Toryu2020

Gunto - Have to say I love this theme too. I am guessing these are the sellers photos - do you have a shot of the ura. There are some valid points made above, closer examination will prove of interest. Once you've got it in hand do post some more detail photos. and thank you for sharing, -t

I thank you both - I would never have got Mori out of that! It seems his handwriting improved over the years, here's hoping his sword making did as well... -t

I have a question I hope is worthy of the NMB - Friend of a friend has this old sword on his wall and the signature is; 關住なんとか兼治作 Seki Jû Nantoka Kanenori saku What I am after is the "Nantoka" - his Seki kanji is pretty idisyncratic and I have had no luck deciphering this third kanji which I presume to be a family name. I am told that Slough has a Kanenori using these kanji but I cannot for the life of me find my copy. Does anyone recognize this character and is anyone willing to post the oshigata from Slough which may or may not be this same smith? Thanks in advance for any help, hints or otherwise and no I have no other photos to share at the moment but have been asking for same... -t

How about Masatsune Gyonen nanajukyu-sai 正恒 行年 七十九歳 Masatsune aged 79 years (made this) No idea how to translate Christians' though...

Each year on Children's Day the Yasukuni Jinja does a display of sword and armour and related arts. One time when I was fortunate to go, there was a Togi-shi, a horimono-shi and a tsuba-ko doing live demos among the exhibits. The tsubako was hard at work doing nanako on a shakudo tsuba. After some conversation with him he swapped out his plate and let us have a go. Guiding the tip of the chisel with the tip of your left pinkie you struck a single straight hard blow to make a single perfect circle of nanako. The trick was moving the chisel down just so much and then punching another without really lifting the tip. Therefore you could not see your punches until you were 7 or 8 punches down the line, a great deal of it was "feel". The material was forgiving so you could correct a weak punch or a misaligned one but this more often than not started a cascade of correction that needed to be made. Not being a DIY guy myself I would never have had the patience to master it much less keep at it for five years! Like so many things Japanese; deceptively simple. Of interest is the fact that he believed that nanako was done not by the master but by the women and children of a machi-bori household. It is tedious work that requires a precise hand that delivers the exact same punch for each and every dot, in lines that are dead straight. He posited that an artist thinking of the finished product would get too caught up in the work, trying to make it better than perfect, and this would show in the final product. A child or woman trained to do the work had nothing tied up in the success or failure of the piece and therefore could punch away for hours producing row upon row of "artless" perfect nanako. While I like this idea very much I have always wondered about pieces like the one shown above where the nanako clearly "moves" around the overlayed pieces. Were their workers who produced nothing but nanako plate for the master to later work on? Was the secret to the Goto success generations of girls trained to sit around and punch nanako all day? -t

蟻通し神社　Aritôshi-jinja by Yasuchika from page 22/23 of the Tsuba Gadai Jiten by Numata Kenji...

Hototogisu...

Just to set the record straight; Jim Gilbert: Shinsa team member, director of the NTHK, president of the New York Token Kai and vice president of the American branch of the NBTHK. He began studying Japanese art history in college and later developed an interest in swords and fittings. He joined the NTHK and began visiting Japan to study in the 1990's. A direct student of Hagihara Mamoru. He began volunteering at NTHK shinsa in the US in 1997 and formally joined the shinsa team as a researcher in 2002. He became a full member of the fittings shinsa team in 2004. His area of specialization is pre-Edo period tsuba and kodogu. He has published on the subject in the US and Europe.

I believe this is Aritoshi-jinja and not Hanasaku Jii-san... -t

Sorry Bry but this appears to be an unsigned kogatana that someone scribbled on with a pen. Was this the blade in your kozuka? -t

Kanzan and Jittoku Looks like Showa to me, and is the signature not Masamune? -t

Adam - Beautiful photography there. If I were explaining antai to someone I would point out the dark area just above the bright white hamon as it appears in this picture - the antai is defined by the faint white reflection that we know as utsuri. Would that we had an equally well depicted Unsho blade to compare with... -t

If shipping from Japan use EMS - Fed-Ex goes thru Alaska and that is where they are super sensitive to "animal products" -t

Welcome Henrik! Love those Chokuto! -t

Adrian - Show us more of that blade when you have the chance. looks intriguing -t

Martin - Stay safe my man! NHK news is showing all the crews checking out the reactors in Chiba. A few cracks in your hotel are one thing, lets pray there are no cracks in your power plant! -t

Ed - Remember that the points in your hamon, the parts closest to the shinogi, are the "tops" of your hamon. The flat, straight parts closest to the edge are the valleys, the "bottom." If you think of it in this way it is easy to see that this is not hako-midare. fwiw -t

