paul V

I also have a tachi by him but I have to apologize for the photo's. I only have a (very) old cell-phone. At that time Paul Martin arranged the deal for me. He did it in a splendid way. Paul V

I have a kogatana with a sayagaki by him: Paul V

Sorry, new attempt:

Not spectacular but a decent habaki for a tachi: Habaki1.pg

As a modest collector I always have to be very carefully when I buy a new sword. I try to buy it for a sum that I might earn back if I have to sell it afterwards when I want to upgrade my small collection. But most of the time I suffer a loss. So to me Nihonto are a bad investment - but that’s no problem as studying Nihonto is a fantastic hobby! I just noticed that some people know better how to invest in Nihonto. Have a look at this tanto: https://www.aoijapan.net/tanto-mumei-den-tametsugu/ https://www.aoijapan.com/tanto-mumei-tametsugu/ This impressive Tametsugu tanto almost quadrupled his price in seven years. Conclusion: I am too dumb or just a stupid investor 😉 Paul v

Ono-san used to ask 5 million Yen for his Yamatorige utsushi. So 3 million wold be cheap.

I would like to put a friendly and helpful fellow member of the NMB in the spotlight. I’ll share –very briefly- my recent experience: -wanted to buy a specific book -searched the internet for months, found only one very expensive example -asked Grey Doffin if he could find one for me (wasn’t available in his stock) - one week later the book is on its way to me from Japan for a really good price thanks to Grey Thanks Grey, guys like you make or hobby even more enjoyable! Paul V.

I recently bought a tsuba from Grev for a good price. It arrived a few days later and was better than on the photo. Great seller! Paul v

I would like to buy the a4 hardcover. Regards; Paul V

Dear Randy I would be much obliged if you would add me to your list. Thanks in advance; Paul

In “A History of the Catholic Church in Japan from its beginnings to the early Meiji era”, Joseph Jennes refers to Christian tsuba (but also to banners, helmets, stirrups and saddles). He shows one he found in one of the books of the art historian Tei Nishimura; “Namban-bijutsu” (Tokyo 1958 西村貞、『南蛮美術』、大日本雄弁会講談社、1958). So it seems that at least Tei Nishimura believed in Christian tsuba. Paul V

Hi Randy, Please add me to the list. Paul

Hi, Looks a bit like his one :D http://www.ricecracker.com/japanese_swo ... hi/sw8.htm Paul

Hi everyone, I want to emphasize that Paul Martin also belongs on this list. I’ve been studying Japanese swords for years, meanwhile saving money to upgrade my modest collection and finally I wanted to buy a real eye catcher in Japan. But… the seller didn’t know any English and my knowledge of Japanese is limited to hai and iie But luckily there was Paul. I contacted him and he arranged everything in a perfect way! He contacted the seller, discussed a fair price and took care of the whole shipping and handling. Meanwhile he kept me informed of every detail in the process. Without Paul’s help I never would have acquired this sword! Paul V

I somehow missed this poll. If possible I would like to order1 set. Paul V

I would certainly want to buy one. Paul V

To me, after all these years, “The ascent of man” is still the best documentary I have ever seen. I have read the book that was published afterwards over and over again so now it is thumbed and all the pages are becoming loose. Jacob Bronowski was such an erudite person who could explain the highlights of human history so clear that I would advise everybody to read the book. After seeing “The ascent of man” one of the things I had learned was that a Japanese sword was created with a fantastic craftsmanship to become an object that unified crafts and art. It was then I realised I wanted once to own such a sword. This led me to a hobby, or perhaps a passion, that I still enjoy almost every day. Paul

Good evening all Grey and Craig, thank you both for the input. Stephen, I don't know the books weight but it is the Teiryo yoji (9 x 12" and over 400pp), so it is rather heavy and it has to be sent to Belgium. I don't want to risk it gets lost so I do want an insurance. Regards; Paul

Ls Recently I bought a book from a friendly fellow-member of this forum. It is a rather heavy book and UPS asks no less then $140 to send it from the U.S. to Europe. So I would like to ask for the best way to send such a book safe and not to expensive from the US to Europe. Regards; Paul

Tyler Since a few years I am interested in swords made by this Kunitsuna from Echizen. I have three of them for the moment. It is important to judge every sword on its own merits because there is a big difference in quality. You can find some real good swords with this mei but also some that are of a rather low quality. In Fujishiro's Shinto Hen you find only one Kunitsuna from Echizen and he is rated Chu saku. In the Toko Taikan you can find two Kunitsuna's with this mei. So perhaps there was only one Kunitsuna in the Shimosaka school who could make good swords but sometimes had an off day or there were two Kunitsuna and one of them was more skilled than the other. In this case, it is difficult to judge the quality because of the condition of the sword but I wouldn't expect much. And the horimono isn't one you normaly find on a good blade either, so I would advice against buying. Even if you had the blade polished and it would turn out to be a decent blade, it would still have an ugly horimono and that would always be the first thing you would see whenever you took the blade in your hands. Of course, this is only my opinion and I am far from being an expert. Best regards; Paul V

Kevin The use of a real antique nihonto for iaido might indeed be a bit touchy. It is not very respectful to use an artistic antique blade that has been cherished by generations of owners and risk to damage it, unless one is very high skilled. But of course there are also lower quality blades which can be used. When I started collecting years ago, one of the first blades I bought was a koto period bizen blade that was used for years for iaido. It was a very flashy blade but it was tired and had kizu. I was very pleased with it as it was my first real Japanese sword. But after some time, like all collectors, I wanted better swords and this blade didn’t fit in my collection anymore. So, as these blades are not really collector’s items, I see no reason why they couldn’t be used for iaido (by skilled people of course as they are still dangerous weapons). Paul p.s. this sword is for sale, if you’re interested, PM me.

I was interested in a sword on Ebay, item 320144175868 . The sword has tokubetsu hozon papers from 2000. Strange enough there are two hi with kaki nagashi on the sword which don’t appear on the nakago’s picture on the papers. Clearly, they have been added afterwards. The upper part of the nakago looks repatinated. What is the impact of this adaptation on the value of the papers? Paul

Mike I am afraid it becomes even more complicated. Both Kunitsuna blades I have also have the "Echizen ju" on the ura side of the nakago and the katana is a clear exemple of the Kambun style. The mei matches rather well with the one on page 234 in Fujishiro's Shinto Hen. Fujishiro rates him chusaku and places him in the Kambun period. He also gives only one Kunitsuna from this school. Does this mean there were 3 Shimosaka Kunitsuna? Paul

Mike Kunitsuna was indeed a member of the Shimosaka school. He was called Tahyoeinojo and he worked during the Kanbun era. I have seen several of his swords that had that typical Kambun style. The quality of his swords might be very different. About a year ago I saw a wakizashi that had many kizu but I have also seen some very nice swords from this smith. For the moment I have two swords from Kunitsuna with a suguha hamon. Both are papered. As he is a chu-saku smith I don’t take there are gimei swords. I never found any information about his relationship with any of the Yasutsugu.