bridgeofdreams

Stone's Glossary is an essential visual dictionary for those of us who like sharp pointy things and other tools for bludgeoning and bashing. I try to keep a copy or two in stock at all times. For jutte, look for Don Cunningham's "Secret Weapons of Jujutsu" published by Tuttle in 2002. Don used to live in the Chicago area and had quite a collection, and had also spent quite a bit of time in Japan researching all manner of "police" weapons and tools for disarming and restraining. I don't have this book in stock at the moment, but inexpensive copies are not hard to find, and I'm always glad to help tracking down books. - Craig

Facebook event page is here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=312746027862 See you all there! Craig

I have to confess that I opened this post with some excitement, wondering who else had a ko-kinko collection for sale. Of course, this one is mine, and your kind - and unsolicited - comments are appreciated. I had previously written about how this collection came to be here: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=6467 Some nice pieces have been bought, but there are plenty of good ones still. Get in touch with Boris if you are interested. I can say that even though the prices were reduced by 25% already from the reasonable prices originally posted, he will relay serious offers to me. Take care, Craig

I shared this with someone not on NMB who said "Akasukka School." I think if this could be done in quantity at a reasonable price point, you could sell a bunch of them at sword shows. There's one guy I can think of who would immediately set to work repatinating it. Craig

First two pictures show a yatate which is a portable case for carrying a brush (in the tube part) and a bit of cotton or wool wet with sumi ink (in the 'bowl' part.) Tucked into the obi, it became a handy way to write (or draw) on the run. There's an ebay seller named tokyoruss who has an informative page here: http://www.stutler.cc/pens/yatate/sales.html Yours has a kind of Meiji-touristy look to it. -Craig

The 1998 Tusurwaka book "Echizen Kinai Tsuba" has more examples of motifs that you would not think are Kinai at first glance than those that we tend to immediately classify as Kinai. Malcolm Cox has done quite a lot of work on these. His Kinai page is well worth a look: http://www.users.on.net/~coxm/9.%20tsuba%20iii.html His synopsis of the book is here: http://www.users.on.net/~coxm/echizen%20kinai.htm -Craig

The "commemorative edition" was nothing more than the "3rd" edition, somewhat revised from the large single-volume brown edition, issued to celebrate what would have been Hawley's 100th birthday. As I recall, there were pre-order copies sold and those people (including yours truly) are acknowledged in the front matter in Volume 1. This set is still listed on the Hawley website, though others have reported they have not been responsive to orders or inquiries for some time. I myself have not tried. The price is over the top in my opinion, but typical for eBay - people pay goofy prices sometimes for things that are obtainable elsewhere for less. At the same time it seems like a few books like this are the ones that everyone wants and comparatively few collectors bother to pursue more advanced texts. Am I allowed to mention my 50% off sale? Thanks to all who have gotten some great books at bargain prices, but for the number of people that I think are on the board, the response has been surprisingly low. I see the same thing when Grey and others offer good books at fair prices. -Craig

I've been wanting to post in this topic, but held back. Who wants to hear what a bookdealer has to say about book prices, anyway? I don't think that the current prices of books, or anything else, says much about the future of collecting. It says a lot about the condition of the worldwide economy more than anything else. David also makes a good point, there is also a seasonal aspect to the prices on the ebay auctions mentioned. And even there you can find the occasional bargain (Fujishiro set) and item that seems to sell for more than it "should" (F&G.) I have friends who have picked up very valuable books on ebay for a song (and who love to tell me about it!) I am a bookdealer. When I started out nearly six years ago, I was a collector with too many books who started bringing duplicates to shows to sell along with the swords and fittings that I was letting go of. As a life-long book lover, it made sense to me to pursue that as a vocation when my work situation changed, and the Nihonto community was a natural home for someone whose specialty was Asian books anyway. I had some resources that I put into the business and that helped to support my family while I built the business. Those resources are long gone, and if I don't sell books, Bad Things happen. This turns out to be a commentary on book prices, and a sneaky way about mentioning the sale I'm starting immediately, which will be announced in detail in the proper forum. I've gotten to feel at home here, and while I've not contributed much to the discussions, I read quite a few of the posts and enjoy your new treasures and knowledge. More than that, you guys have been a vital part of my business, and always come through - when the price is right :-) Craig

Mark, Love the bohi and sugata, it must have been truly magnificent before it was cut down. Still looks like a great find. Craig

