Rich S

While all the above comments and idea are likely correct, I suspect the primary cause for the decline in Nihonto interest is $$$$$. It's a hellava lot of expense (starting at over $1000) for a newbie to get into collecting Nihonto. Basically that's why I've not purchased a sword or tsuba in several years; the cost is just too $^&% high! Whether you call it art or whatever, it is still a rich man's hobby (and I ain't rich :-) Rich S

Trust me, it's not just newbies or iaidoka that mishandle swords. I've seen very experienced, well known sword dealers handle peoples swords like so much junk metal. Rich S

Both Nagamitsu and Emura have routinely received papers by both the NBTHK and NTHK. But you are right about the Emura blades. No one is really sure which he made and which were made by inmates. That doesn't seem to prevent them from getting papers however. Rich S

To me the characters are meaningless, I suspect it is a modern, well aged Chinese fake. Rich S

Hmm, you're right. According to Keith, very sparsely attended. But then, given the economy for most folks $6000 for anything isn't a bargain - a $1 loaf of bread is Rich S

I trust someone will report on the Chicago show. Hope all have a good time and find treasures. Rich S

Not to worry, it will be several months before anything happens to the Yahoo site and the Earthlink site is there to stay. Rich S

I would also tend to go with "C" - none of the above. Rich S

Thanks Kevin and Barry - Barry - To remove all the links on my site would reduce it's usefulness a lot IMHO. Plus it would mean rewriting every page on the site. Can't do that, but thanks for the offer. The earthlink site is and will still be there. Rich S

Brian - Thanks for the offer, but as you said, let's wait and see what happens. With all the good, new sites, mine isn't used as much anymore and the earthlink site may very well have enough bandwidth. Certainly wouldn't accept donations for a host - if I need a paid host, I can do that. I do appreciate the offer though. Rich S

Dirk - Much appreciate the offfer. Let's see when Geocities actually goes off and how much the Earthlink site is used. I set up the Geocities mirror way back when my site was one of only a few and had real bandwidth problems. Now with all the new good sites, bandwidth may not be a problem with the earthlink site. It's not that much used anymore anyway. Let's wait and see, but I do again thank you for the offer and may end up down the road taking you up on it. Thanks again Rich S

Don't know quite where to post this, but Yahoo has announced that they are closing down Geocities later this summer. That means my mirror site will go. I'm looking for a free webhost for the mirror site. Anyone know of any still free webhosts? Need about 5 meg space and FTP access. Thanks The Earthlink site will still be up, but has limited band width. Rich S

Old guy - yes. sports car, mistress, motorcycle, money - no (but wouldn't mind any of them :-) just a few old swords and tsuba. rich s

Nice site and good stuff. I've added Fred's site to my commercial links page. Rich S

A quick scan of Wallinga's book on Minatogawa show all (I think) with the mum on waves crest. There is one early sword known without the crest. However the same smith's did make swords not for Minatogawa that are not marked. Also there was a group of swords by Kanefusa made for a naval officer's group that have the crest on the blade, rather than the nakago. See my section on Minatogawa at: http://www.geocities.com/alchemyst/gendai.htm Rich S

Some of the mantetsu blades made in the Dairen Railroad factory may bear the stamp of the Manchuria Railroad company (right). These were made in the late 1930's and are considered relatively rare. Other blades with the plain mantetsu mei will have the stamp of the Manchurian Mukden arsenal, sometimes referred to as the "nan" stamp. This was used from the late 1930's until 1945. ------------------- This is from my website. See http://www.geocities.com/alchemyst/koa.htm for pics of the stamps. Rich S

For what it's worth, I copied and saved this from another message board several years ago. May or may not be correct or relevant. Don't recall who posted it. _____________ As I have reported here before (actually, quite a long time ago...), the Kunimori blades were not made by Miyaguchi, only signed by him. According to his son, who helped hold the blades while his father cut the signatures, they were made in bulk by a smith in Shizuoka prefecture named Mitsukoshi Hiromasa, using western steel. Apparently they were forge welded, but the exact nature of their construction is not known. They were known to have been made of western steel, this is not in dispute.... ---------------- Rich S

I also have serious doubts about 2 and 3. The first one may be ok, but remember that standard army officer's dirks were basically the same design. Sellers love to list them as Kamikaze dirks as it makes them sound more important and sell better. Rich S

Steve - Take a look at my oshigata at: http://www.geocities.com/alchemyst/oshigata/amahide.jpg Other than that one, I've not seen anything specific for Kanemune other than the usual Seki or Showa stamps. Rich S

No, Kanemune's swords are considered Showato, non-traditionally made whether or not they have an arsenal stamp. I've had one without and it was definitely not traditionally made. Rich S

Yes, Fukumoto Kanemune with Showa stamp - very typical of his work. Rich S

Brian - Thanks, that certainly is a strange mei for Emura. Never seen the "E" or some of the other Kanji cut that way by him or his students. I guess it could be just another variation; certainly looks well carved. No, I haven't noticed folks on ebay using my site material as I don't even look at ebay in relation to Nihonto anymore. Just not worth slugging thru all the crap to maybe find one or two (generally overpriced IMHO) swords or tsuba. Thanks again, Rich S

Would someone please provide a link directly to the mei. I can't find it in his 170 pics Has anyone noticed that in some pics it appears the hamon runs off the kissaki? It may just be a problem with the photos, but I'd sure ask. BTW - I did not give him premission to use the info from my site. Rich S

Yes, I think a family name. The closest I can find in Chappelear is Makita, but that may not be right. RIch S

I seem to recall that Harry Watson (or maybe someone else) published a user's guide in the JSSUS journal several years ago. Not a full index, but had descriptions of the various sections and their layout. Someone may want to scrounge back issues of the JSSUS and see if they can find it. Rich S