Bazza

(clenched teeth) Congratulations!!! BaZZa.

Yes my Good Friend, I suspect its worth what you paid for it!!! Do you want to see my slightly damaged pale green, signed Sung plate I paid $1 for??? Some knowledgeable person told me it was restaurant ware!!! BaZZa. PS - I'll eat my hat if its worth substantially more than you paid for it...

Oh, its happening here too in Australia. Cogent articles in newpapers by some reporters on the lunacy of it all, with which I am in hearty agreement. BaZZa.

A triple whammy!!! Mikoyan, the tang looks nice and unmolested with its two character signature suggesting a wakizashi rather than a katateuchi of the late Koto period.. Try to put up photos of the koshirae and parts of the sword, tsuka, tsuba etc etc. The blade too - how long is it from the back notch to the point? Thanks for showing. BaZZa.

My son once asked me if his Mother would like to go out to dinner. "Dunno", I said "Alaska". I saw that joke in an Archie comic when I was a kid 65 years ago, never forgot it. Thanks for the opportunity Dale. BaZZa.

Is this the same NAGAHAMA where Hideyoshi (?) once had a castle?? Long ago I had a katana signed NAGAHAMA JU KIYOTSUGU. I passed it on in the need for something else, but quite some time after I discovered that Nagahama was a castle town and I kicked myself a little... BaZZa.

Babu/Adam, You have given me a little thrill tonight. I was delighted to see your kogatana with a YASUTSUGU mei and aoi mon. I have a very similar, but not identical piece. Here's mine alongside yours for comparison - I offer two pictures. There are clear differences in the mei, but if they were made some years apart that would explain it. Oh, I would like to buy yours, but I'm financially hors de combat at present! Best regards, BaZZa.

Alex, A longish time ago someone put up a detailed diagram of a teppo to illustrate the name of parts of the gun. Someone here may remember the thread exactly. I see you are new here - can I suggest you familiarise yourself with the Search feature and go looking for teppo threads?? I have 5 teppo and some photos of lock internals. I'll go hunt them out after dinner and TV viewing and send them to you. Send me your email address by PM (Personal Mail - another nice feature of NMB) to save cluttering up the Board with surplus photos - unless their is a scream to put them here... Best regards, BaZZa aka Barry Thomas (Melbourne, Australia)

Michael, Yours is an invitation to top level discussion that I can't join because I've never seen such swords!!! However, I shall follow the discussion with great interest. Your statements above obliquely remind me of a comment that Albert Yamanaka once made in one of his Nihonto Newsletters wherein he opined "I have never seen a sword that 'knocked my eyes out' " However, he was always wanting to buy swords!!! BaZZa.

Laurent, Very interesting, thanks. I'm guessing it is not a re-curve bow like the bigger yumi?? BaZZa.

OTTOMH and responding to the challenge (WTFDIK) its Chinese and the message at the end is that Time is running out... BaZZa.

Not this little wood duck... Never tried Gumtree. BaZZa.

Ah, Grev mate, I appear younger because of the company I keep!!! My Auld Wormates and I still hobnob together for lunches and reunions and we keep each other on our toes. This is all through cancer ops and the sundry troubles of aging bodies. Same goes for my Nihonto buddies. Red wine too is a lovely prop. My colleagues once asked (in our working daze) "Barry, is there anything red wine doesn't go with?" I thought for a while and said "Tripe!" Red wine goes well with raspberries and icecream, I have found... Selfie will be forthcoming. I get slack because I'm swept off my feet with distractions of manifold sorts, but it will happen. In fact, I had some photos set aside, but I forgot in which folder I put them... On your two tsuba, I particularly like the second one because of the fine condition of the shibuichi. Even from a mere photo it exudes a certain quality. Since you are in the UK do get Ford to have an in-hand look at it as it might be worth putting some restorative money into it. Now, for our newer NMB members interested in tsuba I heartily commend this thread as a darn good read: http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/22873-help-my-awakening-to-old-iron/ Now on gimei, We have all seen those gauche Meiji productions that "look good" at first blush, but are really knock-offs for tourists and the unwary. They have no merit at all. I have read that there are many times more tsuba in existence than swords to put them on, which bespeaks a burgeoning industry of (some) artists creating high quality utsushimono. The parlance in Western art is to use the descriptor "After..." to describe a painting from a student in a master's studio. The same applies to tosogu that are high quality pieces, but not from the Master's hand. BaZZa "Gunnadoo" Thomas.

Yes to Dale and Stephen where it is the Western way of objective proof and I agree with it, BUT - it is not the Japanese way. Mauro is right on with the GIFT tradition and I suspect there is potential for a very much longer dissertation on this aspect. BaZZa. PS - HAPPY BIRTHDAY GREV - roll on your OBE. I'm 6 years ahead of you in that race, in which I hope the years emulate a tortoise and not a hare!!!! PPS - I like both tsuba and agree with the fond expressions above.

Alex, on the surface very, very nice. I think you are very fortunate to inherit this sword. I'm going to s-t-r-e-t-c-h my neck out and say you have an itomaki-no-tachi koshirae from the Edo period (obvious) with a blade that may be a Shimosaka katana of the Yasutsugu line (a wild guess). Very much looking forward to your nakago reveal. BaZZa.

