Toryu2020

Shibata Ka - known for wild jigane and marumune... SHIBATA KA – Yakiba.com

Ford Hallam - kisseru and tokkuri my favorite subject and my favorite new bolo tie...

Quite nice - dare we ask what shipping to the U.S. would look like? -t

Kusano Yoshiaki - Meiji period swordmaker

Nice one John " The term "Shishi Jinjin" (志士仁人) is derived from the phrase in the fifteenth chapter of the Analects of Confucius, "Eiringuo," which means "to kill oneself in order to do benevolent deeds. Mostly, the term refers to those who led revolutionary movements with the idea of the Emperor and expulsion of the barbarians." Foo Dogs on the other hand... "Guardian lions are referred to in various ways depending on language and context. In Chinese they are traditionally called simply shi (Chinese: 獅; pinyin: shī) meaning lion—the word shi itself is thought to be derived from the Persian word šer.[2] Lions were first presented to the Han court by emissaries from Central Asia and Persia, and were already popularly depicted as guardian figures by the sixth century AD.[3] Today the guardian lions are more usually specified by reference to the medium or material, for example: Stone lion (石獅; Shíshī): for a stone sculpture; or Bronze lion (銅獅; Tóngshī): for a bronze sculpture. and less commonly: Auspicious lion (瑞獅; Ruìshī): referring to the Tibetan Snow Lion or good fortune" Please call me Tom and please keep those tsuba coming... -t

Paz - you are correct, this is accepted thinking on the period. Another possible reason is that Kyoto itself was divided up into armed camps and longer swords showed above the trenches and barricades adding to the intimidation factor. The fight was not limited to Kyoto and Kamakura but spread elsewhere with many parts of the country split. After the court was reconciled in 1596, many local areas still had grudges to settle, this morphed into the Onin wars which led into 200 years of warfare, the sengoku-jidai... -tch

We have a thread for Gendai-to but not gendai fittings. I am sure there are some great pieces out there. I shall start us off with my latest acquisition, a daisho set of tsuba by the premier American swordmaker Keith Nobuhira Austin. Quite chuffed with this find as it fits nearly everything about my collecting and experience... -t

I'm sure you found your tsuba by now - but Meirin Sangyo has a great selection... -tch

Shinsa was a big success, by all accounts the sword show was too. Apologies to all the swords I didn't get to buy since I was busy in the shinsa room...

Just a question - if it were mine I should want to be able to remount in future. Not a comment on your choices... -t

but is that "reversable"?? -t

try customjapanesecalligraphy.com -t

If you're on Facebook - you cannot do better than Jonathan Maples. -t

Jacques Please read into the Iga wars under Oda Nobunaga - spy clans? Yes? Deadly Black Pajamas? No...

I wish someone had offered me this in my 20's, regardless of language I woulda been sooo there! -t

PAZ - Looking very much forward to enjoying your efforts. You mustn't feel lonely, with this new inter webs thing, many more people will find you and you will find your people! (Wasn't like this for us geezers ) Both my Iai teachers were passionate about swords - many, many teachers I have met over the years have little or no interest or display the same tired misconceptions we often encounter here in the West. Yes I am talking Japanese Sensei. If you have the passion, you have to bring it into the conversation and get those kids talking ("Oh there he goes, he's go off again") you may be seen as the sword nut but it the way to find others. Blog away man those conversations will be welcome! -t

There may be other factors for a sword to go Juyo but if we accept that the workmanship has to be there then this is enough of a sample for me to accept that a Chujo-saku smith can indeed have a really good day! And the statement stands. -tch

What are the mounts Mark? Any evidence that this nakago was altered - looks like you have a place name, a family name (Ono) but no first name - on the ura the Michi? may be the start of the owners name? now cut off? -t

"Kofax takes the mound, the crowd are on the edge of their seats, Williams steps up, he looks ready to fight, first pitch comes across, "STRIKE!", not looking good for the batter, each player takes his set and here comes the second pitch, "STRIKE!", I am thinking Williams will need another strategy but wait, he takes the same set, Kofax fires, the ball is struck!, a high fly ball over centerfield, over everyone's head, over the banner on the centerfield wall, and the banner reads!?! Support your local sword club!!"

Thank you for clarifying - very interesting piece. I would put a lot of faith in the attribution from Tenrai as he is my teacher's grandfather and is actually the first person to put the Hon'Ami system of kantei as we know it into print. Looking forward to the reveal but I do have to say I totally disagree with the following statement; "The real purpose of kantei as we all know for the organizer is to have no risk o-sensei cosplay while embarrassing everyone else." We can argue about that elsewhere... -t

Alex is a very cool dude, practised with him in Katsuura. I have his Musashi book in my reading queue...

Hankei is a good guess.

Can we at least know the period?

So right time period wrong road haha! I am going with Chogi - and I would like to see the yakitsume if that is possible...

Alex - we do Zoom Kantei and welcome Brazilians, Canadiens and even Brits!