Gilles

Dear Chris, Congratulations. You have here a nice collection. I love those short yari.

It was a very nice fukuro yari. I've tried to get it but the price was too high for me.

Congratulations Jean, Even if it is not a shin shinto sword I must admit that this one is gorgeous. I can't wait to see it with my very eyes...... Thank you for sharing.

Dear Dirk, Thank you for your help, I need those kind of text which are disseminated in several publications. Do other member know other publications in english dealing about this topic ? Best regards,

Dear all, I am looking for essays in english about the Masahide School and the study of fakes signatures and Kokuin compared to genuine ones. I already have the Nihonto Koza (shin shinto volume) which deals about that case but I wonder if any other publications and studies were made or translated in english ? I know that the Japanese published quite a few books about that school. If any of you have translated books about that topic for sale, I would be very interested in. Best regards,

Dear George, I have one AKIHISA sword you mentionned. There is no date, mountings are type 44 high end, and there is a star stamp. I will send you the other details later on. Regards, :D

Dear Moritan san, Thank you very much for your corrections. I wrote them down on my copy of the Modern Japanese Swordsmith book. Such corrections are always useful.

Dear Thomas, Here are some more pictures (of poor quality I am afraid). Please note that the SHIGE on the swordsmith MEI is quite rusted. I hope it will help.

Dear Chris, Adam and Thomas, Thank you so much for the details given. It helps a lot. I will post close-up of the mei after the week-end. If you need other views, please tell me.

Thank you Chris for those details. Is there other opinions ?

Dear all, I have a rather strange mei on what I believe a Shinto period sword. the translation was made thank to our NMB friends. It is signed KANESHIGE. Nagasa: 73 cm, Sori: 1.3 cm, Nakago: ubu, Hamon: ito suguha I understand it is a shinto smith from Mino, do you have other details about this smith and the dates he worked ??? On the other side the signature is : May, the eight year of kanbun period(1668) Owned by Okubo Genba-no-kami,he wore this sword at 91 years old and a svastika at the top of this mei. I will need to know why such a svastika ??? which is a buddhist emblem. Was it made after the death of its owner (Okubo Genba-no-kami) ? About the date, is it the date when the sword was made or is it linked to the name of its owner (date of death) ???? Why such a gold filling, for what purpose, because it does not look like a tameshigiri or an attribution ?? Well, a lot of questions, that is why I ask your help again. Thank you all

Thank you so much for that translation Mr Morita.

Thank you for your help Yimu. Can our Japanese friends on the board help me on that mei ? I will be more than happy to have a definitive translation. :D Thank you again.

Thank you for your help Chris. It helps but I will need a more complete translation if someone can help me ? For the english language I already have an english professor with Jean.

Paul, Don't worry, you are missing nothing. It is now obvious that the sayagaki does not tie up to the mei of the sword. But the blade fits thightly in it

Jean, Sorry for that my friend.

You are right Jean, but I am focused on the mei I've just posted.

A better view of the mei of the swordmith.

Thank you Chris for your very rapid answer.

Gentlemen, Another translation for you. Please see the pictures of that sword. I assumed that the swordsmith is KANESHIGE. On the other side I see a date which should be KANBUN 8 ..... 5 month and may be a name of a man and its age. What is the exact translation ??? And why such a svastika ??? which is a buddhist emblem. About the date, is it the date when the sword was made or is it linked to the name ???? Why such a gold filling, for what purpose, because it does not look like a tameshigiri ?? Well, a lot of questions, that is why I ask your help again. Thank you for your participation. PS : the nakago shines because I have put some choji oil on it.

Gentlemen, I need your help. I bought a nice shinto katana in an old shirasaya with a sayagaki. Can you translate it ? I will post the mei of that sword today. Thank you very much,

Thank you Brian and Markus, it shows you the limit of my mastering of the english language. So let's go to buy another book from Markus and thank you my friend for your work. :D

Hello, Please help !!!!!! I've tried to order on amazon.co.uk or on amazon.com the last book written by our friend Markus but those books are in German language. Is there a simple way to order the english version ?

Dear Mariusz, I've seen quite a lot of fukuro yari signed that way. The other little yari I've seen during my wanderings are not signed with this big name. This is only my little experience as I am still a Japanese sword student..... :D

I also ordered one.