon

Hi all, I suppose there is clear lacquer, but I have never seen it. Rich, are you sure it isn't epoxy clear coat? I also suspect that the use of lacquer was purely for protection from the great deal of rain we get. I think it was used mostly on early stuff like Ko-Katchushi and Ko-Tosho pieces. It is rarer on later pieces. I am not much up on Higo pieces, but, as Rich notes, they used it too. I have never seen a tsuba that retained very much of it's lacquer coating. Gordon

Hi, No, this signature is not right. It does look like a boy's sword. There are oshigata in Fujishiro's as well as Nihonto Zuikan. Gordon

Hi again, I had not seen Rich's post until I sent my own. The character above Yoshi is most likely Minamoto. I can't make out the rest. Gordon

Hi Brian, I am pretty sure the date is Showa gannen roku-gatsu hi, and I can't read the entire signature, but the name is Yoshimune as Rich has noted. Must be his Showa man. Gordon

Hi all, This blade may be Bizen, but it is very atypical of the Yoshii School. The Yoshii School typically produced a ko-gunome hamon called juzu-gunome or mame-gunome as it looks like a string of beads or beans -- rather monotonous. This blade looks to have a more notare style hamon. Gordon

Hi Mark, You have translated the signature correctly. From what I can see of the file marks, they look higaki, which would indicate a Mino smith. Probably one of the hundred or more who were making blades in Seki during the war. I can't add any more than that. The hamon is gunome and I suspect there is togari-ba in there too, also typical of Seki work. Gordon