Rich Thomas

In an attempt to get sword from America to Australia in Sept/Oct late last year, DHL said they have “unilaterally” stopped sending swords, from August 2021. This was after they accepted it and suggested it was on its way. They initially blamed Australian customs which was not true, and then came back with the response they are not taking swords… not sure if others have had recent success… cheers Rich

Thanks Morita san, gives me something to start with on research, greatly appreciated! Rich

IMHO, I don’t see yakidashi in Paul’s blade .. unless I’m missing ‘adding’ something I do see it in Bryce’s sword… Paul, Jervis bay .. tough place to hang out 😂… If you do decide to get into this fascinating subject , a couple of great books to start with would be the Nakahara mentioned before, and The connoisseur’s book of Japanese Swords by Nagayama. Rich

Hey Paul, A couple of things, where are you in Aus? Andrew is in Victoria and is fully traditionally trained Togishi, and a good bloke, so if you are local to him, may be an option … he’s very good at Kantei! On your last comment just be aware when they shorten a blade it will be from the tang up. A boshi will disappear generally due to damage in kissaki, and subsequent ‘restoration’.. no boshi = fatal flaw. Only really forgivable in truely old blades of historical significance (or if you don’t care ) … on the other hand, boshi that are ‘just hanging in there’ or much thinner than the rest of the hamon are quite common as the kissaki cops more punishment during a swords life and often needs more steel removed during polish to rectify damage .. Nakahara’s book, Facts and Fundamentals of Japanese swords has a few pages on this .. cheers Rich

I can’t believe I missed this, and I’m shattered by this news. A true scholar of the nihonto world, too young DB, may you rest in piece.

Thanks Piers, yes looked like a mei kao to me also, hopefully we have a lacquer expert that has all the answers 😬😂

For context I have added a couple of pics of the full inside lid and base .. I have no experience with maki-e, but from reading wonder if the subdued colour pallet / pigments may place this early/pre 19th century? .. or I’m way off base ..!

Hey guys, when I bought this it was sold as ‘unsigned’ but found this on the inside of the lid… do you think this is an artist signature or factory seal or something else? cheers Rich

Awesome, thanks SM..

Some pics of blade if interested… sorry I haven’t taken proper ones as yet…

hi all, Wow, thanks so much I definitely did not expect people to eat a huge hamburger while doing other things, lol 😂 Thanks all above for input really appreciated, and as Brian has stated I have really learnt a lot from this exercise. I could get smith and sword length and refs to nidai and konuka hada but couldn’t pull it together… lots of work to do in this department for me… Steve M kindly pm’d me with the full translation, amazing; and also he was happy for me to share so others could get out of it what they will. Thought I would do a donation to the board as a thank you, so will do that now! cheers Rich SM translation: Hizen-no-kuni Fujiwara Tadahiro Ubu with eight-character signature. An early work of the Tadahiro 2nd. The jitetsu of konuka hada, and the clear, belt-like suguha are excellent, and show off this smith's true abilities. This piece was made circa Kan'ei 14 (1637), before Tadahiro received the title of "Ōmi daijō" Length of two shaku, four sun, six bu. Appraised and written on this day in November, 2009, by Tanzan Hendō.

Hey guys, I don’t expect to get a Tanobe sayagaki translated for free here, I have pm’d Markus a couple weeks ago to see if I could employ him for translation, but pm ‘unread’ at this stage, maybe he’s missed it or not logged on recently. Anyway does anyone have his email, or any other members that do sayagaki translations as a side gig for $ ? cheers Rich

Thank you so much for this info Moriyama San , it did indeed come with a Nobukuni tanto with said horimono. Greatly appreciated. cheers Rich

Hey guys, I have a nice tanto koshirae with some writings on the tsunagi. Unsure if this has any relevance to the koshirae itself, or perhaps notes by the tsunagi maker? Maybe to long to request a translation here (apologies), but thought I would post in the chance my curiosity may be slated. Is this a common practice? cheers Rich

Nambokucho. Soshu Saeki Norishige ...