As near as I can determine there has not been an active, open-to-the-public, study group in the Chicago area since sometime in the 1980's. I have a copy here of "Token Study Group Notes" from 1980 that credits Ted Wysocki, who was from Milwaukee but very active in the Chicago Token Study Group as well as the JSS/US. The Group was also involved with putting on a number of shows in the Chicago area over the years. The "Chicago Token Kai" show was taken over and conducted annually by Robert Coleman and others until about 5 years ago, when it was replaced by the Midwest Token Kai show organized by Marc Porpora. When I first got serious about study and collecting in the mid-1990's I wrote to the "Chicago Token Kai" at a PO Box in Round Lake IL. Like countless others, I got no reply, not even a notification of the annual show! Since this time was the beginning of the first email discussion group, hosted by Bob Cole, and the first web sites, including Rich Stein's, several of us local "young upstart" collectors who were miffed at the attitude of the "non-study" group got together a few times to try to organize something. I suppose if we had had one experienced collector who was willing to be patient with out vast ignorance, we might have gotten something started. Doug Blume and Nick Kolick were at these meetings. Sometime later, when I suppose I had been "checked out" and it was clear that I was serious, not criminally insane, and actually had a few good things in my collection, I was invited to an informal gathering at someone's home. This was really more of a show and tell session than a study group. Those areas with active and organized study groups are fortunate, and ought to be grateful to those few committed individuals who always step up and shoulder responsibilities. Craig

Peter and all, I don't think it's out of line to post this here, as it's a message Harry sent to the Token list near the end of October: Hi All, I have been dragged, kicking and screaming, into the 21st Century. I am now on cable, and my web addresses have changed.They are as follows: My email address is changed to: afu@suddenlink.net My website is now: http://pages.suddenlink.net/afuresearch/afu The old addresses will be in effect for a couple more days, but the new ones are functional now. ----------------- The new web page does work, just checked it. A good reminder for me, as I was corresponding with Harry back in September about some books, and I ought to follow up on that! Regards, Craig

My interest in Japan and "things Samurai" goes way back, and I've devoted various amounts of time, study, and money to pursuing that interest since High School. As it turned out, I did not have the extra money to get serious about collecting swords, fittings, armor, etc. until the mid 1990's, and that was also when information started to become more available on the internet, and I started to attend sword shows. I wanted to have something of everything. Actually I wanted to have a lot of everything! While I was buying swords, tsuba, polearms, and the occasional bit of armor, I was also figuring out what kind of reference books I needed for those interests, and as things turned out much of the library I assembled became part of my starting inventory of books when I switched careers starting about 6 years ago - but I get ahead of my story. While I was busy learning (and buying) I was trying to have some of everything and learn as much about it as I could - I even had a bit of correspondence with IanB about how to go about re-lacing a do I had bought. One thing I could never understand were those ads in the JSS/US newsletter from collectors who were interested in "swords by the Nth generation XYZ smith but only from the middle of his career." Huh? How could someone limit themselves so much and pass by all this other fascinating stuff? I didn't get it. As it happens, it was only when I had made the decision to become a full time bookseller, and realized that booksellers don't make enough to maintain expensive art collections, and started to sell off what I had accumulated at shows and through other means, that the opportunity presented itself to bring focus to my collection. I had always felt more of an affinity towards kodogu, especially tsuba, and after 9/11 made it more challenging to fly around with swords, it was easier to think of myself as "mainly a fittings collector." I had a fairly representative collection, iron and kinko, various schools, always things that had some appeal to me. As I was divesting, though, I had decided everything had to go. I was at a Tampa show, and Jack F. had been to my table and picked up one guard in particular more than once and put it back down. Finally I asked him about it, and he pointed out to me that these tachikanagushi guards had a particular subtle aesthetic, that they used to be seen more often at shows, and were generally underappreciated. Now, I knew all this already, but something just clicked for me and when he walked away, I took the tsuba off the table. That tsuba is shown here, third row, middle tsuba: http://www.yamabushiantiques.com/YBA2_CONSIGNMENT.htm I had decided. Even though I could not afford to be the kind of collector I thought I wanted to be, I could collect these. I had a few already, and loved them. I was not likely to see more than a few at any sword show, and they were generally fairly inexpensive. Over the next few years, that's just what I did. With the help of many, but most notably Bob Haynes, I assembled a small but focused collection of early soft metal guards, generally tachikanagushi but also other ko-kinko. One of my guiding lights in an area with little written about it was a book called "Treasures of the San Diego," which documented the artifacts recovered from a Spanish ship sunk in 1594 near the Philippines. Some Japanese mercenaries must have been aboard, as a number of yamagane tsuba were recovered, of typical tachikanagushi designs. This gave me some frame of reference for time. All of what I had learned about "feeling" the age of old iron tsuba no longer applied, and I loved the time I spent with these guards trying to unlock their secrets. Ultimately it came down to a pure appreciation of the materials and workmanship, and the function they were made for, as real dating or assigning to schools is fairly meaningless with these tsuba. I've moved on, and let go, and my friend Boris Markhasin, who has an appreciation for these, has put him on his website on consignment. I realized that finally as I let go, I can see my collection as a whole (there are a few pieces there that predate my focus.) I'm enjoying seeing them find new homes and become part of new collections, and hope that sharing my story might bring out some others about directions your collections have taken, or help a newer collector see that there are ways to focus a collection in ways that are as unique as each of you are as collectors. Have a look, if you like, at my collection http://www.yamabushiantiques.com/YBA2_CONSIGNMENT.htm - your comments, and your stories, are most welcome. -Craig

