Gilles

My deepest sympathy for all the affected people in Japan . I am relieved to know that Guido and Robert Hughes I met at the last Dai Token Ichi in Tokyo are both O.K. I hope that the other wonderful people I met over there are all safe.

I may add that Sarute were a plus for a sword. The Japanese army officers had to buy an army parade sword and a shin-gunto. It was the regulations at that time. Navy officers had to buy a Kai-gunto, a navy parade sword and a navy dagger. Of course during WWII, those regulations were may be less strictly enforced. But anyway, ordering a sword at that time was a costly affair. Especially for Japanese officers which were not known to win a lot of money. Every plus, like a gendai blade, thick seppas, pierced guard, nice sarute were kind of costly, so I assume that sarute made of fabric were less expensive that nice iron or copper ones. The tactical choice to make less noise is also relevant. Moreover, fabric sarute seemed to be more resistant than nice ones which were held by little "nails" (I don't know how to qualify that part in english) of 2mm on each side. Hope it helps.

Hello, It is a chinese DA DAO used by soldiers of the numerous chinese warlords before WWII. They had this kind of swords, a lot of different kinds exist and it was usually forged locally. The same kind was also used in Indo China. Hope it helps

Just to let you know that I will put one for sale on Ebay soon. :D

Ooopps, thank you Jean

Hello, Somebody on that board asked me to post the picture of this rare yari. I really can't remind me who (sorry for that), so true to my word here it is. :D

Happy new year Paul. Please PM me with the total price for sending it to France. I will Paypal you ASAP. Regards :D

Dear Ford, A really impressive work which makes me speechless. I can use the french term "oeuvre d'art".

I will also need one. Please put one aside for me.

Will also be there from the 24th till 3rd. I will be happy to see you guys for real and take a few pints of asahi beer with you.

Hello Darcy, All I can do for help is to take a Patron copy. So, count me in. Regards

Thank you gentlemen for all those badly needed details. Best regards,

I am reading this book for the second time and I like it very much. We are very far from what we are used to read about Japanese swords. The author tries to make us think and gives a wealth of detailed information. We would need more translated books like this one. A pleasure to read.

Thank you for your help Grey. Seems to be quite an unknown smith in fact. Best regards,

Thank you both of you for the help provided. It make sense now. Fujiwara Munenari seems to be a swordsmith also, do you know one with that name? Do you know this swordsmith Kanetoshi? I can't find him. Thank you again gentlemen for your help. Best regards,

Dear all, I have troubles to translate with exactitude this mei which seems to be a daisaku of Muneari and Kanetoshi. Can you help me? By the way, do you know those two smiths ? The date seems to be Meiji two but I don't understand the ideogram between the 2 and the Nen. In short, Help ! Best regards,

Dear Ford, Count me in, that is a great idea.

Dear Morita San, Your work will be very useful, thank you so much.

Hello, The last book of Jim Dawson shows a sword like the one you have which still belongs to me. It can be found page 160 and 161 plates 13-17 and 13-18. Like other NMB members told you it is a field officer lightweight type. Imperial army high ranking officers usually used this type when the dress code of the army stipulated the wear of the shin-gunto. Usually the blade is machine made. The guard of my exemple have a pierced tsuba and this sword is very well made with all the details of a regular one. It is quite a scarce type not very common to find. Hope it helps.

Thank you very much to both of you gentlemen. It is very kind of you to have helped me on that topic.

Dear John, Yes, you are right, that is the idea. The exact translation in english from the french would be "among the flowers, the cherry tree (sakura) ; among the men the bushi (warrior). I found this sentence in an old french book dating from about 1880. The author heard that from an old Japanese samurai. I need to get the translation in order to order a bunchin in Japan from a swordsmith with that sentence.

Dear all, Is there someone kind enough to translate these words in Japanese "HANA WA SAKURA GI HITO WA BUSHI" ? Best regards,

I wish you a very good year 2010. May this board and its members continue for years.

Dear Jean, See you soon. Please try to cure me Anyway, I am sure that your new purchase will be extremely interesting .

Dear Jean, My thirst of knowledge is the strongest. :D About my shin shinto addiction, I am dependent as ever