This is another beautiful Taima blade https://yuhindo.com/taima/

Hey Bazza, Sooooo, when Andrew stopped in at Al's on the way back to Melbourne he had this sword with him...he allowed us a quick look, as rightly so he was really proud of this polish, and pretty much blown away by the sword. It's beautiful. This is the best shinshinto I've seen in hand. Congratulations mate stunning. The polish is first class, the lines perfect, he is a real talent. cheers RichT

Akemi - san from Ginza Chosua kindly sent me a little more info on Masakatsu, Masakatsu lived in Iwashiro (present western part of Fukushima prefecture). When he was young, he went to Edo and studied under the first generation Ishiguro Masatsune. Masakatsu was given a part of his master's name "Masa" and returned to his homeland Iwashiro. There are 2 kinds of style in his works. One is shakudo nanakoji takabori Ishiguro style and the other is Aizu Shoami style. Some of his works have date: Tenpo 5 nen (1834), Tenpo 11 nen (1840), Ansei 6 nen (1859). And the weather in Tokyo... It has been snowing since this morning. It is very rare to have such heavy snow in Tokyo. I am worry trains might stop. cheers Rich

Thanks John, John, Chris appreciated. This seems more elaborate than the normal aizu shoami pieces I've seen before, do you think from the ishiguro influence? Al.... your going skiing? Damn, I'm jealous!! K you can look at it whilst I'm writing on your leg cast! :lol: see ya on the flip side. thanks guys cheers Rich

Guido, naturally you are correct! And it is times like this, or every month when I get the magazine, that I wish I could read Japanese (apart from struggling through the basics)! I'm not sure if the writings in Ginza Joho elaborate any more on Masakatsu?... but if anyone does know a little more about him would be great to know, and really appreciated. I have exhausted my small number of research books on tosogu, and have nothing on him specifically. I understand the aizu shoami school in general has mixed reputation due to their excessive production of coarse manufacture or making of imitations, (unsure if this production referred to is just in latter part of Edo period). However they also had a large number of excellent craftsman, producing some outstanding pieces. The school was active from around 1688 right through after meiji restoration. This piece is beautiful in hand, almost purple black colour to the iron plate which I can't catch in the photo's. cheers Rich

Couple more from Masahide tsuba Anyway would be interested to know more about these and your thoughts. I love the combination of soft metal and iron, it to me, represents the dichotomy that was the Japanese culture.... the beauty of the geisha and the hardness of the samurai. cheers Rich

Hi guys, wondering if anyone had info on Tojusai Masakatsu, particularly the period he was active in. He was from the Aizu Shoami school and also studied under the first Ishiguro Masatsune. I don't have the reference books to do further research on him or the school. Here's a tsuba by him that I fell for (I rarely buy tsuba but seem to be zeroing in on this style : ). This is depicting the story of Susanoo, brother of Amaterasu, and when banished from the plains of heaven (cutting a long story short) he arrived on earth (Izumo province) were he encountered a king that had lost 7 of 8 daughters to an eight headed dragon named Yamato no Orichi, to rectify previous misdeeds he set about saving Princess Kushiinada, and on the bank of a river laid a trap of 8 tubs of saki, the dragon having fallen into a stupor after drinking the saki lost his 8 heads to Susanoo, and within the serpents tail Susanoo discovered the sword called Kusanagi ('grass feller'), ... for those of you wondering .... he married the princess. The reason I say I seem to be zeroing in on this style is this is the one I bought in 2009 at the DTI, which seems to have similar style, I would say maybe same school?. This one is by Masahide and dated 1780 ??? Couple more pics in follow up post cheers Rich

Just got my copies. Just want to say ,,,,,, awesome! Thanks Marcus great stuff. cheers Rich

Hi Paul as suggested by others a very famous Hiroshige print (shono) from the Tokaido gojusan-tsugi series (53 stations of the tokaido). I think this is modern replica as suggested by Malcom the originals had scalloped corners, censor's Kiawme seal in left margin, also the reference examples I have seen all have key block line border. For interest sake the faint writing on the umbrella (on right) is (in the originals) the publishers surname, Takenouchi. There were a number of states and impressions (4 alternates that I've seen) this was often omitted in later impressions. I too love the composition of this print, the traveler's and palanquin bearers running in opposite directions from a sudden squall, the bamboo lending a sense of movement to the print. Note the use of bold triangles of varying depths, and how it captures the violent yet measured rhythms of nature with the hurried activities of man!! Love it, I would have bought it too : ) Rich

Hi all, Interestingly at the last Sydney shinsa, a mumei wakizashi was bought in. Gordon R identified it as a joint work by Tanba no kami Yoshimichi and another smith (that I can't for the life of me remember). He was very excited about it because he realised a signed, virtually identical, special order blade was documented in one of their reference books, (partail oshigata and nakago). His explanation was that Yoshimichi and other well ranked smith probably made 3 joint work blades, presented them to the client who selected one, this they signed and it's in the book. The other two sold as mumei. One ended up in Aus. cheers Rich T