Thanks Ray. That answers the main thrust of my question as I had previously associated the bamboo inserts for the mekugi to indicate that an artisan in America had made the shirasaya. Best regards, Barry.

Paul, Your tif images open in my ACDSee app and look OK, but when I enlarge them the lines and hada disappear in a blur. I presume you are using a tripod to capture these images?? There are far more capable people than I on this Board to comment about photography, but as one who has tried the same thing by various means one thought occurs to me. If you are using a zoom lens zoom right into the blade, focus as carefully as you can, then zoom back out to the full length, stop your lens down to say f18 and expose accordingly. The other thing I tried and didn't persist with was to make a simple contrivance out of wood that allowed me to focus closely on a small part of the gun or sword, take the shot, then move along to the next shot with a little overlap, etc etc. i would put cross hairs on the background, stitch the images together, and finally crop the cross hairs out. Voila. As I said, I didn't persist with it, but perhaps I should try it again... BaZZa.

Ray, Nice offering. Can we know who made the shirasaya, please?? BaZZa.

Jean, Hate to say this as you might think I'm trying to teach you how to suck eggs, BUT, if one opens the photo and presses Ctrl + it enlarges the given image. I've done this quite successfully with this image and off-hand even so I can't read (i.e., translate) it... BaZZa. EDIT: Bruce, better, but it needs to be clearer as well!!!

Mark, Congrats, a nice starter piece that you can enjoy right away. There are a few ways to find out more about any swordsmith's signature -- - put the kanji string into google 阿波守藤原康綱 - put the translation into google Awa no Kami Yasutsuna - note though that he didn't work in Shikoku Island; Awa no Kami is an honorific title. Yasutsuna actually worked in Omi province - see http://www.nihonto.de/ForSale/Yasutsuna/Yasutsuna.html - put the smith's name Yasutsuna into this link https://nihontoclub.com/view/smiths/meisearchto see how many used that name and at what period in time. I should add it doesn't always yield a result... BaZZa.

Yes Steve, thanks. These videos are very illuminating. The video following the above The Reluctant Craftsman is about iron kettle casting and is also a very good watch: https://youtu.be/8OVEyYkbwS4?list=PLj9MGTTRCYiWn5UdBYa0u3U92uWV9STBE BaZZa.

Your papers are, as said, one looking like a sales invoice the other a toruko. the latter being a "registration" paper that stays with the sword and is usually given up when the sword leaves Japan. As for the statement that the original paper needs to be kept on file in Japan is a furphy, simply untrue. If the blade has been to a formal Shinsa and granted a paper the original paper most certainly stays with the sword, a record of its issue being kept by the Shinsa organisation. You might want to wait and submit your sword to a forthcoming Shinsa in the States. If it is refused a paper then you most certainly wouldn't want to put any more money into it. On polish, I would postpone any hasty decisions. I wish to go on record to say there is no such thing as a "touch up" polish. A friend of mine has a katana in near pristine polish. However, a togishi from Japan looked at it and said "The polish is beginning to dull, but I would start on the second stone". Note, no touch up polish. This sword would go through the whole gamut of stones from second stone start to the last stage. As I look at your photos I would live with the sword for a year or two or three and go to Shows to see as many swords as you can to compare "polish". There is no worse sinking feeling to send a blade away and be very unhappy with the returned result. It has happened to me. Investigate the Articles section of the Board and specially read all the polish articles there. I recall an excellent one by Guido. On polish and its related issues and problems oceans of ink have been expended. It is a HUGE subject with no simple answers... Best regards, BaZZa.

Yes, welcome Lowell. I agree with Ian Brooks and Ken Goldstein that in my experience also of using it in the pre-uchiko days talc does no harm to steel. Whereas, uchiko on the other hand, can leave very fine scratches (called hike) with extended use especially if a poorer quality commercial grade is used. I would suggest buying a small spray can of 100% isopropyl alcohol, spraying it on the blade and wiping gently with a tissue. Repeated applications will probably be needed. You may, I hope, be surprised at how well this will turn out. It may also be that someone prior to your ownership clear-lacquered the blade and that could be complicating the issue. EDIT: re-reading your post you say "It had a perfect mirror finish...". That may have been the shine of a lacquer????? Oh, and please post, if you can, an image of the paper. Before doing anything could you please post some pictures - clear and in focus... Our knowledgeable folk here can walk with you through the process... BaZZa. (Melbourne, Australia)

Surfson wrote: > Hi All. First, I have to admit that I make no claim to skill in kantei when it comes to kodogu, though I am trying to fix that before my memory becomes totally shot. Why, what a perfect description for this old curmudgeon!!! So I scrolled down and saw Sebastien's KINAI call. To respond to Robert's invitation, my first memory ripple through popped up KINAI, but blossoms weren't their forte nor fish. Next comes one of the CHOSHU schools... BaZZa. EDIT: Should have added I do like it.

Uwe, Beautiful, but is it SADAKAZU II and not SADAKAZU I??? The OP's link is to SADAKAZU I and I thought that was the theme of the thread?? Or have I lost the plot??? (Lovely bottle of Shiraz with dinner...) BaZZa.