1kinko

Who paid for the shipping and handling? Over here I suspect it’s a way to secretly add profit.

That’s what I thought- uttori or fukuro-kise of gold foil. As Markus Sesko summarized, “Here, the element which should be decorated is covered with a thin hold or silver foil which is hammered into slots prepared in advance on the lateral ground”, “Sword fittings decorated via uttori are found from the Kamakura period onwards, and at last during the time of Yujo (1440-1513) the first generation of the Goto family- these techniques were standard among kinko metalworkers who decorated sword fittings.” Ford’s your man for restoration but many seem to like the wabi-sabi look of well worn high quality fittings. Please keep us up to date if you press ahead with restoration.

FYI Dispatches from the Field Article "The Armor Masks of Myochin Muneakira" with illustrations just posted. armsandarmor@metmuseum.org Post 2021#17

I think the initial information is correct, a relatively low silver shibuichi, maybe 5%.

Where to begin? There are several statements presented here as fact that are simply wrong. Ford is obviously the best person to make corrections but I’ll give it a try. 1) While there are chemical treatments that can turn copper black, they are not Japanese patina treatments. 2) Shakudo color depends on the gold content of the alloy and this changed over time. Older shakudo contains between about 1 and 10% gold, a trace of silver, and a trace of arsenic, the Ag and As being impurities. Some lead and iron are sometimes found. The shakudo I’m most familiar with is about 5 to 7% gold and is basically copper color but with a tinge of pink before it’s patinated. I’ve never seen brass or gold colored shakudo. 3) Shakudo does not have a high content of silver. Copper and silver make shibuichi and the color varies with the concentration of silver only after patinization. 4) Kuromido is an alloy of copper and arsenic that also starts out copper colored but turns dark brown to black when patinated. However, kuromido does not acquire the “crow feather” black of shakudo. Hope this helps.

Brian- Mercury gilding is fire gilding and heating to around 1000F to drive off the mercury would destroy any patina. The patina could be re-done, depending on the base metal/alloy. There could also be roughening if the base metal/alloy that would require polishing.

Neither the composition, background nor detail is up to Natsuo standards.

The proper term for gold overlay material is gold foil, not leaf. Brian T is the only person I know of who may be able to do this kind of repair. However, if it’s just worn through to a silver backing, electroplating is a simple option. Electroplating was pretty common on the 1800s on. Ford is very good at evaluating and repairing such work.

Only use rice glue. You can order Nori brand rice glue very cheaply. It is uniform and very easy to use. Make sure you poplar is bone dry. Namikawa Hibei honoki is dried for 10 years as I recall.

There are sections on shirsaya and saya construction and technique in 1) Kapp and Yoshihara. 1987. The craft of the Japanese sword. Kodansha Int’l.and 2) Kapp and Yoshihara. 2012. The art of the Japanese sword. TuttleInc. In addition Sayashi used to have a series of photos about several stages in saya construction on his FB site.

Pretty sparse of consumers. Next year you’ll be elbow to elbow and meet a lot more enthusiasts. Thanks for the pics.

I’ve never understood the object of no photos of tosogu and nihonto. I ran into the same problem at the Sword Museum in Tokyo but not at the National Museums in Japan. Are they afraid you will publish pictures taken through glass or from 3 feet away or that you could somehow make copies? It just doesn’t make sense to me, but c'est la vie.

The Walters in Baltimore has a changing exhibition on the top floor. Great stuff.

Too bad this wasn’t revealed before. With fires all over the west, planes to and from SFO delayed because of smoke, and car rental scarce and expensive I decided to wait another year. I would have found a way had I known. Hopefully somebody will take pictures and post them.

my new sword book 1 message Robert Cole <yakiba@sho-shin.com> Has anyone else seen this, and if so, whaddayatink?

Sure, but for $80,000 you could spend a few months doing it. Not me, but check out Radovan Stofcik. AOI provides a lot of different views and I wonder if there are scanning programs capable of getting half-way there.

AOI 4/4/21. This is the stuff to forge! https://www.aoijapan.com/menukimumei-yu-jyo53th-juyo-tosogu/

2022! Why not go to the San Francisco Japanese Sword show this August? It’s the largest in the US and there’ll be plenty if temptations.

The fukurin is normally formed in place and then soldered in place. The patina is added after the soldering is completed. Sometimes one or the other is masked to prevent the patination solution from coloring the other part(s).

YAS.A- fmyi- do you know if there is any other kosherae where the shitodome is absent from the kashira?

Very nice katakiri work.

Lots available on e-bay if you just google Buffalo horn.

Bjorn- I don’t think you get much satisfaction using ETOH for cleaning. My experience suggests you could probably extract DNA from old pieces! I have used surfactants with much better results and they won’t affect patina either. There are various strengths of ultrasound and I haven’t had much luck with low strength units used for jewelry. On the other hand these low powered units haven’t removed any uttori either. In some cases I’ve used bamboo toothpicks to soften the grime but you have to be careful. Menuki weren’t often made of brass so they could either be gold or fire-gilded. In either case they should clean up nicely. Look underneath the ito to see the original color.

Following the Iron Brush had just about passed away but if you look in the Discussion Board section you will find plenty of old posts that address just about everything you’ll need to know.

I go the SF show every year but I take my Optivisor and I know what to look for. If you know there are bad apples at the show you should name them here and save others from making the same mistake. It’s sure easier to evaluate tosogu in person than online.