Robert - It is cursive but it clearly is Mitsu. I recommend "The Samurai Sword" by John Yumoto - besides a great introduction to swords it includes examples of common characters and common variations. Also if there is anything on the reverse of your tang, I am sure the members would appreciate seeing a photo of that as well. -t

Cheers Ford! I love Sansai as an historical figure and I love Higo tsuba, especially Jingo. And until you pointed it out I never made the connection. There could hardly be a finer example of samurai virtue, courage and action. I am sorry to say Chris, but this man was no pampered figure-head whose feet never touched bare earth. The proto-type of the Higo koshirae which became so popular is known by two names, one is "Nobunaga koshirae", so-called for the Kashu Nobunaga blade that it held. A hint at Sansai's character in that he carried no famous blade but a simple working mans sword. It is also known as "Kassen koshirae" not from battle (kassen) but from the Thirty-six Immortal Poets, San-ju Rokassen. The story goes that when Sansai learned that a group of his retainers was involved in a scandal he became so enraged he struck down the leader then and there. (some versions of the story say he killed all 36 offenders with this very sword) An elegant exterior hiding deadly serious intentions. (this was after 1600 and after he retired BTW) I have to give Ford props here Sansai knew war, he designed his own armour, he was a martial artist, the very man that employed Musashi and he would, as has been said, hardly have employed inferior materials or items of decoration for something as vital as his own sword or those of his family and retainers. With this one example I think Ford has made a tremendous point. with your all's indulgence, I include below a snippet of my article "Bun Bu Ryodo" from the newsletter of the NCJSC; "Hosokawa Tadaoki Sansai 忠興 (1564-1645) – If any man was a better example of the dual way than Hosokawa Yûsai it would be his eldest son, Tadaoki. He served Nobunaga like his father, earning the fief of Tango. Because of differences with Akechi Mitsuhide he sided with Hideyoshi. He took part in the campaign to subjugate Kyushu, was among the generals called on to bring down the Hojo of Odawara and was the commander in the siege of Nirayama castle. His wife, a daughter of Mitsuhide, had been baptized, Gracia. She had been confined to house arrest following the assassination of Nobunaga. Later in 1600 when Tadaoki was campaigning with Ieyasu against the Uesugi, representatives of Ishida Mitsunari came to his Osaka home to take her hostage. As the wife of a samurai lord she understood she could not be taken alive, but as a Christian she could not commit suicide. So it was that Tadaoki had arranged for one of his retainers to take her life and then (the retainer) his own and thus frustrate his enemies. From Tango Tadaoki was transferred to Kokura, Buzen with an income of 360, 000 koku and then to Yatsushiro, Higo with an income of 540,000 koku. Here he gathered great artists and accomplished painters and swordsmen. Like his father he was a master of Tôken, adept at poetry, painting and tea ceremony. As a student of Sen no Rikyu he developed his own school of tea and collected some of the most famous articles of tea ware known. His taste in tea and experience with Hoki ryu iaijutsu were a direct influence on the development of the Nobunaga Koshirae. His experiences on the battlefield are directly reflected in the armour that he developed for himself but that we now know as Etchu Ryu gusoku from his title of Etchu no Kami. He studied Waka, Shushi-gaku, and Tenrei Tokujitsu and he revived the annual festival of Sharei. Sharei was a tournament held on the 17th of the first month where retainers tested their archery skills against one another, the winners receiving increases in their stipend. He was known as the “Daimyo of Bunbu Ryodô.”"

Not locked yet? Western collectors have no problem it seems displaying buddhas and other votive objects from other cultures. Would you proudly display a crucifix on your mantle if you knew it belonged in the vatican? That said there was a long history of raiding shrine store-houses in order to equip armies on the move. This was historically how many swords were lost, and some discovered! The victor was by unwritten rule to return the swords after the battle. There are records that show swords that went out came back but with different dimensions! Kusunoki-san a single list would be enourmous. Most large shrines with established collections publish catalogues of their holdings - some are exhaustive, listing everything, and some just highlight the better blades... -t

EMS is best Remember Fedex goes thru Alaska where fish and game is looking for endangered species like the lowly same... -t

Count me jealous

Looks to read; 武州住安親　　（加尾） Bushû jû Yasuchika (kao) but as Grey has pointed out not the real Yasuchika I'm thinking... -t

Stefan - this is what I see; . Sorry have no books at hand so cannot decipher those two characters but I am sure others on this list better at reading than me will fill in those blanks... -t PS with a little study you could work this out yourself so dont be in a hurry to open up that spoiler

Ed - Most likely a scene from Heike Monogatari judging by the armour and accoutrement. Printed much later though, not a heian era image... -t