My neighbors at Paragon have a complete set of the blue books just listed for $295. I thought I had seen a copy of the most recent 2 vol. paperback set, but someone must have grabbed it. Craig Harris http://www.bridgeofdreams.com

I had the opportunity to meet Patrick and get a good close look - loupe close - at his work 3 or 4 years ago at the SF Token Kai. His work impressed me, and quite a few collectors who I consider more experienced and knowledgeable than myself. I can only assume it has improved in the interim, as he seemed to be dedicated to his craft. As has been said, I also found him to be a person of character and integrity. Craig http://www.bridgeofdreams.com

Thanks for that information, Ford. Now that you mention it, I recall that the pictures show the stages of the work, but not the work being done. Not quite as simple as "block of marble" ----> "rough shaping with chisel" ----> "Michelangelo's David" - but certainly not too informative if the interest is the real "how." The film sounds most interesting. And I also concur with Malcolm's website recommendation - a wealth of information and beautiful workmanship. Craig http://www.bridgeofdreams.com

There is a fairly inexpensive book that was published by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in 1983, paperback, called "Living National Treasures of Japan." One of the sections shows a series of pictures of the making of a tsuba by a modern tsuba-ko working in Higo style. I don't recall the name, and can't look it up as I'm out of stock on that title at the moment. Craig http://www.bridgeofdreams.com

April 30 - May 2, see: http://web.mac.com/mporpora/show/Welcome.html A new venue, which I have seen, newly remodeled Hyatt in Schaumburg, plenty of good dining nearby. See you there! Craig Craig Harris Bridge of Dreams LLC Books from and about Asia http://www.bridgeofdreams.com

Thanks for those pictures, Ford, very interesting koshirae. There was a baleen-wrapped O-tanto for sale at the Tampa show some years ago, and a friend seriously considered buying it but the deal breaker was the repairs needed to the handle wrap, which was more in the typical style where small bundles of baleen were the "ito." As I recall it had been dyed a wonderful reddish color, but several of the "ito" were broken, and the difficulty of finding the material for the repair and someone able to make it made it a no-sale for my friend. I should have had a camera. Craig http://www.bridgeofdreams.com

Rich, First, a great fuchi-kashira, thanks for sharing. I do not recall the art name associated with this kao, but I know Dr. Torigoye used a different hanko (seal) for hakogaki he wrote in Japan vs. out of country. I'm pretty sure that the round hanko was used only outside Japan. I have two images of items sold long ago. The kao seems to be the same as on yours, but the hanko is the round one. I was told by Bob Haynes and/or Jim Gilbert that the single mark at one o'clock on the kao indicated a first-class item, two marks second-class. I have seen the kao with two marks. Images are at: http://www.getdropbox.com/gallery/57317 ... s?h=8cbb88 I'll ask Bob when I next speak with him about the art name. Craig http://www.bridgeofdreams.com

A very tasteful and interesting kozuka, John. I appreciate the informed discussion of this and other work but don't have anything to add to it. I do find the comments and observations about wear patterns on nanako to be most interesting. I don't know that I have any particularly insightful comments except that I have only seen this sort of wear on pre-Edo work. This kozuka seems to have had a more well-defined nanako to begin with than another that I know quite well, a "Five Bulls" kozuka I have owned for some time which Boris currently has listed for me on his website, http://www.yamabushiantiques.com, on the consignment page. The direct link is http://www.yamabushiantiques.com/CH%20Kozuka%202.htm It seems to me that this example shows a cruder nanako technique than John's. I'm not sure if that means anything, but my tendency is to think of it as being somewhat older work. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Craig Craig Harris http://www.bridgeofdreams.com