1kinko

I think only ivory and maybe walrus are prohibited. Both have obvious characteristics that are different from bone. It would be much easier to show what you have isn’t ivory or walrus than to prove what you prove what kind of bone you have.

Definitely not walrus. Walrus tusks are not hollow, are filled with very dense crystalline structure and are not so long.

Nor have I. And once the sword has shipped it arrives in a few days. Great service, no extra fees.

It may depend on whether you are in the auction section or the buying section. In the buying section it clearly states that shipping and insurance are included in the price. When I bought from them in Tokyo there was no additional shipping or insurance charge. They also took a combination of cash and credit.They are very easy to deal with and may take credit (plus the 3% credit charge) so it’s worth dropping them a line and asking. Good luck!

Well, after many false messages from USPS, the sword arrived about 1 hour ago, in perfect shape. Mail from Cincinnati to Williamsburg takes USPS longer than DHL from Tokyo and there is no way to contact a person. After the horror stories about empty packages arriving lately, I can now rest comfortably. The blade is beautiful and rather hefty despite the bo-hi. Now on to the kosherae!

Yup, just sign or stamp them in English letters.

Merci Francois- the reply area was confusing but, thanks to you, it apparently worked.

Robert- I have no idea how to contact you but I want this katana and agree with your payment requests. Having never bought on NMB I have no idea what a PM stands for but that’s what I’m trying to do now.

I bought both volumes a while back and have the same complaint. Perhaps a digital supplement could be created and distributed. I think all the information is available at the Met, and Markus Sesko may have been collating this information. It would also be nice to have materials and measurements.

In making kinko tuba it is normal to insert the sekigane while preparing the plate, so it is not unusual to have the surface finished flush. Of course, the purpose of sekigane is to protect both the tsuba and the sword from damaging each other while permitting a tight fit.

It would be highly unlikely to gild the inside of a fuchi.

Doesn't this subject beg the question, were most larger tsuba with 2 hitsu-ana originally made for wakizashi or uchigatana?

Definitely uchidashi, with perhaps an exception for the sake jug and what appears to be a lotus leaf on the far right side. The workmanship on this piece is very fine so maybe a master could form these, but it sure would be easier to solder them in place. The difficulty is best seen from the back.

They're on AOI, not Yuhindo.

Mea Culpa, I was referring to "I particularly like the shells holding the kashira on" and like Rodger, didn't see the abalone.

Nope, it's a scallop, not abalone.

Looks like a cicada nymph to me.

It's more tricky than I thought since the angles in the photographs are not the same. Numbers 1 and 2 are, to me, the most balanced and nuanced, but this is influenced by the pictures of #1 (and #3) being taken from slightly above the meridian. Nevertheless, #2 appears to me to be more sinuous, more tree-like. The presence of 3 branches on the right of the central trunk of #2 and the apparently larger hitsuannas also add to this sinuosity. Adding the ateganes in #4 ruins the composition and number 5 is just too flat and mechanical for me. Number 3 just doesn't cut it- Isn't it interesting how we read an image from left to right, like we read books? Since Japanese is read from top to bottom, right to left, does this mean we see images differently too? Great topic, thanks Ford.

Peter- you can easily pull out the nagako piece and replace the pins with small screws.

Absolutely beautiful, but it looks like the silver (if that's what it is) moon reflection needs some minor restoration. I'm definitely jealous.

Just to shift the original question about AOI a little, has anyone here had experience with the auction, where it seems no one else was interested and then got outbid minutes before the auction closed? This has happened to me several times. It seems to me that there is a way to have your computer do the bidding at the last moment and avoid having to bid and outbid. How does one compete? Thanks in advance.

For well organized, high quality, color images, of the various schools try the A.H Church Collection at the Asmolean Museum site at the Jameel Center (Oxford University). Church had a predilection for floral, geometric and animal forms but he had a good eye. The Asmolean staff are also very helpful if you want images of the ura side. jameelcentre.asmolean.org

If you go to Japantown you will find Asakichi who sells antiques (not real old), new boxes and tea utensils and tea. I consider the Asian Art Museum to be the Chinese Art Museum, but you may find a book or 2 that may be useful and there could be a special exhibit, but the Japanese collection, including the De Young's netsuke collection seems to have disappeared.

Nori, made by Yasutomo, is starch glue. Coming fromJapan I assume it is rice-based. Anyway, it works perfectly for saya construction and because it is a commercial product, it is uniform and produces reproducible results. Cheap too.

Is there such a thing as a cast kozuka? Casting such a thin hollow shape is much more difficult than soldering the 2 sides together. Embossed, possibly, but not cast I think. Anyway, this is easily resolved by looking for the solder lines along the sides and the join area on the koguichi.